I Do

In this Harold Lloyd short, Lloyd and Mildred Davis play a newlywed couple who get stuck watching their two nephews. One is a baby, the other a toddler, and they proceed to drive Lloyd crazy as only little children can. Lloyd finds his slippers nailed to the floor, finds that preparing a bottle isn't as easy as it might seem and really finds out what it means to be a dad when the toddler comes home with an armload of fireworks and begins shooting them at him and the maid.

As far as Lloyd's short comedies go, this isn't one of his funniest, but it's only 25 minutes long, and hey, it's Harold Lloyd after all. You'll be able to see the ending coming practically before the movie has even started.

Grade: B-

The plot is predictable and thus (to me) not that amusing. There were some nice touches, (like what turned out to really be in the baby carriage!)

The animation at the beginning was quite clever. Not being a film historian I don't know how common animation was at the time, but I liked it's inclusion in a live action short.

I would recommend other Harold Lloyd films instead, such as "Number, Please" or "Bumping Into Broadway".

I have nothing more to say, please change the minimum line requirement to something that rewards, not punishes brevity!

A Hal Roach HAROLD LLOYD film.

When he says `I DO' at his nuptials, a young man has no idea the travail his wife's family will put him through.

Harold Lloyd had another winner with this domestic comedy in which he must deal with his wife's nephews, the elder a dreadful little brat and the younger a crying baby, during a long & frightful night. As so often happened, Harold's superb athletic abilities enhance his role, even with half of his mutilated right hand hidden by a special glove. Lloyd's hilarious HOT WATER, which came three years later, doubtless drew some of its inspiration from this film.

I DO originally ran longer, but when the preview audience didn't respond with enough laughs to the opening scenes Harold removed the entire first reel, tightening the picture down to a tad under 25 minutes. The animated sequence depicting the wedding is a nice touch.

Mildred Davis appropriately plays Harold's wife - they would soon be married in real life. Noah Young, who acted many a tough guy in Lloyd's films, lends his menacing presence to the end of the movie.

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

Generally, I liked this short by Harold Lloyd, though I have to admit that part of the final minutes of the film looked like a re-hash of HAUNTED SPOOKS (also by Lloyd--a year earlier).

Harold is newly married and the first portion of the film concerns he and his wife's attempts to sneak wine into their home during Prohibition. For the most part, this is just an okay portion of the film.

Later, Harold's brother-in-law drops off his two kids for the Lloyd's to watch. The baby seems like a pretty typical child, but the 4 year-old is the spawn of Satan! He is just 100% awful--which is a strength and weakness of the film. It's a strength because some of the horrible things the kid does are pretty funny--such as sawing off the legs of furniture (it's funny to see such a cute little kid do this so easily) and nailing Harold's slippers to the floor! The problem is, after a while some of the evil things the kid does are just ridiculous (such as leaving the house and coming back with an armload of fireworks--this is just too contrived). Plus, there gets a point when it's no longer funny--you just are rooting to see Harold belt the kid! All-in-all, not a great film but full of funny moments--enough to please all but the worst curmudgeons out there.

This Harold Lloyd short wasn't really much; not one of his funnier efforts. Of course, I never see bratty kids as anything hilarious. That's what the bulk of this story is, Harold and his wife, Mildred Davis, babysitting his in-laws two young kids. One is a baby who is constantly crying and the other is a four-year-old terror who does everything but demolish the house. Letting the kid create havoc over and over was not entertaining to me.

The best part was the last four or five minutes when the couple thinks that this big goon (Noah Young) is burglarizing their house. Half the time it's the pet cat scaring the couple, but overall, that segment is fun with some good sight gags, reminding me of another Lloyd short, "Haunted Spooks."

However, the good ending doesn't save the whole picture, which I probably wouldn't watch again. Lloyd has done too many other good things to waste even 25 minutes on this one again. It just isn't that funny.