A Gasoline Wedding

One of Harold Lloyd's shorts casts him as a man wooing a woman who's dissatisfied with her suitors. A wacky chase erupts. Most of the shorts from cinema's infancy were nothing spectacular, but were enjoyable nonetheless. I got a few laughs out of "A Gasoline Wedding".

Rich papa is trying to marry off daughter Bebe and who should show up among the usual wealth seekers but Harold Lloyd in morning clothes?

As with many of the early "glasses" shorts, the jokes are hard-knock slapstick; Harold bests his competition by whacking them on the head with a croquet mallet. Nonetheless, this one is a bit more interesting than most because we see signs of the coming gags -- Harold's old car is a source of pride for him, leading to a longstanding tradition at the Roach studios of some great auto gags.

Lloyd's style would not really take off for another couple of years, until he was working in two-reelers and venturing into three-reelers. One-reel comedies like this did not permit enough character exposition to foster Lloyd's eccentric but believable style of comedy. Still, on its own terms, it is a successful farce.

I assume it cost about a penny to watch these one-reelers. I think audiences got their penny's worth in this case.

Some rich doofus is trying to marry off his daughter to another rich doofus. Harold Lloyd crashes the proceedings. Hijinks ensue.

Lots of getting hit on the head with a mallet or kicked in the sss. Not too much thinking required.

I liken these early comedies to Youtube cat videos: primitive use of a fairly new medium, catering to simple minds. Go heavy on the physical antics. Story optional.

Besides, what more can you expect for a penny? Lloyd's good stuff comes years later. And it probably cost a nickle to go see.

A Gasoline Wedding (1918)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A group of men show up to the house of a rich man who is trying to marry off his beautiful daughter (Bebe Daniels). The father hopes to con her into marrying a rich man but The Boy (Harold Lloyd) shows up to win her hand. Of course, he's as broke as can be. A GASOLINE WEDDING features some nice laughs, a terrific twist at the end and it's certainly worth watching by silent buffs or fans of Lloyd. I thought the film started off pretty good as we see a wide range of men showing up to impress the young lady and then we get Lloyd entering the picture and even having to play a funny joke to get inside. The fighting that Lloyd does to get the girl was quite funny but so was the twist at the end, which I won't spoil here. It's certainly not what some people are going to expect and the line of dialogue that follows is just priceless and perfectly pulled off. Lloyd, Daniels and 'Snub' Pollard are all in fine form and especially the two leads. There's no question that Lloyd and Daniels had some real chemistry together and they come across very charming here.

In the 1910s, Harold Lloyd was popular, though no where near as popular as he would become in the 1920s. I think a lot of this was because in the 1910s, Lloyd still hadn't perfected the persona that served him so well in the 20s. Up until about 1917-18, Harold played a very abrasive and annoying character called 'Lonesome Luke' and the switched to the bespectacled guy the world came to love. However, although Lloyd's look was perfected, the character itself sure wasn't. Instead of being the sweet, likable wimpy hero of the 20s, this character was often a jerk and relied on slapstick instead of characterization. While "A Gasoline Wedding" is very good for the 1910s and it features Lloyd with his trademark glasses, it clearly isn't sweet!

The story begins with lots of suitors vying for a young lady (Bebe Daniels). Her father wants her to marry some rich jerk, but she's fallen for a not at all jerk (Lloyd) and the pair sneak off to get married. In her place, she leaves the butler (Snub Pollard) dressed as her in order to divert attention.

The film is enjoyable...especially the double wedding at the end. But it also relies too much on slapstick violence and isn't especially distinctive. Worth seeing but hardly up to Lloyd's later standards.