The No-Account Count

1914 16 minutes Directed by Albert W. Hale

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About The No-Account Count

Mr. Krapaan wants his free-spending daughter to marry Count De Bluffe, whom he takes for a rich man. While De Bluffe is in the bath, a tramp steals his clothes and presents himself to the Krapaans as the count. The real De Bluffe arrives and unmasks him. Looking in a window, the tramp sees that the bride is bald under her wig and is glad to be out of the match. After the wedding he puts the wig on. De Bluffe, seeing it, regrets the marriage.

Cast & crew

More about The No-Account Count

Albert W. Hale directed this one-reel comedy for Kalem in 1914. The cast includes John E. Brennan, Fred Hornby, John Rand, and Ethel Teare. A print at the EYE Filmmuseum runs 16 minutes and 18 seconds and carries Dutch titles. The Dutch release title was De bruid met de pruik.

Themes

Making

The wedding trick depends on a bath left unattended. Once the clothes change hands, Hale plays the rest of the reel on the impostor being caught, then on the groom being the one who is fooled.

Preservation

A 16-minute print with Dutch intertitles survives at the EYE Filmmuseum.

Notes

  • The EYE copy credits Kalem, not Lubin.
  • The Dutch title, De bruid met de pruik, names the bride's wig rather than the count.
  • De Bluffe is introduced as a fortune hunter. Krapaan thinks the title means money.
  • The tramp's last gag is wearing the wig the bride has taken off.

Scenes

  • The tramp takes Count De Bluffe's clothes while he is in the bath.
  • De Bluffe walks in on his own wedding and pulls the impostor out.
  • Through a window the tramp sees the bride's bare scalp.
  • He puts the wig on after the ceremony, and De Bluffe sees what he has married.

Also available

  • EYE Filmmuseum (Dutch intertitles)