Second Hand Kisses

"Second Hand Kisses" is a very strange comedy short, as its plot is just bizarre and something I can pretty much guarantee you've never seen! James Finlayson and Louise Fazenda play two folks who are about to marry. However, each has a child and they haven't told their fiance about the kid! To make it weirder, both placed their kids with a local orphanage in the meantime!! After marrying, Louise suggest they adopt a child...and plans on 'adopting' her own child. But Jimmy also has a child in the place...and he suggests they adopt him! Since both insist on adopting their own child, they end up bringing several home on a trial basis. But the kids are brats and end up destroying the place.

One word I would not use for this short is 'subtle'. The children are like a room of monkeys on crack! All the destruction and violence is way overdone and you wonder why the director thought this was a good idea. The ending, however, was pretty funny...so at least it gets a few points for that!

This little-known short subject was recently posted to Nitrateville.com by Ray Faiola. It's obscure not just because I'd never heard of it -- there are more movies made that I haven't heard of than I have. It's obscure because I'm not sure how this two-reel comedy of Louise Fazenda and James Finlayson getting married without either telling the other about his/her child got this title.

For the first reel, it's pretty good as the two old pros interact with Tiny Sandford, playing a traffic cop in trouble as was his wont at the Roach Studio. In fact, the presence of Sandford, Finlayson and a gaggle of kids makes this look like the sort of short subject that Roach might have produced had Miss Fazenda worked for him. Some where in the second half, however, when the newlyweds have taken home every child in an orphanage, only to have them wreak havoc, the movie weakens drastically and only Finn's stunned "doh" keeps up any energy.