His Royal Slyness

Starring: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Snub Pollard, Gus Leonard, Noah Young, Helen Gilmore (uncredited), Gaylord Lloyd (uncredited)
Directed by: Hal Roach
Rating: Passed
Genre: Short, Comedy
Length: 27 minutes
1920

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An American man (Harold Lloyd) is persuaded by a prince (Gaylord Lloyd) to take his place and marry a princess.

Review:

Tim: This is the third Harold Lloyd short film I've seen (after Take a Chance and Young Mr. Jazz) and it's my least favorite. That's not to suggest this is a bad film, but it's not one of his best films, despite being longer. Still, there's more than a few things to like in this two-reeler.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the film comes early, when a prince meets a lookalike who he wants to impersonate him, travel to his home, and marry a princess. This obviously propels the story and the humor. The crazy thing is that the two men look remarkably alike. Not quite identical, but so close. I was so intrigued by this. How did they pull it off? Watching the film, I was almost certain it wasn't some kind of trick photography, or using a double for specific scenes. It certainly looked like two version of Harry Lloyd in the same frame. It was quite remarkable. Doing some research later, I discovered the explanation, which is the most plausible one- the prince was played by his brother, Gaylord Lloyd. That's pretty cool and it creates one of the best effects of the film.

The rest of the short was fine. The American travels to the foreign country, gets caught up in the politics at court, as well as with a mob of unhappy citizens. There's a few humorous gags at court, but nothing really spectacular. Mildred Davis was fine. She and Lloyd would later be married. I did read this was the last collaboration between Lloyd and "Snub" Pollard, so the movie is noteworthy for that. I also read that this was the last film he made before his unfortunate bomb incident, but I wasn't able to independently verify that. It feels like the context of this film is more interesting than the film itself. Lloyd himself works well, as he always did. He puts in a strong physical performance and elicits a few laughs.

While I wasn't a huge fan of His Royal Slyness, this is still a worthwhile short. It was mostly entertaining and did offer a few nice moments.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- N/A



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Take a Chance, Young Mr. Jazz