O Professor Faraó

Professor, Beware is fun, funny, charming, heart-warming, and an all around great old film. More so, it is a great adventure like an original Indiana Jones movie. More so, it has some concepts that bear thinking about - more than most comedies. This is the kind of film that one gives a satisfied sigh afterwards and says: "They don't make em like that anymore".

Enjoy!

"Professor Beware," in addition to the amazing Mr. Lloyd, boasts a supporting cast of heavyweights: Lionel Stander, Raymond Walburn, William Frawley, Sterling Holloway, Cora Witherspoon and Thurston Hall. Each of these character actors add immensely to the story, which is a quest in the best sense of the word. Lloyd is a professor of Egyptology who is searching for the final, but lost, tablet that will solve a riddle of the ages. His cross-country journey that ends on a yacht with one of the best comic fight scenes in movie history is fraught with mishaps and odd characters who block Lloyd's frantic attempts to get to New York in order to catch a steamship to Egypt. It is unfortunate that this film is not available in any form (I have a VHS tape from TV I made in the '90s) and not even on Turner Classic Movies. If you have the opportunity to see the film, be sure to do so. A true comic classic.

Harold Lloyd was a comedic icon with few real equals in early cinema, even if he may not have had the same name recognition as some contemporaries. Lloyd gave us the same reliable stunts, gags, situational humor, physical comedy, and general silliness, and there's not one of his silent classics that isn't a terrific, hilarious classic. Then again, while the man's career continued past the advent of talkies, his meaningful success thereafter is far more variable. 1932's 'Movie crazy' is a clever, delightful blast that definitely recalls the energy and wit of its silent predecessors, but the same can't be said for 1930's 'Feet first,' which was an improvement on 1929's 'Welcome danger'; in my opinion this title's immediate antecedent, 1936's 'The milky way,' was possibly the weakest picture Lloyd was ever involved with. It's not necessarily that there was a specific struggle with the new sound format, and the aforementioned sound features were still enjoyable in some measure, yet they're a big step down for a cinematic legend; somewhere along the line the cleverness and vitality just leaked away from the star's output. Sadly, I think 'Professor beware' tends to have more in common with that lesser side of his body of work, and it pales in comparison to Lloyd's best.

By all means, this 1938 flick earns some laughs. Regrettably, they are all too few. Like in 'The milky way,' the situational humor is somewhat overtaken by plot, and the plot is thin and less than convincing. Rather than inspire the desired reaction, some would-be sharp dialogue, some gags, and some of the abject ridiculousness just come off as hollow raucousness and empty hot air. The pacing is troubled, as too many story beats and intended jokes are disallowed from manifesting, breathing, and resolving in their own time; the film just rather blows past some of the writing, and as a result feels scattered and harried. In turn, 'Professor beware' becomes sadly ordinary and unremarkable: there are wide swaths of fare from the early to mid 30s that's reasonably well made, and which provides a good time to some extent, but which exists in a bland, middling space that fails to make any big impression. This, I'm sorry to say, distinctly seems to count among such so-so cinema. It's not outright bad, and there are far worse things you could watch. The whole thing, though, is that for a star who at his best earned one laugh after another and commanded our attention, a piece that struggles to earn either laughs or mere engagement is a huge fumble.

The writing favors utmost zest and pizazz over sly ingenuity, or judicious storytelling; even if that weren't true, Elliott Nugent's direction is far too uncareful - orchestrating scenes with high energy, sure, but treating the material poorly. There are ideas here that should be delightful, yet through to the bombastic climax, so much of it is instead simply overcooked and dull, like meat that's left on a grill until it's charred and flavorless. The cast fully embraces the bluster, bless their hearts, not least with Lloyd sacrificing his body, and this is well done in all other regards: sets, costume design, stunts, effects, and so on. It rather says a lot, however, that as the digital timer broached the one hour mark I had all but checked out of the viewing experience, and there was still another solid half-hour to go. If you want a 30s comedy, you'll get it, and it's a decent enough way to spend ninety minutes, but I strongly suggest that you follow this up by revisiting 'Dr. Jack,' 'The freshman,' or 'Why worry?' - any one of the icon's silent classics stand head, shoulder, knees, and toes above 'Professor beware,' and only by checking them out will you truly get a good sense of what Lloyd was capable of. Oh well.

PROFESSOR BEWARE (A Paramount Release, 1938), directed by Elliott Nugent, stars Harold Lloyd, silent film comedian of the 1920s, in his final sound comedy of the 1930s. Lloyd, whose movie career dates back to 1915, first appearing in comedy shorts before reinventing his "glasses" character from short to feature length comedies through the next decade, has come a long way since his talking debut in WELCOME DANGER (1929). Producing a new comedy every two years by the 1930s, Lloyd was always searching for new ideas to make his next comedy better than his last. Though PROFESSOR BEWARE attempts to work its way with familiar material adding a fine mix of old and new comedy routines, the final result is a series of segment chases during its 93 minute course.

