Now or Never

(2021) Now or Never SILENT COMEDY

Some of the gags also includes the child asking Lloyd for a drink of water before she asks him for a cup of milk to which he would onto the chord of the train so that he would get milk from a cow from a nearby farm. There's another scene where Lloyd is trying to wash, and he manages to have step out of the train since he thought the train made it's stop where he wanted to go. One of the most daring scenes happen when Lloyd was on top a train, and their were some moments where it looked as if he was hanging that high! The sequence with Lloyd and a bridge looked kind of dangerous as well!

A Hal Roach HAROLD LLOYD 3-Reeler.

A young fellow must suddenly care for an infant on a very eventful overnight train trip.

Harold Lloyd has a field day in this wonderful short silent film, NOW OR NEVER. His athletic prowess was never in more demand than here where - with half his right hand missing and disguised by a glove - he jumps, crawls, runs, leaps and squirms his way all over, under and through a passenger train. Along the way he must contend with thieving hobos, belligerent passengers, unfriendly bullies, suspicious conductors and the demands of a precocious tiny tot, charmingly played by little Anna Mae Bilson. Through all perplexities & befuddlements, and a lot of real physical danger, Harold is never less than astoundingly funny.

Pretty Mildred Davis plays the infant's nursemaid; Miss Davis' association with Harold Lloyd was at this time turning to romance and would soon culminate in marriage.

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

Dolly is a poor little rich girl ignored by her parents and cared for by her nanny Mary. Mary is going home on vacation and takes along Dolly. She expects to reunite with childhood friend (Harold Lloyd). Meanwhile, he's struggling every which way to get to her. The group meets and boards a train but Mary is surprised to find Dolly's father on the train whom she has not informed about taking Dolly.

This is Harold Lloyd before he becomes the famous Harold Lloyd but he's that character already. There's also a tramp who looks like the famous tramp. Lloyd's entry is a lot of action and hilarious stunts. He's going full out on the big action scenes. Once the gang boards the train, they do get stymied by the interior comedy work. I would say that it's a half step below the great tramp. There is a comparison with Chaplin's The Kid. This one lacks the emotional connection compared to The Kid. It limits its full potential until he gets on top of the train for the grande finale. I can do without the black-face but that's comedy of its time. This is Lloyd growing into one of the greats of his era.

Being a three-reeler, this Harold Lloyd vehicle commands more attention than his typical short - though it's not quite as rounded as his feature-length films either!

Train-set for a good part of the duration, it provides plenty of gags characteristic to such a situation: being a stowaway with a small girl in tow, Lloyd has to devise several ways in which to avoid detection; there's a lengthy scene in the berths (at one point, Lloyd causes the train to make an emergency stop in the middle of the country-side simply because his spoilt ward wants a glass of milk!); and the star even contrives to find himself on top of the train as it's speeding towards a tunnel.

As with many of his other shorts I've watched, a good enough comedy but these, somehow, aren't as highly regarded as the equivalent work of a Keaton or even Laurel & Hardy!

Nothing great in this 3-reel comedy from Harold Lloyd. He would use much of this material later in his career and to better effect. The sets are crude and the storyline choppy. Mildred Davis (the girl) disappears for much of the film, and Anna May Bilson (as the little girl--not a boy as stated in the plot summary here) is not very photogenic. Some good comedy bits, but nothing great. And yes, Mildred Davis would become Lloyd's wife soon after this film was completed.