WELCOME DANGER took a long time in production. Originally, it was approximately three hours long and was a silent. However, with the craze of talking pictures, Lloyd decided not to release it and re-shoot parts of the film as a sound film--dubbing the rest with sound after the fact. Now, the movie was an hour shorter and I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and see the original unreleased film--it must have been very, very different.
While this is a very, very primitive film technically, you can't fault the movie too much as in 1928 and 29, a lot of silent films were dubbed to take advantage of the new sound craze. The end result of all these film, such as WELCOME DANGER and THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, is very awkward and it's obvious that the films were originally silents. The lips are not even close to being in sync and in the case of WELCOME DANGER, the new sound sequences and the old silent dubbed sequences are obviously different and don't fit well together. But, considering that this sort of thing was common in the day, you can't fault the film makers too much--they were just trying to salvage the films and give the public what they wanted.
The film begins with Harold Lloyd playing a botanist who's on a train headed for San Francisco. When the train makes a short stop, he gets out to stretch his legs and gets his photo taken from a machine that makes the picture into a small charm. The problem is that just before him a pretty lady did the same but the machine malfunctioned--giving her no photo. When Lloyd does it, it superimposes her picture next to his. Harold is captivated by the lovely girl in the picture but has no idea who she is.
Later, the train stops again and Harold is accidentally left behind. In the type of coincidence that only happens in films, Harold meets up with the lady in the picture. However, he doesn't recognize her because she is fixing her car and dressed in greasy overalls and a hat. During this portion of the film, I was not particularly impressed, as Harold treated this lady (who he thought was a guy) like dirt--calling him/her names and behaving like a jerk. This was not at all typical of the sweet guy Lloyd usually played in films and must have also put off some of his fans who were used to his usually sweet persona.
Once back aboard the train, he bids her goodbye (since she is going by car) but it's in such a rush that he doesn't get her name or find out where she will be in San Francisco. So how will he meet her again? Well, considering it's a film and Harold always gets the girl in the end, I wasn't particularly worried! Now in San Francisco, Harold goes to the police station. That's because his late father was the captain and he intends to give up his career as a botanist and follows in dad's footsteps. Why they suddenly give him a job when he has no experience in the field is bit baffling, to say the least! In this new job he mostly makes a nuisance of himself and most of the police can't wait to see him go! Surprisingly, Harold does manage to find his lady friend rather easily--I would have suspected it wouldn't be until the end of the film and would take a lot of effort. This was not the case, as before the film was half over, they were reunited.
Soon Harold investigates a gang headed by an unknown man known as "the Dragon" who is working in Chinatown. He is assisted by the rather dim cop, Noah Young, who is a frequent supporting actor in Harold Lloyd films. Young is pretty funny and his voice is pretty comical--a good addition as Lloyd's sidekick. Their scenes together are very much like an old haunted house film and while there were some funny scenes, the humor did seem a bit forced now and again compared to the rest of the movie (such as the turtle bit). Despite this, it was nice to see Harold using his brain and brawn to defeat the evil Chinese gang--he was not the usual wimpy character he usually played--more like a bespectacled and clever action hero.
Overall, not a bad film at all and one worth seeing. While it lacks some of the charm of his earlier films, the movie is engaging and a nice change of pace--even with the odd dubbing.
While this is a very, very primitive film technically, you can't fault the movie too much as in 1928 and 29, a lot of silent films were dubbed to take advantage of the new sound craze. The end result of all these film, such as WELCOME DANGER and THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, is very awkward and it's obvious that the films were originally silents. The lips are not even close to being in sync and in the case of WELCOME DANGER, the new sound sequences and the old silent dubbed sequences are obviously different and don't fit well together. But, considering that this sort of thing was common in the day, you can't fault the film makers too much--they were just trying to salvage the films and give the public what they wanted.
The film begins with Harold Lloyd playing a botanist who's on a train headed for San Francisco. When the train makes a short stop, he gets out to stretch his legs and gets his photo taken from a machine that makes the picture into a small charm. The problem is that just before him a pretty lady did the same but the machine malfunctioned--giving her no photo. When Lloyd does it, it superimposes her picture next to his. Harold is captivated by the lovely girl in the picture but has no idea who she is.
Later, the train stops again and Harold is accidentally left behind. In the type of coincidence that only happens in films, Harold meets up with the lady in the picture. However, he doesn't recognize her because she is fixing her car and dressed in greasy overalls and a hat. During this portion of the film, I was not particularly impressed, as Harold treated this lady (who he thought was a guy) like dirt--calling him/her names and behaving like a jerk. This was not at all typical of the sweet guy Lloyd usually played in films and must have also put off some of his fans who were used to his usually sweet persona.
Once back aboard the train, he bids her goodbye (since she is going by car) but it's in such a rush that he doesn't get her name or find out where she will be in San Francisco. So how will he meet her again? Well, considering it's a film and Harold always gets the girl in the end, I wasn't particularly worried! Now in San Francisco, Harold goes to the police station. That's because his late father was the captain and he intends to give up his career as a botanist and follows in dad's footsteps. Why they suddenly give him a job when he has no experience in the field is bit baffling, to say the least! In this new job he mostly makes a nuisance of himself and most of the police can't wait to see him go! Surprisingly, Harold does manage to find his lady friend rather easily--I would have suspected it wouldn't be until the end of the film and would take a lot of effort. This was not the case, as before the film was half over, they were reunited.
Soon Harold investigates a gang headed by an unknown man known as "the Dragon" who is working in Chinatown. He is assisted by the rather dim cop, Noah Young, who is a frequent supporting actor in Harold Lloyd films. Young is pretty funny and his voice is pretty comical--a good addition as Lloyd's sidekick. Their scenes together are very much like an old haunted house film and while there were some funny scenes, the humor did seem a bit forced now and again compared to the rest of the movie (such as the turtle bit). Despite this, it was nice to see Harold using his brain and brawn to defeat the evil Chinese gang--he was not the usual wimpy character he usually played--more like a bespectacled and clever action hero.
Overall, not a bad film at all and one worth seeing. While it lacks some of the charm of his earlier films, the movie is engaging and a nice change of pace--even with the odd dubbing.