Ask Father

At long last, I've allotted sizeable time (which should take up to the very last day of the year) to check out New Line's massive THE HAROLD LLOYD COMEDY COLLECTION 7-Disc Set!

I started off with this one, which is basically a one-joke short (albeit only 13 minutes in length) - a boy's various attempts to meet "the busiest man in town" in order to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage - which frequently has characters being shoved out of the father's office by his burly underling. Lloyd ultimately fails in his quest, but eventually finds true love with the father's secretary (played by Bebe Daniels). It's an enjoyable star vehicle which, among other things, sees Lloyd in drag; bafflingly, there's no director credit attached to this one!

The boss has a popular daughter. She has two mushy suitors who have waited five months to "ask father". The boy (Harold Lloyd) is doing everything to court her and faces every hurdle.

It's a thirteen minute comedic short. It's good slapstick. The two suitors should be combined into one rival and constant bully. The treadmill is funny although I don't understand why the office would have that. The pillow is a funny bit and that sells the telephone girl. She could have more screen time. Finally near the end, he does some impressive climbing. Quite frankly, he should end the story out there if possible.

Film historians who have studied Harold Lloyd movies cite the year 1919 as being pivotal to the comedian. He began to balance delicately on a fine line between sentiment and sentimentality. There is no finer example of this transition than in his February 1919's "Ask Father."

The ritual of asking a girlfriend's dad for his daughter's hand has always been a high tension, nerve racking ritual for the prospective son-in-law. Lloyd puts the formality to the test when his girlfriend says she won't marry him without her father's permission. The hitch is her dad is almost impossible to see during his working hours, the only time he can be seen.

Witnessing several people being physically kicked out of the father's office, Lloyd knows this won't be easy. Fortunately, he has two things going for him. Next door to the office is a costume shop. And secondly, the office's secretary, Bebe Daniels, has a pillow she sets up strategically to cushion his fall whenever he gets thrown out. "Ask Father" is also one of Lloyd's first movies he's shown scaling a building's wall, something he exaggerates in his most famous film, "Safety Last!"

The young couple have decided to marry and it is time to ask the father for the hand of his daughter. Problem is, the father does not want to give the daughter away. So every time he goes to the office to ask the father, he is tossed out.

There are some amusing incidental things here, such as an old Coca-Cola advertisement saying it cures fatigue. I also liked the midget an the secretary being referred to as "corn-fed".

This short film as a whole is pretty strong, and I would say among Lloyd's best work. Definitely better than the "Eastern Westerner". Maybe not as good as "Safety Last", but for how short this was, they really packed a lot into it.

Three suitors, one of who is Harold, are wooing a rich girl. Each time one of them asks to marry her, she replies "Ask father." So Harold tries to do so. The problem is, the father will see no one without an appointment – and he won't make appointments! The crux of the plot is Harold, using various stratagems and disguises, tries to get to see the father. He is repeatedly thrown out. One of the on-going gags is having Bebe Daniels place a cushion where Lloyd is likely to land after being thrown out. That was my favorite gag but I also liked Lloyd's climb up the side of the building. To me, the moving floor bit was pretty weak. Snub Pollard doesn't have much to do in this film and is thus forgettable. Bebe Daniels, however, is effervescent and has quite a screen presence. Seeing this reminded me of seeing her in the Zorro spoof "Senorita" many years ago at a film festival – she was marvelous and the movie was really funny.