High and Dizzy

Fast-paced fun which, as often with Harold Lloyd, features distinct - and proved - backdrops for his gags: first, the doctor's office (where the star, as a novice M.D., is forced to impersonate his own clients as a ruse to attract genuine ones!); then, the city streets after a drinking binge with his pal (capped by a pre-SAFETY LAST! [1923] scene in which they fall foul of a policeman); next, the hotel lobby where the reception desk and an elevator become the 'targets' of Lloyd's drunken havoc; and, finally, the trademark 'thrill' sequence in which both the tipsy Lloyd and sleep-walking heroine Mildred Davis are seen walking perilously on the ledge of a tall building!

I rarely mention what other reviewers say but since there are only a half dozen reviews of this Harold Lloyd Short, I read them all and would pretty much agree with the comments about it being "uneven" and Lloyd's drunk routine not up to his 'character,' a persona he had acquired by the mid to late '20s, I admit, though, he and actor Ray Brooks team up to do a few funny gags as the two drunks stagger their way around town. It's obvious Lloyd is talented, but was still learning what roles were going to work best for him down the road.

There are some other clever sight gags in here (a man tying himself up in post, Lloyd pretending to be his first patients as a doctor, etc.) but overall this isn't really much until the final five minutes when Harold goes into his walking-on- the-ledge of a building routine. It's pretty amazing stuff. The romantic ending with the quickest wedding 'ceremony' in history is totally goofy but fun to watch.

To be perfectly honest, I was expecting more. This isn't one of Lloyd's films I sit through often, even if it is short.

Mildred Davis sleepwalks. Her father, Wallace Howe, brings her in to Doctor Harold Lloyd for a consultation.

It's an ambitious comedy for Harold, timing in at almost half an hour.... which is, alas, a fawning way of saying that it's not as good as it might have been trimmed a bit shorter. But there's no doubt that Harold was getting popular. Yet so long as he stayed in short subjects, the money would remain likewise short, renting for so much a reel. The twenty-six minutes this one takes might not seem much to the modern audience for a blockbuster, but it allowed everyone at Hal Roach's studio to stretch a bit and see what they could do at longer lengths.

Unfortunately, it sags in the middle. Harold gets drunk with friendly bootlegger Roy Brooks, and the gags when they are together are pretty good. However, eventually Harold is off on his own, and the jokes are not as good.... and then out of nowhere, it's time to wrap up the movie.

Harold and his writers hadn't learned how to pace a longer comedy. They soon would learn; they could write a straight drama and when it didn't work out in previews, turn it into a comedy by dropping in gags, but stories don't stop and start like that.

Dr. Hale (Harold Lloyd) is a bumbling new doctor out of medical school. Work is rare. A man and his daughter walk into his practice. Hale works hard to pretend to be busy. It's love at first sight for him and the sleepwalking beauty. The father is not impressed and quickly takes his daughter away. Hale ends up getting high and dizzy on his office neighbor's secret stash of moonshine. The two drunks go to the hotel where Hale encounters the sleepwalking girl on the ledge.

This has Lloyd's brand of physical comedy. It has his highrise stunts still at its primitive stage. This Hal Roach short film is a precursor to his masterpieces later on. There is a bit of bite to his character in this one. It's a fun introduction.

For much of the running time of this Harold Lloyd comedy, the quality of the story and the gags is somewhat uneven, but the last several minutes more than make up for any weaknesses. The whole movie is worth seeing, although for much of the time it alternates some very funny moments with more routine material. Later on, though, everything comes together in a finale that is funny, clever, and exciting.

Lloyd plays an inexperienced young doctor who falls in love with a patient played by Mildred Davis, and who then goes on a drinking binge with a friend played by Roy Brooks. There are some very funny gags in the 'drunk' sequence, and in particular the confrontation with the policeman features some very good timing and slapstick. The drunk act is slightly unusual material for Lloyd, and while most of the same things had already been done by screen comics like Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle who were particularly adept at it, much of it works here.

But it's the climactic sequence at the hotel that really makes "High and Dizzy" worthwhile. It's set up well, and it anticipates the more elaborate, brilliant sequence in "Safety Last". It also ties things together cleverly, and by saving the best for last, it turns a solid slapstick comedy into a very entertaining movie.