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.
Monday, May 14, 2018
Sunday, May 13, 2018
498 - I Do, United States, 1921. Dir. Hal Roach.
Sunday, May 14, 2018
498 - I Do, United States, 1921. Dir. Hal Roach.
The Boy
The Girl
The Agitation
The Disturbance
The Annoyance
Time, Place, Plot - Lost in the Rush
"Some young men fall in love. Some go crazy from other causes."
The Boy crosses the street like Frogger, between the oncoming cars, carrying flowers, on his way to his wedding.
The wedding is shown in cartoon.
One Year Later.
The Boy's brother-in-law asks him to do him a favor. Take care of my children for me while I am gone.
He does all right.
Or at least the children take care of him.
498 - I Do, United States, 1921. Dir. Hal Roach.
The Boy
The Girl
The Agitation
The Disturbance
The Annoyance
Time, Place, Plot - Lost in the Rush
"Some young men fall in love. Some go crazy from other causes."
The Boy crosses the street like Frogger, between the oncoming cars, carrying flowers, on his way to his wedding.
The wedding is shown in cartoon.
One Year Later.
The Boy's brother-in-law asks him to do him a favor. Take care of my children for me while I am gone.
He does all right.
Or at least the children take care of him.
Saturday, May 12, 2018
497 - Number, Please?, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
Saturday, May 12, 2018
497 - Number, Please?, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
"An old, old story of men who have loved, lost, and tried to forget.
Some seek the whispering shadows of the great outdoors haunted always by the face of the One Girl.
Some lose her image in the mystic haze of the silent seas.
Others turn from The Girl to the feverish lure of the gaming table.
The devil-may-care type--he who toys with death--anything to forget the Only Girl."
The Boy "toys with death" by riding a roller coaster. Maybe that will help.
"The Girl. Grief laid its heavy hand upon her--but the hand slipped."
As The Boy, our boy, rides the roller coaster, alone, his hat keeps flying off and landing back on his face.
The Girl walks and laughs with the Rival at the games of skill.
The Boy, now walking, sees The Girl with The Rival and jealously begins throwing balls. Rather than hitting their targets, they hit the porcelain dolls laid out as prizes. He must pay the game operator for the damage.
General Pershing gets lost. General Pershing is The Girl's dog. Both boys race to be the first to find the pooch. They both find it.
The threesome comes upon the balloonman. He is not little and lame. He does not whistle far and wee. The boys are not coming from marbles and piracies. But it may be Spring. And they may just as well be eddieandbill, since Harold Lloyd has given them no names.
And the world may as well be mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.
But enough about e. e. cummings. Back to our movie.
The balloon man offers two passes to the three people. The Girl says she will take whichever boy first gets her mother's permission.
The boys race to get her mother's permission. The Rival races to the mother's home. The Boy tries to outflank him by calling the mother on the telephone. But all kinds of problems ensue, from crowded phone booths to testy operators to wrong numbers to someone's baby ending up in his arms.
The boys get permission and scamper back to the Girl, only to find a pickpurse pickpocket has picked her pocket and pilfered her purse to pillage and pocket her pay.
The Boy, of course, is mistaken for the purloiner. The police chase him. Because in the physical comedies of 1920, just about every movie seems to be a pretext for a police chase.
Cut to the chase.
The best physical jokes come in this section. The Boy puts a real boy on his shoulders covered with a long coat to make the two of them appear like one really tall man. (Which Hal Roach used in full force with his Our Gang shorts.) When they walk, the little boy gets stopped on an awning with the coat dangling, and The Boy keeps walking without his "top."
While running, Harold Lloyd runs straight at a man riding a bicycle and jumps over him. These are the moments you want to see. The plots are so uneven and the physical humor sometimes dated, sometimes classic, that whenever you get to the pure physical comedy, true stunts that never age, that is when you appreciate Lloyd's prowess.
This is one of the Harold Lloyd films where he does not get The Girl.
The Rival and The Girl walk off arm-and-arm, presumably to go to the hot-air balloon, but the movie has abandoned it. The Boy then rides another ride alone.
"Again, a lone wanderer roams the world facing the drab dawn of a dead tomorrow."
The End.
497 - Number, Please?, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
"An old, old story of men who have loved, lost, and tried to forget.
