As per 'Why Worry?', Harold Lloyd once again plays an eccentric millionaire here, though one without a worry in the world compared to his earlier hypochondriac. It is refreshing to see Lloyd as something other than his usual nebbish self and the film gets off to a strong start with Lloyd causing chaos everywhere while never being phased, not even when bandits are shooting at him from a speeding car. The plot soon veers in a very different direction though as Lloyd meets and falls in love with the daughter of a preacher who he accidentally donated to. It is a plot turn that comes without any character progression and it almost feels as two different films have been spliced together as Lloyd jumps from being cool and detached to energetically drumming up business for the preacher's mission 'Never Weaken' style. There is also a weird kidnapping subplot that comes out of nowhere and never quite feels right (despite leading to a good chase scene). Indeed, clocking in at under one hour, it feels as if a significant chunk of the film is missing - and according to some reports, Lloyd trimmed the movie himself after being dissatisfied with the final product. The film is not quite as poor as all that, but coming on the back of the well developed narrative comedy that 'The Freshman' was, this feels like a step back towards the skits-based plotting of his earlier works.
Review of For Heaven's Sake
