Ambrose's First Falsehood

Mack Swain (Ambrose) sneaks off to a bar with Charley Chase, telling his wife that he is going to San Francisco on the train. When Mack gets into a fight at the bar and the train is reported wrecked in the newspaper, the usual series of comedic calamities ensue.

Yes, it's the same plot as SONS OF THE DESERT, and clap hands, here comes here comes Charley in an early version -- only this time he's Mack's co-conspirator instead of the obnoxious drunk the Boys meet in Chicago.

Although the humor is a lot more primitive in this one, it is still pretty entertaining. There were few scene stealers as accomplished as Mack Swain. Watch him at work here.

Ambrose's First Falsehood (1914)

*** (out of 4)

Nice comedy from Keystone has Mack Swain running into an old buddy (Charley Chase) who has a couple ladies with him. The friend talks Swain into sending his wife a note saying he's taken a train for some business. All seems to go well until there's a report in the newspaper that the train crashed and everyone on board has been killed so now the wife think's she is a widow when in fact her husband is out having a good time. This is obviously an early version of SONS OF THE DESERT where Laurel and Hardy had a similar issue. I think fans of that film will enjoy this early one just to see how much was changed in regards to the story as well as seeing how this one plays out. For a Keystone film I must say that this is perhaps one of the best I've seen because there are quite a few laughs scattered throughout this. I thought Swain was terrific in his role and I really liked how nervous he was while out dancing and having a good time. The look on his face is just priceless as well as when he gets home and realizes that he's in trouble. Cecile Arnold also deserves a lot of credit in the role of the wife. The scene where she reads the newspaper is just priceless and I really enjoyed her comic timing throughout. Chase doesn't get much to do but it's still nice seeing him here.

Ambrose's First Falsehood concerns its titular character in a classic example of fooling his wife so he can embark on an adventure of his own, but of course, an unforeseen misunderstanding renders his alibi corrupted. Our hero is played by Mack Swain, boasting a thick black mustache as he tells his wife (Minta Durfee) that he'll be taking a plane for business when he'll really be at the local tavern. Later that day, Mrs. Ambrose learns that the plane her husband said he'd be on had crashed with no known survivors remaining. She is heartbroken, but by the time that rolls around, Ambrose is too stone-cold drunk to really care, until he himself learns of his presumed fate.

Swain is a charismatic individual, a trait he effectively conveys despite having no sound to work with whatsoever. The only drawback is, like many early Keystone shorts, the use of dialog cards is minimal and vague. Nonetheless, Swain works with what he has, and manages to be a very engaging performer throughout.

Ambrose's First Falsehood works largely because of how relatable it is and how it uses its common premise as a grounds for very natural comedy. Its comedy is much more low-key than many other shorts of its time. Its humor is more humble, and when it does venture into slapsticky territory towards the end, we notice the jarring shift because of how the bulk of the film's comedy before that was built around situational familiarity. I've always loved how the earliest of film shorts were inherently subversive, as directors and writers were simultaneously playing with storytelling ideas in addition to finding technical tropes, and here, we get a taste of how comedy continued to be subverted with the dawn of cinema.

Starring: Mack Swain and Minta Durfee. Directed by: F. Richard Jones.