When a Man's a Prince

This one is a fairly typical Ben Turpin piece in which he lampoons some romantic hero -- with his short, weedy stature and trademark cross-eye stare -- according to the publicity of the day, he had his eyes insured against uncrossing -- he frequently played the lead in any Sennett piece which satirized some romantic lead, like Valentino or John Gilbert.

In this one the butt of Sennett's team is Erich von Stroheim, who besides directing some oft he most expensive pictures of the era, often starred in them as some sexually perverse Mitteleuropean nobleman. Ben plays a von Stroheim character, down to the white military uniform, who has to marry the immensely tall daughter of a neighboring country, but really has a yen for Madeleine Hurlock -- and who can blame him? The pleasures in this one are in the construction of the piece and the physical types of the casting and star Ben Turpin never really added that much to any comedy that I have noticed, Still, it's an amusing little piece and if you respect but do not adulate von Stroheim, you'll have some fun watching his stuff being ripped to shreds.