Harold Lloyd's last two silent films, THE KID BROTHER and SPEEDY, were among his best work as one of the three master silent film comedians. They are close to flawless in construction and in their humor. But in 1929, like others in Hollywood, Lloyd had to face the arrival of the new technology. Except Chaplin (who would not make a fully sound film until 1940) all the lead stars had to bite the bullet and turn to sound films. Lloyd, in the middle of WELCOME DANGER, switched gears and redid the film (and shelved parts of the shot sequences, to make a sound comedy. On the strength of his popularity and his performance (abetted by Noah Young, Charles Middleton, and Edgar Kennedy - and the heroine Barbara Kent) his remade film was a hit at the box office. But although he would make six other sound films (one directed by Leo McCarey, one directed by Preston Sturges) Lloyd was now to discover that to survive in Hollywood as a viable star he had to change his formula for the movies. He rarely did afterward - which is why he did only seven sound movies.
His formula was that of the eager young American who is determined to prove himself, even at great physical risk. In a way it is the screen version of George M. Cohan's stage idea of young America on the make, or earlier of the "Luck and Pluck" writings of Horatio Alger. It sounds old fashioned but it really isn't. When we buy lottery tickets we are sharing the American dream of success that Alger, Cohan, and Lloyd pushed - so it is still with us.
But the danger part was the key to Lloyd's success. In his first real masterpiece, SAFETY LAST! he had shown how to literally rise in the world by climbing a building's wall up many stories, risking his neck in all kinds of possible accidents that could cause to fall. But in 1930, when he did FEET FIRST, he tried to replicate the climb in a less than reasonable plot twist, and the added sound of his unheeded cries for help hurt the humor of his second climb. It seems that sound did not improve the humor but undercut it.
WELCOME DANGER was a film dealing with an opium smuggling ring in Chinatown (oddly I discussed REEFER MADNESS yesterday, and mentioned that opium smuggling was the only drug smuggling shown frequently on film in the 1920s and 1930s, and it was always centered on Chinese sections of cities - this film is an example). It has many anti-Chinese stereotypes in it, which makes it quite offensive to Chinese Americans today. It does have one positive figure, James Wang playing Dr. Gow the head of a famous clinic in San Francisco - he is a good example of a good film role for that period for Chinese actors.
Lloyd is Harold Bledsoe, a knowledgeable botanist, who the head of the precinct of the San Francisco police that polices Chinatown (Will Walling) sends for in the erroneous belief that Lloyd will be a "chip off the block" of his father, a famous San Francisco police officer. On the way Lloyd meets and falls for a young woman (Barbara Kent), who is trying to get an operation for her little brother at Dr. Gow's clinic in Chinatown.
Lloyd is clever, and quick witted, but he is a bull in the china shop. He is fascinated by fingerprinting, but to a fault, insisting on getting the prints of everyone in the precinct (police and felons included). The Sergeant at the precinct (Kennedy) sets up a "fingerprint" as a trap to humiliate Lloyd - he claims it is the fingerprint of the notorious Dragon, head of the opium ring that has caused a crime wave in Chinatown. It's actually that of John Thorne (Middleton
The Precinct Commander is under fire from one Thorne who threatens to break the police unless they find the Dragon. Lloyd does start tackling the mystery, using Kennedy's "clue" as a major one, and also getting Thorne's fingerprint from his hat (but not noting anything about both resembling each other. While in Chinatown, he meets a rather thick-headed but respectable cop played by Noah Young. He also stumbles accidentally (he is trying to buy a pretty plant for Kent) on the opium ring and how they smuggle their drugs. When this leads to the disappearance of Dr. Gow, Lloyd and Young try to get to the bottom of the mystery and try to find the Dragon.
The problem with the film is that it is two films tacked together. For the new sound movies part of the silent film was removed, part "enhanced" by dialog between Lloyd and other characters, and scenes with straight dialog (like Lloyd's final confrontation with the Dragon) shot with sound. It helps that everyone has good voices, but in those sections that were originally silent (especially between Young and Lloyd in Chinatown) the silent version was timed differently, and the addition of dialog not so hot (to be fair they tried). One sequence in a darkened room, with sound punctuating the sequence (as Young and Lloyd find each other) is like the visual equivalent for about half a minute of a radio program - which is really odd.
