I have seen very few Harold Lloyd films and none for decades but have been meaning to. He was a remarkably gifted athlete that he uses to good form in his films. This was his first feature - by accident. Working for the Hal Roach studio, they had intended to make a two-reeler - about 20-minutes - but thought they had so much good material that they just shot it all and then would cut it depending on the audience reaction. The audience loved it and they kept all 47 minutes of it. I thought it was pleasant enough but had few out and out laughs for me. In the final ten minutes Lloyd does some wonderfully clever action moves that makes the film worth watching.
His character - called The Boy - is an indolent young man with a $20 million inheritance waiting for him some day. He does nothing but twirl his cane and smoke cigars at the resort. When he sees The Girl (Mildred Davis) he is instantly love smacked and asks her to marry him. Ask my father. Father says get a job first. So he enlists in the navy. For 3 years. But he runs into her on a cruise when he is on shore leave and she is kidnapped by a Maharajah and it is up to him to save her. That's when it gets fun. Mildred Davis was a favorite of his - in many of his films and then as his wife. His rough and ready friend is played by Noah Young who appears in many of Lloyds films as well. Some very elaborate sets in the palace of the Maharajah that I would have to guess was for another film. Good fun if not considered one of his classics.
Dr. Jack (1922) - 7.0
Ah, for the good old days of doctors making house calls - even if you have to do it by car, bicycle, on foot and on the back of a pig. This Harold Lloyd vehicle was one of his first intentional features coming in at 60-minutes. It is enormously pleasant. There are no big payoffs as he was to have in films like Safety Last but lots of small ones. The film is consistently filled with quick clever gags and Lloyd showing his athleticism. In particular during the wonderful chaotic 15-minute whirlwind finale in which he switches back and forth between himself and a wanted criminal and is chased by a family, servants and dog - changing identities as they do - simply out of the goodness of his heart. There are some great stunts by some black actors falling down steps.
Dr, Jack is a simple country doctor where horseshoe throwing is the most popular hobby next to croquet. Most of his doctoring has to do with just making people feel mentally better - in one case he wires a son to come visit his elderly mother; in another case he inspires an old man to get up and play his instrument. Back in the big city the Sick-Little-Well-Girl is being tended by Dr. Von Saulsbourg who is milking the cow of money - or as the intertitles says - made as much as the German war debt from this wealthy family. The patient with her big eyes and a passing resemblance to Meg Ryan is played by Mildred Davis who Lloyd was to marry soon after the film was finished. The family lawyer thinks Von S. is a fraud and brings in Dr. Jack as a consultant. He thinks all she needs is a little excitement in her life, thus leading to the wonderful finale. Very sweet and good natured. Lloyd was finding his character after having gone through various attempts as a faux Charlie Chaplin Tramp type. Just glasses, a smile and movement. The film was a big hit. The print - not sure where I accessed it - is in perfect condition.
Movie Crazy (1932) - 6.0
Harold Lloyd like nearly all the silent comedians began to slowly fade away when sound was introduced. Keaton got caught up in the machine and they had no idea what to do with him, Chaplin made some brilliant films but they were few and far between and Lloyd also cut back on production and made only eight talkies before retiring for good. His was not a sad story though like Keaton - he had made plenty of money while active, kept the rights to his films, had a huge home of forty rooms and had a number of interests. His films though disappeared from sight and he was forgotten by the new generation. He wanted a huge amount from TV stations to show his films which they were not willing to pay and he refused to let theaters show them unless they had an organ to accompany them - a piano would not do. In the 1960s, he compiled many of the bits of his films into two films that brought back attention to his work. Today most of his films are on digital with new musical scores and in very good shape.
This was his third talkie and it is quite amusing though there is very little physical stunt work until a fight at the end. It is mainly a series of gags at his expense. It follows in the same steps of many of his films as a bit of a nice guy sap who by the end has somehow managed to win the girl and made his way. Here he basically has a black cloud hovering over his head and everything he does, goes wrong. In funny ways of course. It comes close to being too much with the gags piled on top of each other. You want to kick him in the pants at times for being an idiot. He lives in Kansas and wants to be a movie star. By accident he sends in the wrong photo of someone else to a studio and they tell him to come on out. He arrives at the train station in the middle of a movie shoot and manages as an extra to mess everything up. He also smashes the hat of a man in the crowd. But he sees a lovely senorita on the set and his heart does a little bounce.
Turns out that the man with the hat is the man he has to see - gets thrown out - but still does a test shoot which goes disastrously badly - even after 30 takes - he mangles it every time. His series of self-inflicted accidents continues as he loses a shoe in the rain - his hopping after it is quite funny - and then screws up a woman's car. She is also an actress - Mary Sears (Constance Cummings) who invites him inside to dry off. She likes him but his heart is set on the senorita - not knowing they are the same woman. He continues to bumble and fumble his way into her heart, right to the end. At a large formal party that he thinks he was invited to, he ends up with the magician's coat and you can imagine what happens with the rabbits, pigeons, eggs and mice. 90 minutes and it goes down easy. A little disappointed that there wasn't more physical action.
