While not all of the blame for this horrid little comedy(?) should be put on Stan Laurel, it does rank as one of his worst existing films. Part of the reason the film is so bad is that some film producers took scenes and outtakes from two other older films to make this incomprehensible mess. The same thing happened to Chaplin when he worked for Essenay Studios--after he left and went to Mutual, Essenay took outtakes and old shorts and spliced them together to make "new" Chaplin films--ones that really stank, by the way.
However, even without the unscrupulous editing, this film just isn't funny. The main premise seems to be that Stan is a bit daft and obsessed with Napoleon. When he then gets hit on the head, he thinks he's Napoleon--though little of what he does seems to convey this. Mostly it conveys terrible overacting on Stan's part and no coherence as a story. Please don't watch this film. It will make you think Stan Laurel's solo career was a bust, but he did make some wonderful shorts before eventually being teamed with Oliver Hardy. Try watching Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde and you'll see what I mean.
