User Reviews

A Harold Lloyd comedy short, originally 3 reels long, but cut down to a long 2 reels. It can easily be divided into 3 segments, which are summarized in my review title......It begins with Lloyd jaywalking across a very busy road, oblivious to oncoming traffic because he's bringing flowers to his sweetie. Looks like a very dangerous stunt, which he will later repeat, pushing a baby carriage.: even more dangerous.. Their wedding day is presented as a cartoon. Why? Then, it cuts to 1 year later, when they are walking a baby buggy down the sidewalk. But, it looks to be empty, with just a blanket. Actually, it's functioning as a booze buggy, transporting some bootleg liquor. A lady stops them and pulls back the cover, which is said to cover a baby. Pretty soon, we see lots of other booze buggies being wheeled around........Lloyd's wife (played by actual future wife Mildred Davis) enters a store, leaving Lloyd to finish the booze run. But, before he makes it home, he passes his brother-in-law's house, His brother-in-law is sitting on the front steps with his 2 children: 4y.o. Jackie Morgan, and baby Jackie Edwards, wondering who's going to take care of them for the next day. He basically dumps them on Lloyd, claiming they won't be any bother. Yea. right!! Upon arrival at home, J.M. couldn't wait to explore things. He discovers the liquor bottle in the buggy, so Lloyd has to hide it elsewhere. While Lloyd is in another room, he dumps the contents of a box of 'things' on the floor. As Lloyd puts them back in, he takes them out again. At this point, the wife arrives and comforts J.E.. J.M. finds a tool box,, and begins to saw off the leg of a stuffed chair. While Lloyd is fixing a baby bottle for J.E., J.M. nails his shoes to the floor. Lloyd is very clumsy transferring milk from the milk bottle to the baby bottle, and capping it. He ends up spilling most of it when it falls of the floor. Since there is no more regular milk, he refills it with buttermilk. We don't get to see what the baby thinks of buttermilk.......They read about a burglar who has hit several houses in their area, and imagine what they might do if he comes to their door. That night , Lloyd is disturbed by a circle of light, like a flashlight, moving around his bedroom(This is never explained). He gets up to investigate. The cat knocks over several things , scaring Lloyd., like he's afraid of a ghost(as in Lloyd's "Haunted Spooks"). The cat again makes mischief by knocking over a box of marbles, which roll down the steps. Also, it accidentally releases a helium balloon with a scary face. This gets caught on Lloyd's back, hence follows him. Eventually, the balloon bursts, causing Lloyd to assume he's been shot. An African American woman is walking around in the dark investigating the apparent gunshot. Lloyd crashes into her as he is running, causing her to drop her candle, which lands on a pile of firecracker rockets, which soon begin to zoom around the room. Then, someone knocks at the front door. Inadvisably, Lloyd opens it to reveal a face like he saw in the newspaper. He runs upstairs to the bedroom, and locks the door. The man runs after him, and beats on the door, claiming he's the night watchman, come to investigate the disturbances in this house. Lloyd doesn't believe. Meanwhile, the African American climbs the stairs and beats on the burglar, knocking him to the floor. Lloyd opens the door. What happens next is obscure. Lloyd opens the package his wife bought that day, and finds a tiny outfit for a baby. He assumes she is pregnant, which she confirms. Lloyd mouths "Oh, God", in horror........There are many highly unlikely contrivances in this section, which add to the fun, but make me cringe in disbelief.

Not the best Harold Lloyd I have seen, but it has a few moments. It does show that obnoxious children are nothing unique to these recent decades and that these types of kids can drive an adult half-insane.

There are a few funny bits scattered here-and-there, such as the scene where he tries to cross the street and when it is discovered that the couple (Llyod & Mildred Davis) are pushing a large jug of "hootch" in the bassinet, and not a child.

A bright spot in the film is the beautiful Mildred Davis who stars as Lloyds wife (and became his wife in real-life as well). Overall not the best Lloyd film I have seen, but not a waste of time neither.

"I Do" is an American 25-minute short film from 1921, so it will have its 100th anniversary 5 years from now. The director is centenarian Hal Roach, still in his 20s here, and lead actor is Harold Lloyd, also still under 30. The cast includes people who have worked with Lloyd on may occasions, such as as Noah Young or female protagonist Mildred Davis, a couple years before she married Lloyd. The story here is about a man who has to take care of babies and lots of chaos ensues as he has to keep the kids away from the alcohol and make sure a criminal, who is on the loose, does not cause any problems. Lots of trouble for Mr. Lloyd here. Unfortunately also lots of trouble for the audience as this short film here was neither really funny nor particularly interesting. Same problems as usual: Not enough intertitles and Lloyd (as good as he may be) plays the same character as he does many other times when his films make no dramatic impact, but totally rely on the comedy. I recommend the watch here only to the very biggest black-and-white silent film fans. Everybody else should skip this one.

