Quando a Fortuna Sorri

Johnny Hines takes a bet that he can make ten thousand dollars in a year. He heads off to Templetonia, where he builds a town on credit and wins the hand of Violet Mersereau in this breezy comedy meant for states right issues.

This has long been considered a lost feature, but Grapevine Video has just issued a DVD of it, sourced from a private collection and accompanied by a lively organ score by David Knudtson. It is not a particularly original feature, but Hines plays the young go-getter with a lot of energy, and the situations and pun-filled titles are amusing. There are also small roles for comedy veterans Polly Moran, Charles Murray -- as a hard-drinking plumber, of course -- and Flora Finch as Murray's girlfriend. Although there is no credited director or editor, it all goes along fast enough to keep an audience amiably amused.

Hines had risen to prominence as Torchy in a series produced by C.C.Burr and his career would prosper through the end of the silent era. The coming of sound and the model for the lively young man would shift, sending him into lower-rated vehicles and behind the camera. His career would end at the start of the 1940s, but he had a good run and this nice comedy makes a fine early vehicle for him.