Due to the way the gags were set up, and the spirit of the cast, it is an amusing film and worth watching. The stereotyping of Chinese is hard to take nowadays, as is a curious use of an African-American character who seriously threatens Lloyd with a whip (for a change the character is not cringing or acting like Stepin' Fetchit, but he has a serious weakness that Lloyd takes full advantage of). It did make a bundle in 1929 for Lloyd, and allowed him to continue making films, but it is not a film comedy for the ages.
His formula was that of the eager young American who is determined to prove himself, even at great physical risk. In a way it is the screen version of George M. Cohan's stage idea of young America on the make, or earlier of the "Luck and Pluck" writings of Horatio Alger. It sounds old fashioned but it really isn't. When we buy lottery tickets we are sharing the American dream of success that Alger, Cohan, and Lloyd pushed - so it is still with us.
But the danger part was the key to Lloyd's success. In his first real masterpiece, SAFETY LAST! he had shown how to literally rise in the world by climbing a building's wall up many stories, risking his neck in all kinds of possible accidents that could cause to fall. But in 1930, when he did FEET FIRST, he tried to replicate the climb in a less than reasonable plot twist, and the added sound of his unheeded cries for help hurt the humor of his second climb. It seems that sound did not improve the humor but undercut it.
WELCOME DANGER was a film dealing with an opium smuggling ring in Chinatown (oddly I discussed REEFER MADNESS yesterday, and mentioned that opium smuggling was the only drug smuggling shown frequently on film in the 1920s and 1930s, and it was always centered on Chinese sections of cities - this film is an example). It has many anti-Chinese stereotypes in it, which makes it quite offensive to Chinese Americans today. It does have one positive figure, James Wang playing Dr. Gow the head of a famous clinic in San Francisco - he is a good example of a good film role for that period for Chinese actors.
Lloyd is Harold Bledsoe, a knowledgeable botanist, who the head of the precinct of the San Francisco police that polices Chinatown (Will Walling) sends for in the erroneous belief that Lloyd will be a "chip off the block" of his father, a famous San Francisco police officer. On the way Lloyd meets and falls for a young woman (Barbara Kent), who is trying to get an operation for her little brother at Dr. Gow's clinic in Chinatown.
Lloyd is clever, and quick witted, but he is a bull in the china shop. He is fascinated by fingerprinting, but to a fault, insisting on getting the prints of everyone in the precinct (police and felons included). The Sergeant at the precinct (Kennedy) sets up a "fingerprint" as a trap to humiliate Lloyd - he claims it is the fingerprint of the notorious Dragon, head of the opium ring that has caused a crime wave in Chinatown. It's actually that of John Thorne (Middleton
The Precinct Commander is under fire from one Thorne who threatens to break the police unless they find the Dragon. Lloyd does start tackling the mystery, using Kennedy's "clue" as a major one, and also getting Thorne's fingerprint from his hat (but not noting anything about both resembling each other. While in Chinatown, he meets a rather thick-headed but respectable cop played by Noah Young. He also stumbles accidentally (he is trying to buy a pretty plant for Kent) on the opium ring and how they smuggle their drugs. When this leads to the disappearance of Dr. Gow, Lloyd and Young try to get to the bottom of the mystery and try to find the Dragon.
The problem with the film is that it is two films tacked together. For the new sound movies part of the silent film was removed, part "enhanced" by dialog between Lloyd and other characters, and scenes with straight dialog (like Lloyd's final confrontation with the Dragon) shot with sound. It helps that everyone has good voices, but in those sections that were originally silent (especially between Young and Lloyd in Chinatown) the silent version was timed differently, and the addition of dialog not so hot (to be fair they tried). One sequence in a darkened room, with sound punctuating the sequence (as Young and Lloyd find each other) is like the visual equivalent for about half a minute of a radio program - which is really odd.
Due to the way the gags were set up, and the spirit of the cast, it is an amusing film and worth watching. The stereotyping of Chinese is hard to take nowadays, as is a curious use of an African-American character who seriously threatens Lloyd with a whip (for a change the character is not cringing or acting like Stepin' Fetchit, but he has a serious weakness that Lloyd takes full advantage of). It did make a bundle in 1929 for Lloyd, and allowed him to continue making films, but it is not a film comedy for the ages.