 |
| Lloyd up a tree... you'd think that would be funny... |
Directed by Hal Roach
Starring Harold Lloyd, 'Snub' Pollard and Bebe Daniels
Produced by Rolin Films
An American soldier in Russia becomes separated from his troops through his overwhelming in eptitude. While lost in a Siberian forest, he crosses paths with a woman who has escaped from the Russian soldiers that have invaded her home. Can the American protect the woman and her family from the invaders?
Another Harold Lloyd comedy and this one is a tonal mess. In the opening scenes as the woman's home is attacked, her father is shot. He falls over. He seems dead, but this is a comedy so a couple of minutes later he is up and walking around like nothing happened. Still having the old man seemingly killed is not the best way to get the funny bone going.
Lloyd doesn't show up until about two minutes in. He cannot keep his hat on and marches off in the wrong direction from his comrades. He's chased by a wolf and ends up in a tree to escape. The woman comes along and pets the wolf. See? The wolf that was chasing him through the forest was really docile. Hilarious, right?
Of course, once Lloyd crosses paths with the enemy, he becomes a model of bravery and skill. He singlehandedly dispatches a dozen men from the woman's home (despite his earlier ineptitude).
This is material handled with a much defter touch in Shoulder Arms. The only real positive here is it is only seven minutes long so you can get through this short pretty quickly.
*1/2 out of *****
0 comments:
Post a Comment