It should come as no surprise that Motion Picture News (12.06.1926) mistakenly sets the action of Long Fliv the King in Graustark instead of Thermosa. By 1926, mythical Balkan kingdoms had become interchangeable, and if a reviewer mixes up some place names, who would notice? Hal Roach revisits the country of His Royal Slyness in name only with this 2-reel Charley Chase comedy which filches a major plot point from Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances, released the year before: Prime Minister Hamir telegrams Princess Helga of Thermosa, on a shopping trip in New York, informing her that her uncle the King has died and she’s to inherit the throne provided she marries within 24 hours. His scheme is for them to wed so he can become king, but instead Helga’s lady-in-waiting suggests she marry Charles Chase, a “Convicted Youth” set to be hanged the next day.
The marriage takes place in prison, but as the Princess drives off, Chase is released after receiving word that the true culprit has confessed. In a bid to catch up with his departing bride, he recruits a Jewish opportunist, played by the always-welcome Max Davidson, and the two journey to Thermosa just in time for the Coronation. There Chase has to survive the superior fencing skills of the wily Prime Minister before he can claim his lawful wife; like most American parodies, the film ends with the happy couple saying goodbye to the troublesome monarchy.
Wes D. Gehring is especially enthusiastic about Long Fliv the King in his book Leo McCarey: From Marx to McCarthy (2004), pointing out how McCarey later used some of the themes in both Let’s Go Native (1930) and Duck Soup (1933) – indeed, Thermosa and Freedonia might as well be neighboring nations. The title and a name require an explanation for modern audiences: “fliv” was a slang term denoting a failure or something cheap, and while it doesn’t really work grammatically, the pun on “live” and “fliv” is clear. Chase’s character calls Davidson “Warfield” when they first meet, but this too is a joke since the demonstrably Jewish Davidson would never have such a name, more connected to wealthy WASPs. It’s worth noting that audiences did not need any explanation for why Davidson can’t eat the ham steak presented before him.

Jay Weissberg