Saturday, February 3, 2024

Wilfrid North | Lillian's Dilemma / 1914 [Difficult to obtain or Lost film]

entering the forbidden domain

by Douglas Messerli

 

George Ridgwell (screenplay), Wilfrid North (director) Lillian’s Dilemma / 1914 | difficult to obtain or lost film

 

Wilfrid North’s 1914 film Lillian’s Dilemma is difficult to find and apparently lost. We are left with a description from Moving Picture World, which I’ve rewritten.

 


      Attending Professor Whippem’s School for Boys, Dick Denby (Paul Kelly) writes home asking his mother for a new suit of clothes. To make sure he receives it immediately, his mother sends his sister Lillian (Lillian Walker) to the school to deliver up the clothes, but upon arrival she is told that girls are not admitted.

       Despite the rules, Lillian angrily determines to see Dick. At a nearby hotel, she puts on the suit and disguised as a boy gains entry into the school.

       Dick is out playing baseball, and by mistake she enters the wrong room, instead finding her way into the room of one of the school’s younger teachers, George Burton (Wally Van). Leaving her clothes on Burton’s bed, she sets out in search of her brother.

       Meanwhile, one of the youngest and smallest boys in the school, Tom discovers the girl’s clothes, dressing up in them as a joke. But being spotted, he runs into Professor Whippem’s rooms to hide.

      The Professor’s wife (Kat Price), catching a glimpse of the unknown female figure, and finding a petticoat that Tom had dropped behind in rush to search out a hiding spot, accuses her husband (Charles Lawrence) of harboring a girl.

         By this time Lillian has met Dick and with him returns to his room, only to discover that her clothes are in someone else’s bedroom. To further confuse matters, Dick’s friends, back from the ballfield, noisily enter.

         Whippem catches Tom in hiding and discovers that the woman’s attire which he is wearing has been stolen from Burton’s room, and he immediately orders that teacher to leave the school.

         Dick suggests that Lillian put on her own clothing, which she does before telling Burton the truth and going to Whippem’s room to plead for Burton’s return to his position. But while there, Mrs. Whippem discovers the two together and creates mayhem.

         Dick and Burton are called in and, after further explanations, Burton is reinstated and all is apparently cleared up, Lillian returning home, with Burton quickly becoming a regular caller. Wedding invitations are mailed out before the last frame.

 

Los Angeles, January 27, 2020

Reprinted from World Cinema Review (January 2020).

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