A Little Bit of Fluff (1928 film)

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A Little Bit of Fluff (1928 film)

A British silent comedy directed by Wheeler Dryden and Jess Robbins. It stars Sydney Chaplin, Betty Balfour, and Edmund Breon. The story is based on the stage farce A Little Bit of Fluff by Walter W. Ellis.

Plot
Tully, a shy newlywed kept under his mother-in-law’s thumb, becomes tangled in a plot to steal his girlfriend’s necklace to pay a gambling debt. He ends up next door with Maggie, an exotic dancer, and later at a club where she performs. A series of mistaken identities and comic misunderstandings involve wives, a stepmother, and a boxer boyfriend. In the end, the would-be thief Hudson is arrested for trying to take the necklace back, order is restored, but Tully still has his meddling mother-in-law.

Gags and style
The film features visual gags such as using a Pekinese dog to moisten stamps and Chaplin’s spinning headstand. There is also a long nightclub scene where Chaplin mistakes a female little person for a little girl, which some viewers found tedious.

Production and release
Made by British International Pictures. In the UK, Wardour Films distributed it; in the US, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it. It premiered in 1928 (UK release) and later reached the US.

Cast
Sydney Chaplin as Tully, Betty Balfour as Maggie, Edmund Breon, Clifford McLaglen, and other performers.

Background
The film is based on the long-running stage farce of the same name by Walter W. Ellis, which premiered in London in 1915. A 1919 film adaptation existed previously. This 1928 version features Syd Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin’s half-brother, and was his final film.