|
Not MGM's Leo the Lion but a cow mooing over the Paramount summit, the proper mascot for a tale of the schnook who rises ("uh, just like our cream") to the top. Harold Lloyd in starched whites and black bow tie embodies the milquetoast at Sunflower Dairies, such a pushover that the water cup for his hiccups has ink in it. He dashes to the rescue when his sister (Helen Mack) is chased by a couple of soused horndogs, the camera pans away during the melee and pans back to find the mugs knocked out on the sidewalk, one of them is the world middleweight champion (William Gargan). "You see, I was shadowboxing..." "And the shadow won?" The hero is "soft as a bag of dead mice" but an artful dodger, inspiration hits the frazzled promoter (Adolphe Menjou) and a star is born. Lloyd's timorous wisecracks are part of a tessitura that includes Menjou's gum-chewing apoplexy and Verree Teasdale's tart snap and Lionel Stander's dim growl, harmonizing them in a serene flow of gags is the Leo McCarey way. First day of training, the fellow tumbles into a stream and steps into the ring dripping wet, "you perspire easy, doncha?" He loves the ingéue (Dorothy Wilson) almost as much as he loves the faithful old mare that pulls the milk cart, the gangling colt rides in the taxi and kicks the palooka on the chin. A matter of choreography, this sport, the society matron (Marjorie Gateson) enjoys the lesson on fisticuffs, cf. The Bells of St. Mary's. "Wrap him in a horse blanket till the bell rings." Sturges in The Sin of Harold Diddlebock completes the analysis of the Lloyd persona. With George Barbier, Charles Lane, and Murray Alper. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |