Uncle visits again

Some four years ago Jack Lodge, writing about George Loane Tucker in Griffithiana, commented that Uncle’s Visit was a film that no one would ever see. Happily, this is not the case.

The archives recently discovered in its holdings a nitrate print of this hitherto lost IMP production. The lead is played by George Loane Tucker, best known for directing the 1913 feature Traffic in Souls. It is not known if he directed Uncle’s Visit but it is possible that he did, either alone or in collaboration. The print has been restored and was shown last October to an appreciative audience at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival.

George Loane Tucker and Ethel Grandin play a newly wed couple in this short comedy. Expecting a visit from her husband’s eccentric uncle, who she has been warned by letter may present himself in disguise to check out her qualities, the wife wines and dines a tramp who presents himself at her door. The uncle (William Robert Daly) and husband then arrive together to discover the tramp enjoying a post-prandial cigar. After some fretful explanations to her furious husband the tramp is shown the door. (Missing are the last 100 feet which, according to the Moving Picture World review, should show the tramp, still puffing merrily on a cigar, preparing to leave town astride the bumper of a freight car.)

Uncle’s Visit
USA 1911. Independent Moving Picture Company (IMP). Released: November 27, 1911. Restored print: 877 feet.

D.J. Turner

Uncle’s Visit, USA 1911, Independent Moving Picture Company (IMP). Première le 27.11.1911. Film restauré: 877feet.

La visita del tío...

Hace unos años, Jack Lodge, refiriéndose a George Loane Tucker en Griffithiana, comentaba que nadie iba a volver a ver Uncle’s Visit (La visita del tío). Por fortuna esto ya no será así pués una copia de nitrato ha sido localizada y restaurada.

Uncle’s Visit, USA 1911, Independent Moving Picture Company (IMP). Estrenada el 27.11.1911. Metraje: 877m.