Court House Crooks (1915)

A judge and his frivolous wife are celebrating their second wedding anniversary. The wife insists he buy her a gift. He goes out and buys her a necklace and pendant, which he promptly loses... See full summary »

Director:

Ford Sterling

Stars:

Ford Sterling, Charles Arling, Minta Durfee

Cast

Cast overview:
Ford Sterling	...	The District Attorney
Charles Arling	...	Judge Grey
Minta Durfee	...	Judge Grey's Wife

Storyline

A judge and his frivolous wife are celebrating their second wedding anniversary. The wife insists he buy her a gift. He goes out and buys her a necklace and pendant, which he promptly loses. Its finder is the judge's district attorney, who thinks he can give it to the girl he is trying to woo, namely the judge's wife. An unemployed young man happens to have what was the discarded jewelry case, and the judge seeing it in his possession believes the unemployed man stole the necklace and pendant. The police manage to capture the unemployed man who is brought to trial. But when the district attorney, who is trying the case, sees for what the unemployed man is charged, mayhem ensues as the judge, district attorney and unemployed man work at cross purposes to get what they each want. An unexpected source may see that justice is eventually served.

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 July 1915 (USA)

Also Known As:

District Attorney

Company Credits

Production Co:

Keystone Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The message reflected into the courtroom by the little sister appears frontwards, just as it is written on the mirror (i.e., not a mirror image). To create the effect seen in the film, the little sister should have inverted the message when writing it on the mirror, thereby allowing it to be reflected properly.

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Connections

Featured in American Masters: Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (1989)

User Reviews

Clever and better than the average Keystone comedy.

The plot to this Keystone comedy is a little more complicated and complex than usual. Instead of people kicking each other in the butt or bonking each other on the head, this one has a plot that is timeless. The District Attorney (Ford Sterling) is fooling around with a judge's wife (Minta Durfee). However, an innocent young man (Harold Lloyd) just happens to walk into the middle of this. He has no idea WHAT is going on and is assumed by the Judge to be a criminal. Can the innocent man somehow extricate himself or will be go to prison for the DA's actions?

The film is not full of huge laughs but funny situations instead. It is fun, entertaining and much more interesting than usual. The only problem I saw, and it's a minor one, is that the message flashed on the mirror was BACKWARDS--or at least it should have been. Think about it....