While the specific flavors may vary from one picture to the next, viewers can always rely on Harold Lloyd to provide solid entertainment. His films age like fine wine with delightful silliness that is appropriate and enjoyable for all ages, but also great heart that strongly endears them to us. 'Hot water' is no exception as the length is filled with joyful situational humor, sight gags, some physical comedy, and some cleverness in the intertitles to top it all off. Even though technology, values, and common practices have certainly changed in the last 98 years, good comedy never gets old, and this title in particular is filled with timeless themes of domestic bliss and squabbles with in-laws. From start to finish, this is such a joy!
Everything about the production was rendered with terrific care and passion. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor demonstrate their experience with fantastic direction that captures every rich detail and brings out the best in all involved. That includes Walter Lundin with his sharp, dynamic cinematography; some camerawork comes across as novel and inventive for the period. Stunts are wonderfully well executed, and Allen McNeil's fine editing helps in its own way to stir the pot. It's also noteworthy It's also noteworthy that Lloyd's features regularly make use of animals to build some of the humor, and if not as much as in some of its brethren, this holds true in 'Hot water,' too. And of course the cast is excellent; Lloyd is the star with his trademark "Glasses" character, but Jobyna Ralston is an underappreciated performer who handily complemented Lloyd's warmhearted nonsense through their many collaborations. Josephine Crowell also distinctly stands out as the imperious mother-in-law, making a big splash with a robust performance that serves as another anchor for the picture.
All this is rounded out with a superb screenplay that steadily grows in its fervor through to a gratifyingly boisterous climax. Adept, raucous scene writing flows smoothly from one moment to the next, marked with tremendous wit and intelligence. The resulting narrative is light and frivolous, yet unquestionably highly engaging not just for the brilliance of the comedy, but also for the marvelous fluidity with which everything fits together. That goes above all for the third act in gag-driven 'Hot water,' which in my mind impresses as one of the most smartly assembled sequences in Lloyd's body of work, if not also silent comedies at large. The title overall may not be as immediately and completely inspiring as some of the actor's others, but I think the last stretch of the runtime is so good that it makes up for any mild deficiency.
I can understand why some modern viewers have a hard time with the silent era; there was a time when I did, too. Some of the best films ever made hail from the earliest years of cinema, however, and a massive trove of this period continues to hold up as well as if it were made only in the past few years. While the entertainment is to some degree more simple than what we've seen in all the decades since, I find 'Hot water' to be just as precious as Harold Lloyd's other pictures - and at that, there's a reason his name is often mentioned in the same breath as those of Charlie Chapman and Buster Keaton. Recognizing that by default it won't appeal to all viewers, in my opinion this is so fun that I'd have no qualms recommending it even to the most stubborn of viewers. If you have the opportunity to watch 'Hot water,' this is well worth one mere hour of your time!
Everything about the production was rendered with terrific care and passion. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor demonstrate their experience with fantastic direction that captures every rich detail and brings out the best in all involved. That includes Walter Lundin with his sharp, dynamic cinematography; some camerawork comes across as novel and inventive for the period. Stunts are wonderfully well executed, and Allen McNeil's fine editing helps in its own way to stir the pot. It's also noteworthy It's also noteworthy that Lloyd's features regularly make use of animals to build some of the humor, and if not as much as in some of its brethren, this holds true in 'Hot water,' too. And of course the cast is excellent; Lloyd is the star with his trademark "Glasses" character, but Jobyna Ralston is an underappreciated performer who handily complemented Lloyd's warmhearted nonsense through their many collaborations. Josephine Crowell also distinctly stands out as the imperious mother-in-law, making a big splash with a robust performance that serves as another anchor for the picture.
All this is rounded out with a superb screenplay that steadily grows in its fervor through to a gratifyingly boisterous climax. Adept, raucous scene writing flows smoothly from one moment to the next, marked with tremendous wit and intelligence. The resulting narrative is light and frivolous, yet unquestionably highly engaging not just for the brilliance of the comedy, but also for the marvelous fluidity with which everything fits together. That goes above all for the third act in gag-driven 'Hot water,' which in my mind impresses as one of the most smartly assembled sequences in Lloyd's body of work, if not also silent comedies at large. The title overall may not be as immediately and completely inspiring as some of the actor's others, but I think the last stretch of the runtime is so good that it makes up for any mild deficiency.
I can understand why some modern viewers have a hard time with the silent era; there was a time when I did, too. Some of the best films ever made hail from the earliest years of cinema, however, and a massive trove of this period continues to hold up as well as if it were made only in the past few years. While the entertainment is to some degree more simple than what we've seen in all the decades since, I find 'Hot water' to be just as precious as Harold Lloyd's other pictures - and at that, there's a reason his name is often mentioned in the same breath as those of Charlie Chapman and Buster Keaton. Recognizing that by default it won't appeal to all viewers, in my opinion this is so fun that I'd have no qualms recommending it even to the most stubborn of viewers. If you have the opportunity to watch 'Hot water,' this is well worth one mere hour of your time!