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Harold Lloyd and Chaplin were the two top comics at the boxoffice in the early days of silent movies and Lloyd here pulls together a very funny movie that gets him to show his athletic prowess and comic ingenuity. Lloyd shows up to meet a girl he hasn't seen in years but she is the guardian of a girl whom she brings along. There is only two tickets for three and Lloyd and the little girl have to dodge the train conductor while caring for a little child which puts his mental acumen to task. Set-pieces include a popular one of Lloyd riding on top of the train, Lloyd at the bottom of a train as he tails a hobo who stole his money; Lloyd in a bathroom with a very funny scene involving shaving cream etc Emotional resonance is low but laughs are truly aplenty the more I think of it, the more I laugh as I type. That is a high compliment.

Harold's on his way to reclaim his childhood sweetheart as promised on the occasion of her eighteenth birthday. She is a nanny and brings her cute little charge along with her even though she isn't really supposed to. Harold, driving like a maniac – Lloyd certainly saw speed (and heights) as an infallible ingredient in his thrill comedies – ends up driving through a farmers barn and ends up riding under a train with the bum who cheated him out of his bankroll.

The second part of the film takes place on board the train, where Harold has been lumbered with the little girl because his sweetheart has spotted her boss on the same train. Although the kid is cute, some of the humour is strained here, with some gags lasting too long, and things feel a little flat after the breakneck pace of the film's first half. At 40 minutes, this film was longer than Lloyd's usual two-reelers and it's likely that he deliberately made the film this way so that it could be split into two short films if the longer running time failed to please his fans.

This isn't one of Lloyd's best film but it probably has just about enough highlights to keep most fans happy.

In the set-up to this movie, Harold has to take care of Anna Mae Bilson on a train, without a ticket. Once that's established, you can sit back and enjoy this well-paced and funny three-reel comedy.

Once he had begun to make two-reel comedies in 1919, Harold would occasionally make a three-reel one. Whether he was experimenting with a better set-up to the funny sections, or Hal Roach and he agreed the three-reel version played better is not clear. His first feature, A SAILOR-MADE MAN started at three reels and just kept going.

Young Miss Bilson appeared in this movie, and the first-shot short in the Our Gang series, it was called OUR GANG and was released third in sequence. She lived to be 89, dying in 2005.

While probably a bit more uneven than most of Harold Lloyd's early 1920s comedies, this feature has some very enjoyable moments. Lloyd and Mildred Davis star in a rather complicated story that sees them spend considerable time with a cute young child, giving Lloyd some different material than usual to work with.

The story is the kind of deliberately illogical series of predicaments that provides a showcase for a skilled comic like Lloyd, as his character movies rapidly from one jam to another. Most of it takes place on a train, which provides an enjoyable setting with lots of good props and minor characters.

The parts that work the best turn out to be the scenes with the child. Lloyd's eager beaver style forms a nice contrast with the young girl, combining humor with an occasional warmer moment that works well. The rest of the movie also contains some good gags, but many of the others are only average, at least by Lloyd's standards. Nothing at all is wrong with Lloyd's timing or with the pace; it's just that this time only some of the gag ideas are really creative or funny. It still adds up to an enjoyable comedy that is somewhat above average overall.

Being a three-reeler, this Harold Lloyd vehicle commands more attention than his typical short - though it's not quite as rounded as his feature-length films either!

Train-set for a good part of the duration, it provides plenty of gags characteristic to such a situation: being a stowaway with a small girl in tow, Lloyd has to devise several ways in which to avoid detection; there's a lengthy scene in the berths (at one point, Lloyd causes the train to make an emergency stop in the middle of the country-side simply because his spoilt ward wants a glass of milk!); and the star even contrives to find himself on top of the train as it's speeding towards a tunnel.

As with many of his other shorts I've watched, a good enough comedy but these, somehow, aren't as highly regarded as the equivalent work of a Keaton or even Laurel & Hardy!

Dolly is a poor little rich girl ignored by her parents and cared for by her nanny Mary. Mary is going home on vacation and takes along Dolly. She expects to reunite with childhood friend (Harold Lloyd). Meanwhile, he's struggling every which way to get to her. The group meets and boards a train but Mary is surprised to find Dolly's father on the train whom she has not informed about taking Dolly.

This is Harold Lloyd before he becomes the famous Harold Lloyd but he's that character already. There's also a tramp who looks like the famous tramp. Lloyd's entry is a lot of action and hilarious stunts. He's going full out on the big action scenes. Once the gang boards the train, they do get stymied by the interior comedy work. I would say that it's a half step below the great tramp. There is a comparison with Chaplin's The Kid. This one lacks the emotional connection compared to The Kid. It limits its full potential until he gets on top of the train for the grande finale. I can do without the black-face but that's comedy of its time. This is Lloyd growing into one of the greats of his era.

