It's a Wild Life

Harold Lloyd's career reminds me so very much of Chaplin's. While both get noticed and did very well with comedy shorts, their later full-length films were brilliant....whereas the shorts are often tough to love when you see them today. This is especially true of Lloyd up until about 1921-22. Up until then, Lloyd had no sort of idea WHO his everyman character was. While he was very sweet and lovable post-1922, his early incarnation was often a real jerk. He would hit, kick and otherwise assault people for little to no reason. "It's a Wild Life" is pretty much typical of this less than lovable period of Lloyd films.

When the story begins, Harold is told by his girlfriend's mother that he cannot marry Bebe (Bebe Daniels) because he's not rich and successful. So, he follows her on a date with Snub (Snub Pollard) and all sorts of chaos ensues.

While this isn't a bad film and Lloyd is suprisingly atheletic, it's only mildly funny and much of it is because the emphasis is on slapstick, not creating an interesting and endearing character. Worth seeing for big fans...otherwise...not.

One of the universal traits about Harold Lloyd that endears him to audiences is the fact that his character stands on the fringes of society outside the mainstream of events. He is a 20th Century Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver combined in one, each film a documentation of his journey through life during his 20's. He is a loner, ostracized from society because he is different, unique, head and shoulders above the rest. To a certain degree, his glasses character is a continuity of his Lonesome Luke character. Their comedy prevents them from self-destructing. The only difference being that he is not poor and does not dress like a tramp.

Harold Lloyd wants to marry Bebe Daniels, but her father tells him no. Everyone meets later at a swell party.

Harold had dropped Lonesome Luke several months earlier and was performing in his series of one-reelers to build up the Glasses character. However, in this one, he and director Gilbert Pratt revert to type. Despite the fact that everyone dresses like members of the upper classes, they remain pure hard-knock slapstick comics, offering their gags at a rat-a-tat pace with little in the way of rhyme or reason. While his team liked to vary the sort of comedy they offered and a hard kick in the pants remained standard throughout the shorts, this one is too primitive.

One brief good bit has Harold and Bebe dancing, which is a charming moment.... until he kicks someone in the pants.