Harold, el nuevo doctor

I rarely mention what other reviewers say but since there are only a half dozen reviews of this Harold Lloyd Short, I read them all and would pretty much agree with the comments about it being "uneven" and Lloyd's drunk routine not up to his 'character,' a persona he had acquired by the mid to late '20s, I admit, though, he and actor Ray Brooks team up to do a few funny gags as the two drunks stagger their way around town. It's obvious Lloyd is talented, but was still learning what roles were going to work best for him down the road.

There are some other clever sight gags in here (a man tying himself up in post, Lloyd pretending to be his first patients as a doctor, etc.) but overall this isn't really much until the final five minutes when Harold goes into his walking-on- the-ledge of a building routine. It's pretty amazing stuff. The romantic ending with the quickest wedding 'ceremony' in history is totally goofy but fun to watch.

To be perfectly honest, I was expecting more. This isn't one of Lloyd's films I sit through often, even if it is short.

Fast-paced fun which, as often with Harold Lloyd, features distinct - and proved - backdrops for his gags: first, the doctor's office (where the star, as a novice M.D., is forced to impersonate his own clients as a ruse to attract genuine ones!); then, the city streets after a drinking binge with his pal (capped by a pre-SAFETY LAST! [1923] scene in which they fall foul of a policeman); next, the hotel lobby where the reception desk and an elevator become the 'targets' of Lloyd's drunken havoc; and, finally, the trademark 'thrill' sequence in which both the tipsy Lloyd and sleep-walking heroine Mildred Davis are seen walking perilously on the ledge of a tall building!

A tipsy doctor encounters his patient (Mildred Davis) sleepwalking on a building ledge, high above the street. A subplot has Lloyd and his friend (Roy Brooks) getting inebriated on homemade liquor and then trying to avoid a prohibition-era policeman who pursues them for being drunk.

Certain aspects of this film are clearly anticipating Lloyd's more famous skyscraper-scaling scenes in "Safety Last!" and this short would make a good pairing with that film. (Criterion matches it with "The Freshman", which is fine, too.) Another reviewer commented, "It's obvious Lloyd is talented, but was still learning what roles were going to work best for him down the road." The film is further described as "uneven". I suppose I can relate. While I like this one, I will easily agree it does not rank among Lloyd's best work.

Dr. Hale (Harold Lloyd) is a bumbling new doctor out of medical school. Work is rare. A man and his daughter walk into his practice. Hale works hard to pretend to be busy. It's love at first sight for him and the sleepwalking beauty. The father is not impressed and quickly takes his daughter away. Hale ends up getting high and dizzy on his office neighbor's secret stash of moonshine. The two drunks go to the hotel where Hale encounters the sleepwalking girl on the ledge.

This has Lloyd's brand of physical comedy. It has his highrise stunts still at its primitive stage. This Hal Roach short film is a precursor to his masterpieces later on. There is a bit of bite to his character in this one. It's a fun introduction.

A Hal Roach HAROLD LLOYD Comedy Short.

An intoxicated Harold goes HIGH AND DIZZY when he tries to rescue the dangerously sleepwalking girl of his dreams.

This very funny film puts Harold for a few precarious minutes out on a ledge, thereby becoming one of the ‘thrill pictures' for which he is mostly remembered, especially by those who've not seen much of his work. The film was produced not long after the freak accident which destroyed half of his right hand, hence the gloves. Harold's eventual wife, Mildred Davis, plays the lovely Girl here; her longtime chum, Roy Brooks, plays the inebriated bootlegger with whom Harold shares an elaborate extended drunken sequence. Mr. Brooks would later become Harold's personal assistant at Green Acres, the Lloyd estate.