Just watched this Harold Lloyd comedy short on Kino Video's DVD of "The Harold Lloyd Collection". There's an animated sequence of Harold and Mildred's wedding that was pretty amusing before it becomes one year later and we see them carrying a carriage with people watching admirably. If you're familiar with the year of this film, you've probably figured out the punchline. Anyway, they later are made to take care of a young toddler boy and his infant brother. On top of that, there's a possible prowler on their street. I'll stop there and say once again there are laughs galore here with what I just mentioned and it's nice to know not all heavyset African-American maids depicted in movies during this time, like Marie Mills as Magnolia here, are all complete scaredy cats! Oh, and I must mention how I cringed when I saw Lloyd trying to fill a baby bottle with buttermilk which I remember hating as a kid so much I never tried it again and I wondered why my school would even carry it! Despite many contrivances-how can a kid get away with getting fireworks when he's underage-I did enjoy I Do enough that I'm definitely recommending it.

During the first minutes of this Harold Lloyd as the boy and Mildred Davis as the girl short film there's an animated scene and now Lloyd's character and Davis' character are husband and wife. A year after we watch the couple with their baby who turns to be just their little bottle of liquor! Just the same day the boy accepts to do a favor to his brother-in-law, it is a normal favor that seems to be quite easy and according to the bother-in-law his 4-year-old son is a saint so the boy will not even notice his presence and neither the presence of the baby. So the boy and his wife will look after these two infants and the problems begin quite soon, when the boy is still alone with the two infants, thanks to the 4-year-old kid who is just a destroyer. So is kind of a simple patron, the boy and his wife wants to keep calm the baby but they really can't leave alone one single minute the 4-year-old kid!

We enjoy very funny moments, the kid is not a likable character but that's funny for us however and of course not very funny for the boy. And if these two infants were not enough to make a very problematic day for the boy the possibility that a burglar is in the neighborhood will make the night even more difficult so a little funnier for us.

There are two particular moments that I really loved; one is during the day and after the boy had some very funny problems when he tried to prepare a feeding bottle for the baby. Is when the boy finally can make the feeding bottle but without any liquid just with some white paint! And the other moment that I loved happens during the night. The boy thinks that the burglar is inside the house and he thinks that a balloon is the burglar so he "attacks" but after that the balloon sticks in the back of the boy so he can't see that but he feels that. Later the boy feels something in his head, it is a statue and the point of it is touching the head of the boy but the boy thinks that the burglar's gun is the thing that is touching him and suddenly the balloon exploits, the sound makes the boy think that the burglar has shoot him and he falls like dead!!! Finally, this one is just a good short film.

REPRESENTING SOME SORT of a midway in the development of Mr. Harold Lloyd's 'glasses character', this comedy short boasts of several disparate elements; all being very important to future productions. Definite signs of the go-getter, the shy with girls yet very interested, super athleticism, extreme optimism and very Fairbanks-ian stunts all peppered this film.

THE ONE UNUSUAL item for a Lloyd comedy was his socio-economic situation. His being down, out and broke made him, in effect a sort of Chaplinesque "Little Tramp". This was perhaps a throwback to his stint with his character of "Lonesome Luke" in some of the many early one and two reelers devoted to that character.

IF THERE IS one main attribute that sums up the Harold Lloyd screen persona it is dogged determination. That is most prominently put on display here in this I DO short.

THE OFT USED theme in screen comedy of not wanting to run afoul of authority in the guise of the local Cop on the Beat is also in strong, if atypical, evidence here. This also made him more akin to Chaplin's character in this movie. Let's not forget the inclusion of the little stray pooch and the lost little girl; who could be compared to Jackie Coogan's character in THE KID.

IN PREDATING THE ultimate "Police Riot"* as portrayed in Buster Keaton's COPS(1922) by a year, Mr. Hal Roach and Lloyd did a fine job in creating a sort of different way of getting up a posse of lawmen. In order to save the fair maiden in distress, the Boy (Lloyd) has to physically assault them one by one in a variety of ways. This results in about a dozen foot patrolmen being led to the gang who have the Girl (Mildred Davis) hostage.

THE FILM ALSO makes use of longtime Lloyd foil and second banana, Harry "Snub" Pollard in a more substantial role of kidnapper.

GOTTA GO NOW, bye-bye from Schultz and me!

NOTE * This "Police Riot" is a phrase that was coined for use in the WALKER REPORT on the riots that accompanied the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was authored by one Dan Walker, a future Illinois Governor; who later did time foe embezzlement.