Much Too Much

In this farce, the King of a tiny kingdom doesn't want to spend the money to purchase a guillotine to execute a prisoner. He explores several other means of execution and punishment, but can't find one that he deems cost effective.

When a Monegasque kills his wife while trying to do away with her lover, the King sentences him to death. The Ministers, realizing that the small kingdom has never held an execution, then try to rent a guillotine, but the price is too high. So they borrow one, with the prisoner's intercession, from Sweden, but it arrives rusted beyond repair. Meanwhile the prisoner, who is eating every meal as if it were his last, demands gourmet cooking from the kitchen. The King wonders if Monaco can afford the execution or if he should commute the prisoner's sentence to life in prison.

In this comedy, a King who rules a small kingdom refuses to buy an expensive guillotine to kill a prisoner. He tries to find other ways to execute the man or punish him, but nothing seems cheap enough for his taste.