(2021) Now or Never SILENT COMEDY

Some of the gags also includes the child asking Lloyd for a drink of water before she asks him for a cup of milk to which he would onto the chord of the train so that he would get milk from a cow from a nearby farm. There's another scene where Lloyd is trying to wash, and he manages to have step out of the train since he thought the train made it's stop where he wanted to go. One of the most daring scenes happen when Lloyd was on top a train, and their were some moments where it looked as if he was hanging that high! The sequence with Lloyd and a bridge looked kind of dangerous as well!

A Hal Roach HAROLD LLOYD 3-Reeler.

A young fellow must suddenly care for an infant on a very eventful overnight train trip.

Harold Lloyd has a field day in this wonderful short silent film, NOW OR NEVER. His athletic prowess was never in more demand than here where - with half his right hand missing and disguised by a glove - he jumps, crawls, runs, leaps and squirms his way all over, under and through a passenger train. Along the way he must contend with thieving hobos, belligerent passengers, unfriendly bullies, suspicious conductors and the demands of a precocious tiny tot, charmingly played by little Anna Mae Bilson. Through all perplexities & befuddlements, and a lot of real physical danger, Harold is never less than astoundingly funny.

Pretty Mildred Davis plays the infant's nursemaid; Miss Davis' association with Harold Lloyd was at this time turning to romance and would soon culminate in marriage.

Robert Israel has composed an excellent film score which perfectly complements Harold's antics on the screen.

Amusing Harold Lloyd short about a bumbling man (guess who) who is stuck taking care of a little girl on a long train ride. Of course he doesn't know the first thing about how to take care of children, so you can imagine the kind of hijinks that ensue.

This is fairly mediocre Harold Lloyd. The jokes when they come aren't that funny, and he gets little opportunity to showcase his knack for physical comedy. But paired with a couple of other Lloyd shorts, it's not a bad way to spend an evening.

Grade: B-

Sometimes all you need to do is to have a good laugh and who is better to ask for it than Mr Harold Lloyd himself? His short and feature length comedies were all suspenseful, fast-paced and full of sharp, witty humor and highly dangerous stunts that keep the viewer on the edge of the seat even a century later.

One of those high octane movies was a short feature called "Now or never" that came out on this day exactly a hundred years ago. This 35-minute picture, accompanied by fantastic new musical score by maestro Robert Israel, tells a story of a boy racing against time to get to his childhood sweetheart; when he finally does - she has a child of her employer's with her and the boy reluctantly agrees to babysit her which leads to more comedic situations.

This picture, although being per se the quietest in Harold Lloyd's filmography, has nevertheless a lot of memorable scenes and chase sequences, with tons of deus ex machina moments along the way. I believe by choosing to go in this direction Harold wanted to show the deeper side of his already established frequent character, not just a dopey loving little boy but also caring, generous and literally giving all he's got to a complete stranger. That side of people's nature is obscenely rare to find nowadays because between "now" and "never" people usually choose the latter but it's something that still is out there in the world and racing through time just like we are.

Nothing great in this 3-reel comedy from Harold Lloyd. He would use much of this material later in his career and to better effect. The sets are crude and the storyline choppy. Mildred Davis (the girl) disappears for much of the film, and Anna May Bilson (as the little girl--not a boy as stated in the plot summary here) is not very photogenic. Some good comedy bits, but nothing great. And yes, Mildred Davis would become Lloyd's wife soon after this film was completed.

Mary is a babysitter to poor lonesome Dolly.The little girl begs to go with Mary on a trip, as she is supposed to see her boyfriend who has promised to get her as she turns 18.A bum tricks Harold out of his money and he tries to get it back- by all means necessary.He gets underneath the train where the bum is with his money.He gets the money only to lose it again.Mary sees her employer getting on the very same train, so she gets in to explain the child's presence.Now Harold has to babysit Dolly.Not the easiest task in the world.Now or Never is a Harold Lloyd three-reeler from 1921.It's directors are Fred C. Newmeyer and Hal Roach.Loyd and his future wife Mildred Davis have the chemistry thing going on.Anna Mae Bilson (b.1915) is just adorable as The Lonesome Little Child.After this she appeared only in one movie, Our Gang the following year.This is a rather sweet Harold Lloyd comedy.Kind of like Charles Chaplin's The Kid (1921).Lloyd and the little girl work great together.The movie has some many enjoyable moments.We see Harold driving his car and causing damage in the farm.He pays for the damage- to a bum.It's hilarious to see him clinging underneath the train with the bum.It's funny when he gets some shaving cream inside his mouth instead of toothpaste.And how he stops the train to get some milk for the girl- he goes milking a cow.Or when Harold has problems with dressing the little girl.He asks that man to help him, who holds the dress and Harold makes the girl dive into it.There still remains piece of clothing.And in the end Harold is on top of the train.This is the most enjoyable ride with Harold Lloyd.