Silent films - By Might of His Right

I only learned about Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew about two weeks ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Drew were a comedy team that ... but wait, actually there were two Mrs. Drews, Gladys Rankin and Lucille McVey. After Gladys died, Sidney married Lucille who produced and co-directed and co-wrote a lot of their nearly 150 marital comedies.
I picked one of those - randomly, like so often - and ended up with "By Might of His Right" from 1915.
Sidney was the uncle of actors Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore, by the way, and John's granddaughter is Drew Barrymore. Now you know how she got her name.

First the plot.

When Henry comes home from work, he finds they have a houseguest, Lucille's brother who's on vacation (played by character actor Donald Macbride).
He has all the spirit of a college boy, rah-rah-rah included, which amuses Lucille greatly, but Henry really just wants some peace and quiet.

No such luck.
The youngster shakes Henry's hand like crazy, he makes fun of his hat before sitting on it, gets very familiar with the maid, takes a cigar off Henry, then his paper, and finally his chair ...
 

... before demonstrating on his unsuspecting brother-in-law how to perform a tackle and a knockout.
The next morning, he slips Henry's cigarette case in his pocket and then announces he intends to stay for his whole vacation!

Henry has to do something to get rid of the young man. He enlists the aid of his friend Tony Trexel who trains at a boxing studio and helps him find a boxer who will fake defeat for 50 bucks (that's about 1600 today, so you can see how desperate Henry is).
At home, he says that Tony has invited them to a novelty boxing party.
Once there, they learn that "Knock'em Dead" Jones is indisposed and that an opponent for the "Battler" is needed. Of course Lucille immediately thinks of her brother, but suddenly he's not as keen anymore as he still was at home.

So, much to everyone's surprise, Henry gets up. After a hilarious "fight" in which the two don't even touch one another at first, Henry "knocks out" the "Battler".

Back at home, his brother-in-law isn't quite as confident anymore. Actually, he's so scared of Henry that he claims his mother has called him back, packs his bags and leaves.

Henry had already told his wife about his bluff and they break out in laughter when the door closes.
Being a big sister myself, that totally makes sense to me (although you can see in one picture that she also feels sorry for her little brother, but just a bit)!

Drew himself said: "There are many who prefer knockabout work, but since there is a field amply able to support an appeal to more refined intelligence, we cater to that clientele" and I really enjoyed that.
Henry uses his brains - okay, and a good deal of money - to get rid of his houseguest. He's teaching him a lesson not to underestimate other people or should I say older people, but without humiliating him too much. After all, he could have made him go into the ring.

Despite this one reeler being over 100 years old, I think we can all relate to it in some way. It doesn't always have to be a houseguest who stays too long, it could also just be someone who doesn't get that the party is over, for example.

This is another film thought lost until a copy turned up in New Zealand which was preserved through a partnership of the New Zealand Film Archive, the American archival community, and the National Film Preservation Foundation.
I'm looking forward to exploring more of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew's universe of marriage.


Sources and further reading:

1. By Might of His Right (1915). On: National Film Preservation Foundation. Preserved Films
2. Fritzi Kramer: By Might of His Right (1915) - A Silent Film Review. On: Movies Silently, November 27, 2023