User Reviews

I found this short to be one of those overlooked films that contain wonderful moments within a kind of standardized slapstick format. Lupino Lane was a highly regarded English Music Hall performer known for his physical ability to accent his material. Here he is on his honeymoon with wife Helen in Morocco. While he's off painting, the local sheik (Wallace Lupino) takes a shining to Helen and decides to make her his new favorite. Meanwhile Lupino has gotten entangled with the sheik's guards and the rest of the film is essentially an extended chase sequence with interludes in the harem room with the sheik's number one wife (Violet). For students of physical comedy, there is one outstanding feat performed by Lane - in the midst of a chase he leaps onto the shoulders of a guard standing under an archway; leaping from shoulder to arch, he literally runs upside down around the arch and back down to the ground -- twice! This little short is worth watching just for that alone.

Lupino Lane was a wonderfully athletic comedian and this short is a good example of his skill. Particularly good in this one was his running up and over on the inside of an arch and his trying to escape from the harem rolled up inside a rug. The short has a simple and silly storyline - Lupino and his wife Helen are honeymooning in Morocco and the local Caliph wants to add Helen to his harem. Lupino saves her, loses her again and saves her again. As usual with the Lupino shorts, the title cards introducing the characters add considerable humor to the story. Wallace Lupino as the Caliph is described as "Ben Hammered, the mighty Caliph of Gintez is a glutton for punishment - he has two hundred wives and is looking for more." Lupino Lane is introduced as as "The groom, who once painted a house so natural that he was offered seventy-five dollars a month for it - unfurnished." And the "Chief Trusty of the Harem knows more about women than Lew Cody." Cody was a silent screen star best known for his rolls as a womanizing cad. And the priceless description: "The Queen is one of those woman who can wear clothes - but she doesn't." And so it goes - a fun romp from beginning to end.