Solid enough at the beginning, which has a rich hypochondriac (Harold Lloyd) going down to a fictional island off of South America for some relaxation with his nurse (Jobyna Ralston), who secretly harbors feelings for him. The man takes so many pills he "rattles when he walks," and seems the unlikeliest of heroes, so naturally he ends up inadvertently getting sucked into battling revolutionary forces. He does so with the help of Colosso, a very large man played by John Aasen, a 7'1" Norwegian American man regrettably in brownface, as some of the revolutionaries are. The scenes with Lloyd and Aasen playing off their size disparity are fun in the beginning, and include Lloyd trying all sorts of ways to pull a tooth for the giant.
Unfortunately, the film devolves into madcap fight scenes that, while energetic, aren't all that funny or impressive from a stunt perspective, so it lagged for me down the stretch. The film is not helped by its stereotypical depictions of the Latin Americans, including general laziness/lethargy and the banana republic type antics of the soldiers, all with their nerves on edge and who easily go off. On the other hand, one can see a mild criticism of American imperialism out of the corrupt and immoral businessman (James Mason). Regardless of all that, there are just not enough strong gags here for a full hour. Meanwhile, Jobyna Ralston is very cute in her giant sombrero and "boy's clothes," but there's not enough of her. Overall, it's amusing, but pretty average fare.
Unfortunately, the film devolves into madcap fight scenes that, while energetic, aren't all that funny or impressive from a stunt perspective, so it lagged for me down the stretch. The film is not helped by its stereotypical depictions of the Latin Americans, including general laziness/lethargy and the banana republic type antics of the soldiers, all with their nerves on edge and who easily go off. On the other hand, one can see a mild criticism of American imperialism out of the corrupt and immoral businessman (James Mason). Regardless of all that, there are just not enough strong gags here for a full hour. Meanwhile, Jobyna Ralston is very cute in her giant sombrero and "boy's clothes," but there's not enough of her. Overall, it's amusing, but pretty average fare.