Ben Turpin

Acting

Ben Turpin

Born 1869-09-18 · New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Bernard "Ben" Turpin was an American comedian and actor, best remembered for his work in silent films.

Acting credits

The Show of Shows poster
6.6

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

The Show of Shows

1929

Our Wife poster
7.1

Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to a Justice of the Peace. After typical Laurel and Hardy blundering, they manage to sneak the girl away from her father's house.

Our Wife

1931

The Golden Age of Comedy poster
7.1

A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Will Rogers, Laurel and Hardy, and the Keystone Cops.

The Golden Age of Comedy

1957

Saps at Sea poster
6.8

Stan and Ollie work in a horn factory. Ollie starts having violent fits every time he hears a horn. His doctor prescribes a restful sea voyage. Mayhem ensues.

Saps at Sea

1940

The Champion poster
6.5

Walking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer's daughter fall in love.

The Champion

1915

Lighthouse Love poster
NR

Two marines stationed in the Chinese port of Hang Chow decide to swear off women and join the lighthouse patrol.

Lighthouse Love

1932

The Love Parade poster
6.6

The queen of mythical Sylvania marries a courtier, who finds his new life unsatisfying.

The Love Parade

1929

A Night Out poster
5.8

After a visit to a pub, Charlie and Ben cause a ruckus at a posh restaurant. Charlie later finds himself in a compromising position at a hotel with the head waiter's wife.

A Night Out

1915

Married Life poster
9.0

Ben Turpin's rival marries his college sweetheart played by Phyllis Haver.

Married Life

1920

Hollywood poster
9.0

Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner, and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed...

Hollywood

1923

A Burlesque on Carmen poster
5.8

A gypsy seductress is sent to sway a goofy officer to allow a smuggling run.

A Burlesque on Carmen

1915

No artwork available
NR

Sardonic commentary over an abridged version of DOWN ON THE FARM (1920).

Wedding Yells

1942

Lost: A Cook poster
NR

Ambrose (Mack Swain) is a clumsy, aspiring cook who finds himself in over his head when he is hired to work in a busy household or restaurant. Most of the humor stems from Ambrose’s spectacular incompetence in the kitchen. He misinterprets simple instructions, leads a series of messy kitchen disasters, and accidentally destroys various household items while attempting to prepare a meal. The situation typically escalates into a frantic "Keystone-style" chase or a massive physical confrontation involving food, dishes, and outraged employers or customers.

Lost: A Cook

1917

Masked Mirth poster
NR

Right now while everyone is thinking of war, comes this two reel comedy whose plot is based on an invention to revolutionize warfare. A torpedo-bomb, which, upon exploding in the camp of the enemy, causes the soldiers to laugh till they drop from fatigue, is the very heart and centre of the plot. Foreign spies try to secure the bomb.

Masked Mirth

1917

Million Dollar Legs poster
6.8

A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as a means of raising money.

Million Dollar Legs

1932

His New Job poster
5.8

When one of the actors on a movie set doesn't show up, Charlie gets his chance to be on camera and replaces the actor. While waiting, he plays in a dice game and gets on many people's nerves. When he finally gets to act, he ruins his scene, accidentally destroys the set, and tears the skirt of the star of the movie.

His New Job

1915

No artwork available
9.0

Running Hollywood is a comedy short.

Running Hollywood

1932

When Comedy Was King poster
6.5

A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Fatty Arbuckle, Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy.

When Comedy Was King

1960

Hollywood Cavalcade poster
6.2

Starting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for him as director of her next film. Many silent stars shown making the transition to sound.

Hollywood Cavalcade

1939

Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10) poster
NR

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.

Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)

1942

Cracked Nuts poster
8.0

To impress his fiancee's aunt, a young man tries to become king in a small kingdom, but the people there have already crowned one, who has won this honor by gambling. So he plans a coup d'etat. He tries to achieve this with a bomb, but then something goes wrong...

Cracked Nuts

1931

The Quack Doctor poster
9.0

In one of the handful of Sennett/ Paramount Films to survive we visit a traveling medicine show.

The Quack Doctor

1920

Down Memory Lane poster
7.0

This film is a compilation, with narration by Steve Allen, of comedies from the old Mack Sennett silent studio. Sennett, himself, appears in a cameo at the end of the film.

Down Memory Lane

1949

The Law of the Wild poster
7.0

Rex, a wild stallion, and Rinty, a police dog, are pals. Their master , John Sheldon, is framed for murder, and Alice Ingram plans to race Rex for money to pay for John's legal defense. Meantime, Frank Nolan, who has falsely accused John, sets out to steal Rex for himself.

The Law of the Wild

1934

Behind the camera