La vertu récompensée

Lively comedy from Harold Lloyd that no doubt provided Buster Keaton with the 'inspiration' for Cops in 1922. He's an impoverished young man who redeems himself after being suckered into burgling the house of the heiress who earlier saved him from arrest. The heiress is played by his future wife Mildred Davis. Nothing groundbreaking, but enjoyable enough.

"From Hand to Mouth" marks a transition in Harold Lloyd's career, as he was phasing out the Chaplin imitations of his early days and began developing the bespectacled "glass character" that would bring him stardom. This is also Lloyd's first film with Mildred Davis, who became his long-term leading lady and (offscreen) his life-long wife. Snub Pollard and Noah Young, both of whom did excellent support work in many of Lloyd's best films, have good roles here. The film's climax, featuring a race against time, is a prototype for Lloyd's later "thrill" comedies.

In this movie, Lloyd plays a vaguely Chaplinesque drifter who mooches his way along with a little-girl waif (Peggy Cartwright, not very good). When a dog digs up a bankroll and gives it to the penniless Lloyd, he and Peggy rush off to a general store to buy some groceries. Lloyd hands over some cash, and takes possession of the food just as the grocer discovers that the dollars are counterfeit. This surprises Lloyd so much, he drops the food ... which is now ruined, and he has no money to pay for it.

Just as the grocer is threatening to arrest Lloyd, along comes an expensive car with a beautiful woman in it (Mildred Davis), who pays for the groceries. She's an heiress who (conveniently) is just about to claim her inheritance, but only if she can obtain certain documents (the McGuffin papers?) by midnight tonight. Naturally, a rival heir wants to stop her.

Snub Pollard is the leader of a gang of thugs who kidnap Davis, intending to detain her until the midnight deadline passes. Lloyd trails the goons to their hideout, and then tries to enlist the aid of a policeman. But the cop takes one look at Lloyd (who plays a shabby drifter in this film) and ignores him. Lloyd smacks the cop, who draws his nightstick and gives chase. With the cop in pursuit, Lloyd keeps running until he finds another cop ... then smacks him too, and now he's got two cops chasing him while he looks for a third. Lloyd keeps smacking the constables, until finally he's got a whole platoon of policemen chasing him. (This scene is clearly the prototype for the climax of Lloyd's sound film "Professor Beware".) When Lloyd has enough cops chasing him, he leads them back to Snub's hideout for a slam-bang finish. Will midnight strike before Lloyd can rescue Mildred and help her claim her inheritance?

This is not one of Lloyd's best films, but it's an interesting effort and it shows the gestation of his "glass character". The final scenes in the film are supposed to take place just before midnight, but the footage was clearly shot day-for-night and it isn't very convincing. I'll rate this film 4 out of 10.

Two people and one dog share the same problem: they have nothing to eat.The penniless man is joined by a waif and her dog.There is a dishonest lawyer working with a gang of criminals trying to swindle an innocent young heiress out of her inheritance.Then this lovely lady rescues Harold and the waif from the hands of the authorities.Maybe Harold could help the girl with the problem she's having.This silent comedy short, From Hand to Mouth (1919), has two directors, Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach.Harold Lloyd is truly great as this poor man.Mildred Davis is really amazing as his love interest.Peggy Cartwright is a magnificent child actress.And you gotta love the dog! There's also the great 'Snub' Pollard playing The Kidnapper.What fine moments this movie offers!

This Harold Lloyd comedy is both very enjoyable and very thoughtful, and it works especially well considering that it was made during a time in Lloyd's career when he was gradually making a transition in the way that he portrayed his characters on-screen. The story and the characters bear many resemblances to Charlie Chaplin's popular comedies of the same era, but Lloyd and director Alfred Goulding give it a style and tone of its own.

Lloyd plays a penniless drifter who befriends a very young street waif, played with charm by Peggy Courtwright, whose character is accompanied by an equally endearing dog. The three of them are rescued from a scrape with authorities by an heiress played by Mildred Davis, who turns out to have some worries of her own.

After a bit of a slow start, things pick up, and it works very well, combining the different story lines with plenty of slapstick and some very thoughtful moments as well. Most of the themes are familiar ones, but it does a good job with them, and Lloyd succeeds with some material that is rather different from that in most of his movies.

This Harold Lloyd silent film is fun because it has fast-moving story, plenty of chase scenes and sight gags, good camera-work and some great expressions on the actors' faces. It also has a couple of endearing people such as a poor little girl and her lame dog, and a good-hearted woman.

Of course, being a "silent," I expect exaggerated facial expressions, but some in here are ones that made me laugh out loud. You see all kinds, from shady winks to eyebrow raising to evil-looking smiles. Hey, it's a story about a crooked lawyer and a bunch of thugs (almost the same). One of the lawyers is named "Leech."

The little girl, called "The Waif," is played by cute Peggy Courtwright. "Waif" is a common term in these silent films, which Charlie Chaplin and others featured a lot: homeless, extremely poor creatures, male, female, children and dogs.

"The Girl" as she is called, is played by Mildred Davis. It was her first appearance in a Lloyd film. Four years later, she and Harold were married.

Another interesting feature in this film was the sudden switch to a blue tint in the second half. It would be shown for a couple of short scenes.

The ending, of course, was the best. You will have a smile on your face at the very last scene in the diner. These wild endings are the norm for silent comedies and are great fun to watch.. I loved how Harold rounded up the cops.