The Pride of Pikeville (1927) User Reviews (3)

Mildly funny at best.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 27 January 2013]

"The Pride of Pikeville" has only a few laughs and aside from seeing Ben Turpin's crossed eyes or him dressed up like Erich Von Stroheim, I can't see a lot of reason to watch this one.

The film begins on a train. An international ladies man (Turpin) is traveling in the US when he comes to the attention of a rather unattractive lady and her gun-toting father (Andy Clyde). Not surprisingly, the dad tries to force Ben to marry her and Ben tries everything he can do to get away from them. All this could have been quite funny but there just weren't that many gags. While Turpin could make a good film, this one is only watchable and nothing more.

Passable late silent comedy.

[Mozjoukine · 6 December 2002]

Ben Turpin, in his Erich Von Stroheim whites, is not in top form in this late silent comedy, partly set on a moving train where Ben fends off bandits and a shotgun (well, hand gun) wedding minded father. There are a few clever gags like his outrunning the deer and plane but not all that many laughs.

Fair Comedy

[Michael_Elliott · 31 December 2013]

The Pride of Pikeville (1927)

** (out of 4)

Ben Turpin plays a Europeon ladies man who finds himself in America. On a train he gets the attention of a young woman (Thelma Hill) desperately trying to get a husband. When she's caught flirting with him, her gun totting father (Andy Clyde) demands that the two get married. THE PRIDE OF PIKSVILLE is yet another two-reeler from Mack Sennet that should have been cut in half. As I go through his shorts from this era it's pretty clear that a lot of them simply don't feature enough laughs to carry a 20-minute running time. I suspect that if you took the jokes that did work and put them into a 10-minute film then it would be a lot more entertaining in the end. There are a few funny moments scattered around but the majority of them deal with shots of the cross-eyed Turpin looking serious or trying to give women sexy looks. There are a couple funny moments during a sequence where some bad guys are trying to get on the train but everything else is pretty much a miss. Turpin gives the type of performance you'd expect to see from him. I always enjoy watching him but there's no question that he doesn't always get the best material. Clyde has a few nice moments but not enough to help save the film.