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Cult Review
Archivist John
Senior Editor
If you have about an hour and you like watching people in obvious disguises trip over themselves, this is worth a look. People who want a serious drama about family should probably stay away from this one.
It is the kind of movie you watch when you want to see how people in the 1920s thought teenagers behaved. Spoiler: they thought they were loud and slightly terrifying.
The whole thing starts with a Major and his wife coming home after being away for a long time. Instead of just knocking on the door and saying hello, they decide to dress up as servants to see what their kids are actually like.
It's a very "sitcom" premise before sitcoms even existed. You can tell they had a lot of fun with the costumes, even if Alice Joyce looks way too fancy to ever be mistaken for a cook.
Her face is just too... poised? Even when she's trying to look busy, she has this regal energy that makes the whole disguise feel like a big joke the audience is in on.
The kids are the "Rising Generation" the title talks about. They are basically a whirlwind of 1920s energy, throwing parties and making a mess of the house while the "servants" watch in horror.
There is this one scene where one of the sons is lounging back and you can just see the parents' hands shaking while they try to serve him tea. It’s a small detail, but it made me laugh because of how much they clearly wanted to just drop the act and ground him.
The movie reminds me a little bit of the vibe in Limousine Life, mostly because of that obsession with class and how people are supposed to act in big houses.
I noticed the lighting is a bit wonky in the hallway scenes. Sometimes a character will walk two feet to the left and suddenly they’re in a dark shadow for no reason.
It gives the house a bit of a ghost-story feel even though it’s supposed to be a bright comedy. Strange choice, or maybe just a bad day for the lighting guy.
The kids seem like they are about thirty years old, which is always funny in these older films. You have these "adolescents" who have receding hair lines and very adult-looking suits.
William Freshman plays one of them and he has this very specific way of leaning against doors that feels so performative. It’s like he’s constantly posing for a photo that isn’t being taken.
The physical comedy isn't as sharp as something like From Hand to Mouth, but it has its moments. It’s more about the awkwardness of the situation than big stunts.
There’s a bit with a tray of food that goes on way too long. You keep waiting for it to fall, and then it doesn’t, and then it finally does, and by then you’re kind of over it.
But the expressions on the parents' faces keep it going. The Major, played by Jameson Thomas, has this mustache that seems to have a life of its own when he gets angry.
I kept wondering why the kids didn't recognize their own mother's voice. I know it’s a silent movie, but in the logic of the world, they’re just standing right there talking!
Maybe they were just too self-absorbed to notice? That seems to be the message of the movie anyway. Kids are selfish, and parents are sneaky.
It’s a bit like Saturday in the way it handles the domestic chaos. Everything feels like it’s one second away from falling apart.
I did like the intertitles. They weren't too wordy. They let the actors' faces do the heavy lifting, which is good because some of these actors really go for it with the eye-bulging.
There is a sequence where they are trying to clean up after a party that feels genuinely frantic. The camera stays still, but the people are moving so fast it’s almost dizzying.
I found myself thinking about Ladies' Pets while watching the party scenes. There's that same sense of "what are the young people doing these days?" 🥂
The movie doesn't really have a deep message. It just kind of ends once the parents have seen enough and everyone realizes who is who.
It’s a bit of a thin story, honestly. If it were ten minutes longer, it probably would have been boring.
But at this length, it’s a nice little window into a specific type of British humor from a hundred years ago. It’s polite but also kind of mean-spirited in a fun way.
If you’re looking for something with a lot of heart, this isn't it. But if you want to see a Major look grumpy while holding a duster, you're in the right place.
I’ll probably forget most of the plot by next week. But I’ll remember Alice Joyce’s skeptical face whenever her "master" asked for a drink.
Not a masterpiece, but a solid way to spend a rainy afternoon if you're into the old stuff. 📽️
IMDb —
1924
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