I saw this Harold Lloyd film as a part of their theme "first sound films by silent stars night" this month. I was surprised & though this film is not Lloyds best, it is quite OK. Harold's first sound film has been recently restored by the film preservation society, & they did a fine job restoring it.
Like Alfred Hitchcock who started filming a silent during this time & then converted it to a sound film, Lloyd did the same this with this film. The plot is quite unique for a comedy film. A Botany Student (Lloyd) is the son of a former San Francisco police chief who goes to San Francisco and is enlisted in the force because of his being dad's son. Then he helps crack a case to arrest the leader of a drug distribution network.
That sounds much too serious for a comedy, but Harold makes it work. He does put his touch of classic romantic comedy into it although the love interest does not dominate this film like it does Lloyds's Girl Shy for example. It just is a part of the puzzle that is there to help move the film along.
A lot of the same actors who were in his silent films are along for the first sound film too. All of them do a really good job. Harold changed Directors when he went from silent to sound & you will note upon viewing it that some of the sequences are still the silent ones with sound dubbed in, at times awkwardly. A few of the subtitles to explain the plot when moving from one sequence to another are still there too.
There a several of Harold's physical comedy sequences in this though no major chase scene like his previous film SPEEDY. Still, for his first sound film, Lloyds effort appears to be much smoother than most. His voice is actually what you'd expect looking at Harold. It would have been crazy for him to have a booming bass voice, & he doesn't.
He does face down sound quickly as he speaks in the films very first sequence. What is most unusual in this conversion is one of the more complicated plots for a comedy film. If you like Lloyds silent works this film will not disappoint you.
Like Alfred Hitchcock who started filming a silent during this time & then converted it to a sound film, Lloyd did the same this with this film. The plot is quite unique for a comedy film. A Botany Student (Lloyd) is the son of a former San Francisco police chief who goes to San Francisco and is enlisted in the force because of his being dad's son. Then he helps crack a case to arrest the leader of a drug distribution network.
That sounds much too serious for a comedy, but Harold makes it work. He does put his touch of classic romantic comedy into it although the love interest does not dominate this film like it does Lloyds's Girl Shy for example. It just is a part of the puzzle that is there to help move the film along.
A lot of the same actors who were in his silent films are along for the first sound film too. All of them do a really good job. Harold changed Directors when he went from silent to sound & you will note upon viewing it that some of the sequences are still the silent ones with sound dubbed in, at times awkwardly. A few of the subtitles to explain the plot when moving from one sequence to another are still there too.
There a several of Harold's physical comedy sequences in this though no major chase scene like his previous film SPEEDY. Still, for his first sound film, Lloyds effort appears to be much smoother than most. His voice is actually what you'd expect looking at Harold. It would have been crazy for him to have a booming bass voice, & he doesn't.
He does face down sound quickly as he speaks in the films very first sequence. What is most unusual in this conversion is one of the more complicated plots for a comedy film. If you like Lloyds silent works this film will not disappoint you.