Some seek the whispering shadows of the great outdoors haunted always by the face of the One Girl.
Some lose her image in the mystic haze of the silent seas.
Others turn from The Girl to the feverish lure of the gaming table.
The devil-may-care type--he who toys with death--anything to forget the Only Girl."
The Boy "toys with death" by riding a roller coaster. Maybe that will help.
"The Girl. Grief laid its heavy hand upon her--but the hand slipped."
She is happy again. She is with a new boy, The Rival. They, too, are at the amusement park. Together.
The Girl walks and laughs with the Rival at the games of skill.
The Boy, now walking, sees The Girl with The Rival and jealously begins throwing balls. Rather than hitting their targets, they hit the porcelain dolls laid out as prizes. He must pay the game operator for the damage.
General Pershing gets lost. General Pershing is The Girl's dog. Both boys race to be the first to find the pooch. They both find it.
The threesome comes upon the balloonman. He is not little and lame. He does not whistle far and wee. The boys are not coming from marbles and piracies. But it may be Spring. And they may just as well be eddieandbill, since Harold Lloyd has given them no names.
And the world may as well be mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.
But enough about e. e. cummings. Back to our movie.
The balloon man offers two passes to the three people. The Girl says she will take whichever boy first gets her mother's permission.
The boys race to get her mother's permission. The Rival races to the mother's home. The Boy tries to outflank him by calling the mother on the telephone. But all kinds of problems ensue, from crowded phone booths to testy operators to wrong numbers to someone's baby ending up in his arms.
The boys get permission and scamper back to the Girl, only to find a pickpurse pickpocket has picked her pocket and pilfered her purse to pillage and pocket her pay.
The Boy, of course, is mistaken for the purloiner. The police chase him. Because in the physical comedies of 1920, just about every movie seems to be a pretext for a police chase.
Cut to the chase.
The best physical jokes come in this section. The Boy puts a real boy on his shoulders covered with a long coat to make the two of them appear like one really tall man. (Which Hal Roach used in full force with his Our Gang shorts.) When they walk, the little boy gets stopped on an awning with the coat dangling, and The Boy keeps walking without his "top."
While running, Harold Lloyd runs straight at a man riding a bicycle and jumps over him. These are the moments you want to see. The plots are so uneven and the physical humor sometimes dated, sometimes classic, that whenever you get to the pure physical comedy, true stunts that never age, that is when you appreciate Lloyd's prowess.
This is one of the Harold Lloyd films where he does not get The Girl.
The Rival and The Girl walk off arm-and-arm, presumably to go to the hot-air balloon, but the movie has abandoned it. The Boy then rides another ride alone.
"Again, a lone wanderer roams the world facing the drab dawn of a dead tomorrow."
The End.
Friday, May 11, 2018
496 - Get Out and Get Under, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
Friday, May 11, 2018
496 - Get Out and Get Under, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
The Boy is in love with The Girl, and . . .
The rest just happens.
There are six reasons why a young man has his picture taken.
One is A Girl.
The other five don't count.
High Noon.
That is when The Girl is to marry The Rival.
She informed her Photographer when they had their pictures taken.
And the Photographer tells The Boy.
The Boy is getting his picture taken. He shows his picture of The Girl. The Photographer tells him about the wedding..
The Boy races to the wedding. To stop The Girl from marrying The Rival. To make his case. To marry The Girl.
Cut to:
Harold Lloyd on a farm. Or in a garden, anyway. Rivaling with The Rival.
Cut to:
Harold Lloyd with his car. Which breaks down.
He has to Get Out and Get Under his car to try to fix it.
Etc.
496 - Get Out and Get Under, United States, 1920. Dir. Hal Roach.
The Boy is in love with The Girl, and . . .
The rest just happens.
There are six reasons why a young man has his picture taken.
One is A Girl.
The other five don't count.
High Noon.
That is when The Girl is to marry The Rival.
She informed her Photographer when they had their pictures taken.
And the Photographer tells The Boy.
The Boy is getting his picture taken. He shows his picture of The Girl. The Photographer tells him about the wedding..
The Boy races to the wedding. To stop The Girl from marrying The Rival. To make his case. To marry The Girl.
Cut to:
Harold Lloyd on a farm. Or in a garden, anyway. Rivaling with The Rival.
