You cannot compare this silent comedy to later films, as they are so different artistically. However, watchability is something I think that is a must for all films--even silent ones. And, by this standard, this is a very good film.
Douglas Fairbanks plays a very eccentric inventor who is in love with a girl. He tries to hard to help her with her little social crusade because he wants to impress her. Exactly how and what occurs, I'll leave it to you.
Mr. Fairbanks has long been associated with silent action pictures involving swashbucklers, adventure and romance. So I was very surprised to see that he actually made a comedy--and a good one to boot. However, if you expect to see "slapstick" with kicking, pratfalls and lots of insane action, this will be a surprise. There are only a few such elements in the film (particularly at the beginning) and the movie really is more plot-based than most silent comedies. Fairbanks shows that he COULD handle such a film and I was engaged from start to finish.
ONE CUTE NOTE ABOUT THE MOVIE--during one segment, Douglas is trying to entertain his guests with impersonations of celebrities. The Charlie Chaplin impersonation REALLY IS CHAPLIN according to IMDb! When I saw him, I thought to myself "hmm,..that guy is obviously NOT Chaplin". Ha--guess I was wrong! Chaplin and Fairbanks were friends and business partners, so I guess it's easy to understand how he got Charlie for this unbilled cameo.