499 - Among Those Present, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

Monday, May 14, 2018

499 - Among Those Present, United States, 1921.  Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.

The Boy is a coat-check boy, working at the luxury hotel.  He dreams of one-day being one of the VIPs who comes and stays there.

It just so happens that his services are needed.

Mrs. O'Brien longs to be a society maven, and her mentor, The Society Pilot, plots to give her what she wants.  Or what seems to be.

Mrs. O'Brien husband and daughter are not quite as ambitious as she is.  Their idea of high society is sitting on the porch with their feet up.

Under the advice of her Society Pilot, she puts on a fox hunt.

The Boy, conveniently, poses as Lord Abernathy.

He dresses up, shows up, and entertains the guests with his imaginative stories.

The one where he fought a bear inside a hollow log, and came out on top, with the bear on a leash.

The one where he fought a lion singlehandedly and tamed it.

The one where he shot up in the air and caught the bird in his bag, or where he shot half a dozen times and half a dozen birds fell to the ground.

Mr. O'Brien thinks his lion story is a lyin' story.  But he does not care.  Mr. O'Brien is too busy spiking the punch behind his back, while blocking Mrs. O'Brien's view.

The only problem is that The Boy gets to the punch before Mr. O'Brien does.  And it makes his stories grow progressively larger than life.

But because Harold Lloyd movies often require sequences strung together loosely without a tightly fitting plot, The Boy goes on to ride a wild horse and then loses his pants and runs and hides from all the people who are shocked by his indecency.

The physical comedy is clever and funny.

The plot is loose and lighthearted.

The Boy gets The Girl (the O'Brien daughter).

Mrs. O'Brien gets her fox hunt.

But Mr. O'Brien gets his relief.