In 1914, Charlie Chaplin began his film career and was almost instantly a big star with Keystone Pictures. So, it's not at all surprising that the studio would also try out Charlie's half-brother, Syd, as he, too, had a long career on stage as a comic. Of the almost three dozen films he made, many were as the character 'Reggie Gussle'...the term 'gussle', which means an idiot. This character wasn't much like Charlie's Little Tramp, though his outfits and getup were also pretty outrageous. Gussle had a funny mustache, an ill-fitting jacket, a dopey hat and slicked back hair...and looked a lot like Harold Lloyd's later character, Lonesome Luke. But Gussle never really caught on with theater audiences and Syd later tried other film roles after making about ten of these films.
Much of this story is set at a country club. Gussle is trying his hand at golf and later at cards and pretty much makes a nuisance of himself. Eventually, he comes afoul of Ambrose (Mack Swain, a frequent heavy in these films) and is chased about the place.
While not a lot that is very funny happens in this film, I must admit that for a Keystone film of 1914, this is about par for the course. The same can also be said of Charlie's early Keystone films. Much of this is because the films had no scripts and the actors were just told to improvise...sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, While this isn't bad...it's also not very good.
