A Sailor-Made Man

Harold is introduced as “The Boy—Idle heir to twenty millions—And a nerve that would blunt the edge on forked lightning.” At the country club, he gets the attention of a popular girl (Mildred Davis) by saying, “It’s too hot to play croquet; let’s get married.” When she tells Harold he must first ask her father, the father tells Harold that he will not allow her to marry him until he makes something of himself; so Harold joins the navy in order to impress the girl and her father. Stationed in the fictitious kingdom of Khairpura-Bhandanna, he rescues Davis (whose yacht has also arrived there) from the villainous maharajah (Dick Sutherland) and his army of sword-wielding warriors in the film’s frantic climax. Safely back aboard their respective ship and yacht, Harold proposes to his girl using semaphore, and she accepts. Originally intended as a two-reel comedy short, A Sailor-Made Man proved popular in previews in a four-reel rough cut and became Lloyd’s unintentional first feature-length film.