Series: Arthur Stone Director: Ralph Cedar Producer: Hal Roach Titles: H.M. Walker Photography: Editor: Stars: Arthur Stone, Noah Young, Martha Sleeper Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 12 July 1925 Length: 2 reels Production No.: E-12 Filming dates: November 25 - December 18, 1924 Rating: -/10

Sherlock Sleuth

A masquerade party is the setting for a strange series of events: when two porters carrying a piano-shaped crate up the stairs suddenly drop it, a lion escapes from it and runs amok in a hotel. Detective Cyril Fromage (Arthur Stone) is forced to wear a lions costume in order for him to mingle with the guests but when he encounters the real lion he quickly runs away to enlist the help of the manager (Noah Young) who threatens to hit the lion with a plank of wood but instead clobbers a bellhop by mistake. Meanwhile all the other guests are sent screaming when the lion casually walks past their tables. Cyril finds two crooks stealing from the safe and attempts to stop them until the lion jumps up onto the counter and they all run off. He does eventually capture the crooks and locks them up in a police truck. But as the truck drives off the lion has found its way onto the roof. Halfway down the road and the driver (Dick Gilbert) realises the lion is on board, he jumps off. The crooks and Cyril are left on the now-driverless vehicle as it somehow manages to drive itsself down the road (and around bends) until the inevitable happens and they all go over the cliff. The truck smashes into pieces and the crooks make a more dignified descent, with Cyril hanging onto the legs of the lady crook, who floats down with her 'umbrella' skirt. At the bottom the cop gets the crooks, the hotel manager gets his money back and shakes the detective's hand, and the detective gets the girl. Well, sort of....

Trivia • Copyrighted May 4, 1925. • This was the seventh film in the series to be released. • The scene where the police wagon pulls away and takes the crooks was shot on the Hal Roach backlot. • Approximately 4 and a half minutes of the film is included in the compilation "The Further Perils Of Laurel And Hardy". It is this footage which I have reviewed herein. My opinion • A comedy with plot potential, but a performer sorely lacking in any.

	Arthur Stone Detective Cyril Fromage
	Noah Young Hotel manager
	Martha Sleeper Hotel telephone operator
	Marjorie Whiteis Countess de Tour
	Christian J. Frank Crook
	Dick Gilbert Police wagon driver/cop
	George J. Lewis Party boy
	Sammy Brooks Hotel guest in clown costume
	Jack Gavin Angry hotel guest
	William Gillespie Hotel guest
	Helen Gilmore Hotel guest
	Jules Mendel Hotel proprietor

UNIDENTIFIED CAST

GLASS SLIDE (click any image to enlarge)

RISQUE (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON THE BACK LOT (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: Tommie Hicks (help with footage) Jorge Finkielman (glass slide) Jim Dallape (annotations for back lot tour) Jesse Brisson (identification of George J. Lewis) This page was last updated on: 12 July 2023