Harold Lloyd - Speedy, Dr Jack, A Sailor-Made Man

Harold Lloyd - Speedy, Dr Jack, A Sailor-Made Man

1) A Sailor-Made Man

A Sailor-Made Man is a 1921 comedy film directed by Fred Newmeyer and starring Harold Lloyd.

Plot

"The Boy" (Lloyd) is an idle playboy and heir to $20,000,000, relaxing at an exclusive resort. When he sees "The Girl" (Mildred Davis), surrounded by a flock of admirers, he suddenly asks her to marry him. Taken aback, she sends him to get the approval of her father, a tough, hardworking steel magnate. The girl's father knows and disapproves of the Boy's indolence, and demands that he first get a job to prove that he can do something. The Boy sees a recruiting poster and applies to join the United States Navy. When the magnate decides to take a long cruise on his yacht, he tells his daughter to bring along her friends. She invites the Boy, but he finds he cannot get out of his three year enlistment.

Aboard ship, he makes an enemy of intimidating sailor "Rough-House" O'Rafferty (Noah Young), but when O'Rafferty throws a box at the Boy and strikes a passing officer, the Boy steps up and accepts the blame. He and O'Rafferty then become good friends.

The Girl and her friends stop off at the port of Agar Shahar Khairpura, the "City of a Thousand Rascals", in the country of Khairpura-Bhandanna, to sightsee, just as the Boy and O'Rafferty get shore leave there. The Girl is delighted to see the Boy and rushes into his arms. However, she has also attracted the attention of the Maharajah of Khairpura-Bhandanna (Dick Sutherland). The potentate has her kidnapped and taken to his palace. The Boy rushes to her rescue and single handedly manages to outwit the Maharajah and his guards and escape with the Girl.

Later, the Boy uses signal flags from his ship to ask with the Girl on her father's yacht, "Will you?" With her father's approval, she sends a signal back, "I will".

2) Dr. Jack

Dr. Jack is a 1922 comedy film starring Harold Lloyd. It was produced by Hal Roach and Directed by Fred Newmeyer. The story was by Jean Havez, Hal Roach, and Sam Taylor. The film was released on November 26, 1922.

Grossing $1,275,423, Dr. Jack was one of the top-ten most profitable releases of 1922.

Plot

The Sick-Little-Well-Girl (played by Mildred Davis) has been wrapped in cotton wool all her life. At the sign of the slightest sniffle or cough, she is packed off to bed and each time, the stuffy (and expensive) Dr Ludwig von Saulsbourg (Eric Mayne) is called to attend to her.

In another town lives Doctor Jackson (Harold Lloyd), a friendly and altruistic doctor who is liked by everyone in town. He utilises common sense when curing the citizens of any ills.

Soon, Doctor Jack discovers that von Saulsbourg has been playing on The Sick-Little-Well-Girl's non-illness, charging the girl's father exorbitant amounts of money to "treat" her. With Jack's intervention, von Saulsbourg is sent packing.

3) Speedy

Speedy is a 1928 silent film that was one of the films to be nominated for the short-lived Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy. The film stars famous comedian Harold Lloyd in the eponymous leading role, and it was his last silent film to be released in theatres.

The film was written by Albert DeMond (titles), John Grey (story), J.A. Howe (story), Lex Neal (story), and Howard Emmett Rogers (story) with uncredited assistance from Al Boasberg and Paul Girard Smith. The film was directed by Ted Wilde, the last silent film to be directed by him, and was shot in both Hollywood, and on location in New York City.

Plot

The plot revolves around Harold 'Speedy' Swift's attempts to save the last horse-drawn streetcar in New York. The film contrasts the speed of life of the contemporary city with the pace of yesteryear, represented by this non-motorized mode of transport. Yankees star Babe Ruth plays one of 'Speedy's' hapless passengers.

There is a scene in the film where Speedy is seen giving the finger to himself while looking in a distorted mirror which may be the earliest motion picture depiction of that gesture.

tags: comedy, USA, 1920s