Directed by: Fred C. Newmeyer/Sam Taylor
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, John Aasen, Wally Howe, Jim Mason
From: Hal Roach Studios
In my first of two reviews to be posted today, I talk a silent movie from Harold Lloyd.
Featuring Not Mexico. Last night was a lazy one for me so I decided to keep things simple and watch one of what is a surprising number of Harold Lloyd movies on the Criterion Channel. This one was selected because of high ratings and because it featured a giant actor (John Aasen) who I’ll talk about later but he was found in a circus because the original giant actor they wanted to use passed away shortly before filming began.
Lloyd is a rich hypochondriac who visits the fictional island of Paradiso for rest & relaxation with his young pretty nurse. The people there are dressed as if they are in Mexico (including sombreros)… I’ve heard different reasons as to why but that was the original setting before it was changed. As this deals with revolution (something Mexico had recently dealt with) and a wealthy American-not Lloyd but someone else-meddling with a foreign country and stirring up trouble for his own interests (uncomfortably close to what’s actually happened in history at least several times) the change is probably for the best.
This is not my favorite Lloyd yet it was amusing enough where I can say it was pretty good overall. Thankfully it wasn’t as politically incorrect and awkward as it could have been w/ modern eyes; just note that there is some brownface going on. The biggest laughs came w/ Lloyd in jail and trying to pull a rotten tooth out of the mouth of Aasen. He was billed as being as tall as 8 foot 9 (2.72 meters!) yet apparently after death his skeleton was measured as being “only” 7 foot 2 (2.18 meters). The goliath does the expected gags involving his massive size & strength also. Not a bad way to close out Lloyd’s time at Hal Roach Studios; afterwards he was able to go independent.
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