For Heaven's Sake

Harold Lloyd in his prime as a multi-millionaire who thinks nothing of buying - and trashing - two cars in one day, and who funds a mission for the poor without realising it. He wants nothing to do with it until he spies the minister's comely daughter (Jobyna Ralston). Some decent jokes, an hilarious chase sequence, and a hair-raising race to the altar on a driverless bus help place this, perhaps lesser-known entry, amongst the comedian's better works.

"For Heaven's Sake" was double-billed with "Grandma's Boy" on Turner Classic Movies' Silent Sunday, 12 July 2015, and it was a glorious pairing.

Harold Lloyd was working with Hal Roach for "GB" and was independent "For Heaven's Sake."

The first was, and was intended to be, more of a character study, as the alleged experts call it, while the second was more of a purely gag-filled romp.

"Sake" also had Lloyd's loveliest -- in my opinion -- co-star in the Tennessee girl, Jobyna Ralston, of South Pittsburg. (Some of her family is still there. I've tried, unsuccessfully, to talk the lifeless chamber of commerce into having a Jobyna Ralston film festival. It's a sad town but in a beautiful part of the country, not too far from Chattanooga. South Pittsburg is the home of the Cornbread Festival, featuring the Lodge iron skillets.)

"For Heaven's Sake" also has some wonderful stunts, with Lloyd's frequent foil Noah Young performing yeoman work, as do several excellent stunt performers.

It is, after all, Harold Lloyd, so you know there will be athletic performances and great sight gags, but the directing is quite an eye-opener, too, with that moving camera referred to in this review's title.

Both these films intrigued and delighted me with the moving camera, visually quite fascinating and very inventive and clever.

There is more story here than some supposed experts and even some reviewers here admit to and, combined with the sight humor, they make this a great movie, one I highly recommend.

Six months ago I had barely seen a Harold LLoyd feature (except "The Kid Brother" 35 years ago) - now I know that whenever I feel down I can put on a Harold Lloyd movie and laugh myself silly from start to finish!! It is such a comforting feeling. This is not a typical Harold Lloyd comedy and I was a bit concerned initially - instead of the poor boy who makes good or the eager, hopeful go-getter who by the film's end is everyone's hero, this movie has Lloyd as J. Harold Manners, an idle rich boy who accidentally becomes the patron of a mission for down and outs.

There are two fantastic chases in this movie - the first where Harold pledges to get the "Pool Hall Boys" to the Mission -he does (and a whole lot of other thugs as well) and by the time the police arrive they are all singing hymns and liking it!!! The other one is reminiscent of the hilarious chase in "Girl Shy" - in this chase he has been kidnapped by his well meaning rich friends, his "pool room" mates find him and then he has the job of getting himself and his inebriated friends to the church on time.

Jobyna Ralston, as Hope, can't be over-estimated. Even though her role is usually "the girl", either rich girl, poor girl or working girl, she compliments Harold Lloyd so much and brings so much to his movies on her own, it would be hard for me to imagine any other actress in the role. Noah Young also adds immensely to the laughs as the leader of the thugs. And three cheers for the wonderful Robert Israel and his Orchestra - if only he could score the music for all the silent movies that are available.

Highly, Highly Recommended.

Callous millionaire playboy Harold Manners (Harold Lloyd) mistakenly burns down street preacher Brother Paul's coffee cart for the poor. He overpays a $1000 cheque and Paul builds a mission in his name. Harold's horrified to find his name associated with the do-gooder and intends to take down his name. Instead he falls for Paul's daughter Downtown Girl Hope and works to win her heart by creating a thriving mission. When their marriage is announced, his rich friends from the old days kidnap him for his own good.

The train running over his car is hilarious. Lloyd's unflinching deadpan delivery absolutely sells it. There are great comedy bits throughout. The romance isn't that bad either although it's pretty straight forward. There are a few big stunts but nothing as iconic as his building climb. The bus ride during the climax is impressive at times. This is good fun.

Uptown millionaire J. Harold Manners leads a life insulated by his immense wealth until he meets a very pretty young lady working with her father in a Downtown skid row mission.

Comic genius Harold Lloyd had another tremendous success with FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, a silent film very simple of plot but wildly delirious in terms of hilarious detail & inspiration. Harold had the enviable knack of making an audience like him immediately and empathize with his tribulations. They entered into and became a part of his gags, watching them build and grow, until the final explosion of laughter and the immediate start of his next comedic onslaught.

Here, Harold has two of his finest sequences, two very different extended chases which illustrate his visual wizardry and perfect timing. In the first, Harold infuriates a growing crowd of enraged hoodlums, crooks and ne'er-do-wells into chasing him into the mission, so as to please the sweet young lady. In the second, which climaxes the movie, Harold races to his own delayed wedding, through crowded New York streets (actually filmed in Los Angeles), while shepherding five very friendly and extremely intoxicated bums, culminating in a wild ride atop a runaway double-decker bus. Through it all, Harold exhibits his magnificent athletic ability, putting himself in real danger, a self-imposed peril made even more remarkable by the fact that he was missing half of his right hand.

The production values in the film are absolutely first rate, even down to casting the ‘faces,' wistful & careworn, seen in the mission scenes. The logistics involved in filming the action sequences on actual city streets, involving crowds of extras and split-second precision timing for the stunts, is beyond merely impressive. Lloyd, who fathered the idea, put the film through five previews until he was sure he had it perfect.

Jobyna Ralston once again amply fills the role of the girl of Harold's dreams. Diminutive Paul Weigel exudes saintly goodness as her father. Noah Young brings bullish bluster to his role of a tough gangster tamed by Mr. Lloyd.

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