Tonight's Movie: Poker Faces (1926) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

POKER FACES (1926) is an amusing comedy starring Edward Everett Horton.

It's part of a recently released Kino Lorber disc of two silent films directed by Harry A. Pollard.

I reviewed the other film in the set, OH, DOCTOR! (1925), last month. OH, DOCTOR! stars Reginald Denny and Mary Astor.

In POKER FACES Horton plays Jimmy Whitmore, whose boss Mr. Curlew (Tom Ricketts) offers a large bonus if Jimmy successfully helps him land a new client (George Siegmann).

Jimmy's role will include bringing his wife Betty (Laura La Plante) to a dinner with the client at Mr. Curlew's home.

There's just one problem: Jimmy and Betty have had a fight over her desire to go to work in order to afford a new rug, and he can't find her in time for the dinner party. Desperate to land the bonus, he hires an actress (Dorothy Revier) to pretend to be his wife at the dinner party. It's handy that Mr. Curlew hasn't met Betty!

Jimmy and his phony "wife" arrive at the dinner, and shortly thereafter in walks the new secretary Mr. Curlew hired while Jimmy was at the train station to pick up the client: Betty! She's quite surprised to meet Jimmy's "wife" -- and hear they have twins!

The madcap farce builds from there, with the fake Mrs. Whitmore's prizefighter husband (Tom O'Brien) also taking part in the antics.

POKER FACES is a very well-played comedy which I enjoyed. It does run a tad long at 83 minutes and could have stood having a few minutes trimmed, but other than that I found it quite entertaining.

Horton does a good job as the hapless Jimmy, who finds himself in one scrape after another. I especially liked La Plante as his sweet yet feisty wife. Revier, who looks quite a bit like Jobyna Ralston, is also good as the actress.

The movie was filmed Charles J. Stumar. Kino Lorber's print is very good and includes blue-tinted nighttime scenes.

The disc includes a commentary track by Adam Nayman. The musical score was composed by Zach Marsh.

This is a fun set with two enjoyable comedies. Fans of silent films, in particular, should find these films worthwhile.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray set.

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