A Harem Knight
About A Harem Knight
Princess Manda slips the guards of the Rajah of Barbaria with help from Navy lieutenant DuBarry. She hides in the rooms of Rodney St. Clair, who boasts of a long list of conquests. DuBarry gets her out again. Petunia, the rajah's sister, puts a love potion in Rodney's drink, and he is left to marry her.
Cast & crew
More about A Harem Knight
Pathé Exchange released this two-reel Pathécomedy on 7 November 1926. Gilbert Pratt and Edward F. Cline directed it for Mack Sennett. John A. Waldron supervised, William Hornbeck edited, and Tom Miranda wrote the intertitles. The working title was Turpin Story No. 243, Sennett production number 243. Home-movie prints later went out as Ben in Society.
Themes
Making
Silent Era's cast list also includes Art Rowlands as a jealous husband, William Searby as a French flirt, Marion McDonald as a harem girl, and Leo Sulky as a man with a whisk broom.
Look
Harry M. Fowler shot it in black and white on standard 35mm at 1.33:1, with additional photography by K. C. MacLean.
Preservation
Silent Era reports 8mm Blackhawk reduction positives in private collections. The short was also sold to home collectors as Ben in Society.
Notes
- Ben Turpin is Rodney St. Clair, Madeline Hurlock is Princess Manda, and Danny O'Shea is Lieutenant DuBarry.
- Marvin Loback plays the Rajah of Barbaria. Louise Carver plays Petunia, his sister. Dave Morris is the prefect of police.
- Thelma Hill, a Sennett bathing girl, appears as a harem girl. Barney Hellum is the rajah's valet and Billy Gilbert a henchman.
- Andy Clyde, Bobby Dunn, and Roger Moore play gendarmes.
- Silent Era lists 8mm reduction positives from the Blackhawk Films collection in private hands, and notes a DVD release. The film is in the public domain in the United States.
Scenes
- Petunia doses Rodney St. Clair, and he is stuck marrying the rajah's sister.