Cut to:
Harold Lloyd with his car. Which breaks down.
He has to Get Out and Get Under his car to try to fix it.
Etc.
495 - Never Weaken, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
495 - Never Weaken, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.
The Boy loves The Girl.
The Girl works for The Doctor. The bone doctor. The osteopath.
He is going to have to lay her off.
He just does not have enough patients to justify keeping her on.
Good thing The Boy finds out about it. He knows just what to do. He takes a stack of the good doctor's business cards and hands them out to people on the street who need his services.
How does he find people who need his services?
He creates their situations!
You have heard of ambulance-chaser attorneys. How about an ambulance-attractor boyfriend.
The next sequence displays Harold Lloyd in his creative physicality. As he meets people in town, he sets up situations that cause them to fall or have something fall upon them, and then surreptitiously deposits one of the good doctor's business cards on their person.
Before no time business is booming.
But in a repeat of a previous film, he misunderstands something he overhears The Girl say and thinks she is marrying someone else. So in the next sequence he tries to end it all in various unsuccessful ways, only to have everything work out in the end.
As with many of his films of this period in his career, the skeleton plot is a framework upon which to hang his comical physicality, and the film works as a warm-up for his later features.
495 - Never Weaken, United States, 1921. Dir. Fred C. Newmeyer.
The Boy loves The Girl.
The Girl works for The Doctor. The bone doctor. The osteopath.
He is going to have to lay her off.
He just does not have enough patients to justify keeping her on.
Good thing The Boy finds out about it. He knows just what to do. He takes a stack of the good doctor's business cards and hands them out to people on the street who need his services.
How does he find people who need his services?
He creates their situations!
You have heard of ambulance-chaser attorneys. How about an ambulance-attractor boyfriend.
The next sequence displays Harold Lloyd in his creative physicality. As he meets people in town, he sets up situations that cause them to fall or have something fall upon them, and then surreptitiously deposits one of the good doctor's business cards on their person.
Before no time business is booming.
But in a repeat of a previous film, he misunderstands something he overhears The Girl say and thinks she is marrying someone else. So in the next sequence he tries to end it all in various unsuccessful ways, only to have everything work out in the end.
As with many of his films of this period in his career, the skeleton plot is a framework upon which to hang his comical physicality, and the film works as a warm-up for his later features.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
494 - Haunted Spooks, United States, 1920. Dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
494 - Haunted Spooks, United States, 1920. Dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach.
The Boy - He wants to get married. Has no other faults.
The Girl - Sweet sixteen and never . . . , well, only once or twice.
The Uncle - A man of sorts. We are not saying what sort.
Not exactly crooked, but he's beginning to curve.
The Place - Go down the Mississippi River several miles and turn to the right.
Before Scooby Doo, there was Bob Hope's The Cat and the Canary (1939).
Before The Cat and the Canary, there was Haunted Spooks (1920).
A couple of days ago we watched Grandma's Boy, and in it we saw a plot--though we did not state the twist--that has been used in perhaps a dozen or more sitcoms since.
Now we see a plot that has been used in perhaps a dozen or more ghost stories since.
Which is not to presume that Harold Lloyd was first. It is possible he borrowed both plots from those who had gone before as well.
But at least these two are the oldest of these plots of which we are aware so far.
In this one an uncle, as executor, reads a family will, which states that the mansion will go to his niece with the stipulation that she live on the premises successfully with her husband for one year.
The uncle himself conspires with his wife, the aunt, to scare the Girl, and her husband, out of the mansion before she is able to inhabit it for one year.
And to complicate things, the Girl is unmarried. Of course.
And as with Bob Hope's The Cat and the Canary later, and as with Scooby Doo, the Girl and the husband she will marry, The Boy, played by Harold Lloyd of course, will come this close to being scared out of their wits and leaving, but, well, is it really spoiling it if you know going in that this is a comedy?
But before we get to that part of the story, we first follow Harold Lloyd as he pursues the first girl, The Other Girl, fights the Rival, wins, but ultimately loses, grows suicidal, tries multiple methods of ending it, fails, lives, meets The Girl, marries her, and moves into the mansion.
It was in this film that Harold Lloyd lost a finger and a half. While holding a BOMB that exploded in his hand. And nearly lost his life. He performed the rest of his career, including doing all those daring stunts, with 8-1/2 fingers and a prosthetic.
