Charming and brutal

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film begins with a social-climbing family trying to find the perfect match for their daughter. At the same time, there's a cute maid who all the staff want to wed as well. Into this mix arrives Lucky Luke (Ben Turpin)--the son of a rich oil baron. Naturally, the family LOVES Luke--even though he's a cross-eyed drip. And so, they announce the upcoming marriage of the two. Not surprisingly, the lady is horrified with the prospect of the marriage. However, there are a couple twists that occur on the way to the film's finale. First, a fake letter arrives saying that Luke's wells have gone dry--and the family makes Luke their servant. Second, when the letter is proved false, Luke has already found another girl--the cute maid.I liked this film because although it has laughs, it is much more plot-centered than most Mack Sennett films. It also is a nice match for Turpin's and Billy Bevan's talents. Well worth your time.

Clocks stop when Ben Turpin looks at them, and mirrors crack, but he owns all the oil wells in the Rockies, so Bud Ross and Dot Farley are determined that their daughter, Harriet Hammond, will be married to him -- until he loses all his money and takes a job with them as a maid-of-all-work.Sennett continues to aim his comedies at his lower class audiences in this one by showcasing the foolishness of the rich. He fills this one with his usual assortment of weird gags and over-the-top car chases at the end. I continue in my mild dislike of Ben Turpin, whose principal skill is to stand around looking cross-eyed while in an unlikely situation, but the Sennett staff built a superior comedy around him in this one.

Bright Eyes (1922) *** (out of 4) Charming and at times very funny comedy about parents who force their daughter (Harriet Hammond) to marry an oil tycoon (Ben Turpin) but during the wedding they learn that he's now broke. BRIGHT EYES is without question one of the better Mack Sennett shorts from this period and the majority of the credit has to go to ol' cute eyes himself. Turpin does a really good job here and those legendary cross-eyes of his certainly fit so well into the story. There are some really funny jokes aimed at his eyes including a hilarious bit where he and his future bride are on a date but his eye cause him to keep eating out of her soup bowl. Another funny sequence follows this as Turpin tries to play the game of golf but not being able to properly see the ball is certainly an issue. The second portion of the film deals with Turpin finding out he's broke and having to join his almost in-laws as a normal worker. These scenes also contain some nice laughs thanks in large part to Turpin. There's no question that fans of his are going to enjoy this film and if you're not a fan than this will probably change that.