Poker Faces

Poker Faces
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Directed by	Harry A. Pollard
Written by	Melville W. Brown
Story by	Edgar Franklin
Produced by	Carl Laemmle
Starring	Laura La Plante
Cinematography	Charles Stumar
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	September 5, 1926 (1926-09-05)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Poker Faces is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Harry A. Pollard starring Edward Everett Horton and Laura La Plante. It was produced and released by Universal Pictures.^[1]^[2]

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Plot

As described in a film magazine,^[3] Jimmy Whitmore, torn between having his wife constantly remind him that they need a new rug and enduring the unkind remarks of his employer Henry Curlew, maintains the unemotional stone visage which has gained for him the name, “Poker Face Whitmore,” and it turns out that the boss has testing him to see if he could stand a real strain without showing his feelings. Curlew assigns him the job of landing a contract with George Dixon, a tough customer. Dixon and Jimmie are both invited to the Curlew house that evening. When Dixon tells Jimmie to be sure to bring his wife, Jimmie despairs when he reads a note from his wife stating that she has gone to work to earn money to buy a new rug. Jimmie calls a casting agency and hires the pretty wife of a jealous prize fighter to pose as his wife for the evening. At Curlew's home they meet Dixon and Curlew’s new secretary, who turns out to be Jimmie’s real wife. Dixon plans to dictate some letters at his hotel but Curlew offers him the use of his secretary if he will stay all night, as he does not want to let the prospective buyer leave. Curlew then stampedes Jimmie and his “wife” to a bedroom against their protests as the hired wife wants to get back to her husband and Jimmie wants to explain everything to his wife. The irrepressible Jimmie makes repeated attempts to reach his wife so Dixon forces him to take off his clothes, pushes him back in the room with the fighter’s wife, and locks the door and puts the key in his pocket. The fighter, anxious about his wife, sees her in the lighted room and climbs up to the window. Seeing his wife in the room with a man in his BVDs, he furiously attacks Jimmie, who escapes when Dixon opens the door. After a long chase around the house Jimmie is cornered in Dixon’s room, so he switches off the light and hides. Dixon and the fighter come to blows by mistake and are both knocked out. Jimmie jumps out just as cops arrive and batter down the door. Curlew receives a telegram advising him to arrest Dixon, who is a crook. Jimmie is rewarded for his astuteness and bravery by being taken into the firm as junior partner.

Cast

Edward Everett Horton as Jimmy Whitmore
Laura La Plante as Betty Whitmore
George Siegmann as George Dixon
Tom Ricketts as Henry Curlew
Tom O'Brien as Pug
Dorothy Revier as Pug's Wife
Leon Holmes as Office Boy

Preservation

A print of Poker Faces is preserved in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection, The Library of Congress, and UCLA Film and Television Archive.^[4]

References

^ Progressive Silent Film List: Poker Faces at silentera.com
^ "Poker Faces". The AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on April 2, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
^ "Universal Synopses: Poker Faces". Universal Weekly. 25 (5). New York City: Motion Picture Weekly Publishing Company: 40. March 19, 1927. Retrieved October 26, 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: Poker Faces