Is that a movie title?
8-1/2 Fingers and a Prosthetic.
Talk about set safety.
Kaboom!
Harold Lloyd waited it out, recovered, and went back to work, finishing the film a few months later.
Watch out for those self-walking pants.
494 - Haunted Spooks, United States, 1920. Dir. Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach.
The Boy - He wants to get married. Has no other faults.
The Girl - Sweet sixteen and never . . . , well, only once or twice.
The Uncle - A man of sorts. We are not saying what sort.
Not exactly crooked, but he's beginning to curve.
The Place - Go down the Mississippi River several miles and turn to the right.
Before Scooby Doo, there was Bob Hope's The Cat and the Canary (1939).
Before The Cat and the Canary, there was Haunted Spooks (1920).
A couple of days ago we watched Grandma's Boy, and in it we saw a plot--though we did not state the twist--that has been used in perhaps a dozen or more sitcoms since.
Now we see a plot that has been used in perhaps a dozen or more ghost stories since.
Which is not to presume that Harold Lloyd was first. It is possible he borrowed both plots from those who had gone before as well.
But at least these two are the oldest of these plots of which we are aware so far.
In this one an uncle, as executor, reads a family will, which states that the mansion will go to his niece with the stipulation that she live on the premises successfully with her husband for one year.
The uncle himself conspires with his wife, the aunt, to scare the Girl, and her husband, out of the mansion before she is able to inhabit it for one year.
And to complicate things, the Girl is unmarried. Of course.
And as with Bob Hope's The Cat and the Canary later, and as with Scooby Doo, the Girl and the husband she will marry, The Boy, played by Harold Lloyd of course, will come this close to being scared out of their wits and leaving, but, well, is it really spoiling it if you know going in that this is a comedy?
But before we get to that part of the story, we first follow Harold Lloyd as he pursues the first girl, The Other Girl, fights the Rival, wins, but ultimately loses, grows suicidal, tries multiple methods of ending it, fails, lives, meets The Girl, marries her, and moves into the mansion.
It was in this film that Harold Lloyd lost a finger and a half. While holding a BOMB that exploded in his hand. And nearly lost his life. He performed the rest of his career, including doing all those daring stunts, with 8-1/2 fingers and a prosthetic.
Is that a movie title?
8-1/2 Fingers and a Prosthetic.
Talk about set safety.
Kaboom!
Harold Lloyd waited it out, recovered, and went back to work, finishing the film a few months later.
Watch out for those self-walking pants.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
493 - Feet First, United States, 1930. Dir. Clyde Bruckman.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
493 - Feet First, United States, 1930. Dir. Clyde Bruckman.
Harold Horne is at it again.
Harold is a shoe salesman. At least he wants to be one. His boss does not believe in him. His boss keeps him stuck in a lowly job fetching and stretching shoes for the shoe salesmen.
He practices his selling technique with the mannequin legs.
And dreams of making it big one day.
One day he meets the girl of his dreams. Of course he does. This is a Harold Lloyd picture. So Harold is going to fall in love.
This time it is with Barbara.
He takes a six-month course on how to have a personality, from the Personality-Plus Corporation.
Then he pretends to be a leather tycoon.
Then he finds out the girl is the boss's daughter.
And she is on the verge of finding out who he really is. The lowly worker who cannot even get promoted to salesman.
If only his new Personality can rescue him.
493 - Feet First, United States, 1930. Dir. Clyde Bruckman.
Harold Horne is at it again.
Harold is a shoe salesman. At least he wants to be one. His boss does not believe in him. His boss keeps him stuck in a lowly job fetching and stretching shoes for the shoe salesmen.
He practices his selling technique with the mannequin legs.
And dreams of making it big one day.
One day he meets the girl of his dreams. Of course he does. This is a Harold Lloyd picture. So Harold is going to fall in love.
This time it is with Barbara.
He takes a six-month course on how to have a personality, from the Personality-Plus Corporation.
Then he pretends to be a leather tycoon.
Then he finds out the girl is the boss's daughter.
And she is on the verge of finding out who he really is. The lowly worker who cannot even get promoted to salesman.
If only his new Personality can rescue him.
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