Introduction by Bryony Dixon

Screenwriter Lydia Hayward shows off her sharp-eyed wit and expert ear for comic vernacular in this delightful rom-com .

Handsome Hollywood leading-man Ian Hunter made his film debut here as Martin Bering - a feckless, disinherited toff, who falls for the charms of Annie Armstrong - the independent mistress of a Bloomsbury boarding house. The downwardly mobile Bering soon learns how the other half lives, and learns what is really valuable in life, under the reforming influence of kind-hearted Annie.

This well-plotted and entertaining film features a splendid cast of ensemble characters - Annie's roguish wee brother John who enlists Bering in his 'Anti-Boarders League', the dubious Jim who is taken on as a rather unpolished butler, and the hilarious gaggle of lodgers who try Annie's patience with their gossiping and finickity ways.

Dir. W.P. Kellino | UK | 1924 | N/C U | 1h 26m
With: Mary Odette, Ian Hunter, Gladys Hamer, Mary Brough

Performing live: Stephen Horne (piano, flute, percussion)

Bryony Dixon is Curator, Silent Film, BFI National Archive

BSL- English supported event

Screening material courtesy of BFI National Archive