The prologue opens briefly "in ancient Egypt 3000 years ago" where Neferus is being buried alive in a tomb while Anebi, the woman responsible for his downfall, screams while looking on. Move forward, "Los Angeles, 3000 years later," introduces Professor Dean Lambert (Harold Lloyd), an archealogist for the Olympia Museum, who happens to be the exact replica (except for his glasses) of the statue image of Neferus. Because of Neferus' fate, which has Lambert refusing to have anything to do with women fearing it may be responsible for his own downfall, as explained on the Egyptian tablets, history begins to repeat itself. No sooner after driving away from the museum does Lambert meet Jane Van Buren (Phyllis Welch), a damsel in distress stranded on the road with her car in the ditch with "Snoop" Donlan (William Frawley), her talent scout, on their way to an audition. Hanlon not only happens to be found drunk inside her car, but happens to be left unconscious in his underwear. Lambert is talked into giving his clothes to Donlan so they can be on their way to the theater. When Lambert is caught by the police in his underwear, he gets arrested and immediately loses his museum job. Invited to go on an Egyptian expedition, Lambert accepts, leaving for New York City to meet the boat on its way to Egypt, but has trouble heading for his destination. Being accused of stealing Donlans's priceless watch, Jane, who loses her audition anyway, drives cross country in the stolen museum station wagon, searching for Lambert to bring him back to prove his innocence. Their paths eventually do meet, with Lambert, determined not to miss that boat to Egypt, both venture on their cross country road tour which becomes a series of one misadventure after another. Also in the cast are Raymond Walburn (Judge James G. Parkhouse Marshall), Lionel Stander (Jerry Jerimiah), Thurston Hall (J.J. Van Buren), Clara Blandick (Amelia Green, the landlady), Cora Witherspoon, Sterling Holloway, Irving Bacon, Montagu Love, Charles Lane, Guinn Williams, Ward Bond, among many others.

Though PROFESSOR BEWARE doesn't compare with Harold Lloyd's best silent comedies (namely SAFETY LAST (1923), SPEEDY (1928), the film overall is entertaining enough to sit through its entirety without losing any interest. Scenes involving Lloyd's Lambert driving his car under a tent, or he ending up frozen after being taken out from a refrigerated train car, are reminiscent to any one of the Three Stooges comedy shorts. There's also a lengthy scene involving Lloyd, Walburn and Standing bumming a ride on top of a freight train and making a run the opposite direction as the train approaches a tunnel, this being one of the highlights. As mentioned before, PROFESSOR BEWARE is a series of individual chases before its climatic run involving a build-up crowd of people chasing after Harold, being more in mood than exact manner to Buster Keaton's better constructed comedy short, COPS (1922). The aforementioned character-types help the movie along, and PROFESSOR BEWARE does have its huge assortment of them to go around. Lloyd's co-star, Phyllis Welch, makes her first and farewell performance on film. She works well as Lloyd's traveling companion, and might have gone further in movies had she not married and retired upon the film's release.

Unlike Lloyd's silent and sound comedies, PROFESSOR BEWARE was possibly the only Harold Lloyd comedy circulating on television since the 1960s, and more commonly shown notably on New York City's WPIX Channel 11 (1967-1973) for several years before having a brief stint on public television in the early 1980s. From 1994 to 1999, PROFESSOR BEWARE became part of the film library to cable television's American Movie Classics As much as Turner Classic Movies has had many tributes to the films and career of Harold Lloyd, ranging from silent to talkies, thus far, PROFESSOR BEWARE has never become part of its movie package. With no know video cassette or DVD distribution, PROFESSOR BEWARE deserves better recognition considering it being one of those movies that appears to have improved with age, regardless of its thin plot with familiar run-on gags in Harold's Lloyd's world of comedy. (*** tablets)

Harold Lloyd was more popular than Buster Keaton in the 1920s. He was a decent actor and was successful in the sound era. This is his last film, before the one-shot comeback for Preston Sturges in the 1940s. Harold is maturing in this movie. He plays straight for character actors such as Bill Frawley, Lionel Stander, Sterling Holloway, and Raymond Walburn. It is basically a long chase film with Harold being accused by car theft. There are plenty of sight gags, which Lloyd still performs beautifully. In the dialogue scenes, he has become a very sharp straight man. Is this a great film? No. Is it as funny as "Safety Last" or "Speedy"? Certainly not! But it is no embarrassment! Lloyd could have continued making these affable little comedies. He was tired of the business and decided to become a producer. For years this film was difficult to see, but it is now part of the AMC package. It is pleasant and Lloyd's star still shines brightly.