This 1923 silent film stars Harold Lloyd as a man who has the worst luck. He means well, but the world seems to be against him. He leaves his small hometown for the big city and a job in a department store, only to be running late on his first day, and we watch his struggles with cable cars, drivers, and even an ambulance. He manages to get together enough money to buy his fiancee (Mildred Davis) a necklace, which leads her to follow him to the big city, believing his job is better than it is. After “proving” to her that he’s the general manager, he overhears the actual manager offer a reward for anyone able to bring in customers.
Remembering his friend’s ability to climb the building earlier, he makes a deal to share the reward if his friend will do it again. Except that his friend is being chased by police, prompting Lloyd to climb the building himself, fighting off crowds and pigeons, all while his friend climbs floors inside the building trying to avoid the police. Eventually, he makes it to the top of the building and into the arms of his loving fiancee, while his friend is running across nearby roofs still trying to evade capture.
I watched the Criterion release, and it’s simply amazing. It’s amazingly clear, which isn’t to say there’s no grain, but that it doesn’t take anything away. As it was a silent picture, they have included some background music to enhance the film, and it fit very well and didn’t annoy me at all, which is saying something. I’ve seen a few other silent movies where the included sound track music was absolutely terrible.
If I have a complaint, it’s that Lloyd, who by all accounts was an amazing stunt performer, doesn’t do very many stunts. We get one stunt on his race in to work, and we have him climbing the building. Most of the rest of his body work is small stuff, like hanging himself inside of his coat to avoid his landlady, or walking on all fours behind a small cart. I would have liked to see more from him, given his reputation.
All in all, give this a watch if you like physical comedy, but please don’t expect a ton out of the plot.
