Pour l'amour du ciel

Uptown millionaire J. Harold Manners leads a life insulated by his immense wealth until he meets a very pretty young lady working with her father in a Downtown skid row mission.

Comic genius Harold Lloyd had another tremendous success with FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, a silent film very simple of plot but wildly delirious in terms of hilarious detail & inspiration. Harold had the enviable knack of making an audience like him immediately and empathize with his tribulations. They entered into and became a part of his gags, watching them build and grow, until the final explosion of laughter and the immediate start of his next comedic onslaught.

Here, Harold has two of his finest sequences, two very different extended chases which illustrate his visual wizardry and perfect timing. In the first, Harold infuriates a growing crowd of enraged hoodlums, crooks and ne'er-do-wells into chasing him into the mission, so as to please the sweet young lady. In the second, which climaxes the movie, Harold races to his own delayed wedding, through crowded New York streets (actually filmed in Los Angeles), while shepherding five very friendly and extremely intoxicated bums, culminating in a wild ride atop a runaway double-decker bus. Through it all, Harold exhibits his magnificent athletic ability, putting himself in real danger, a self-imposed peril made even more remarkable by the fact that he was missing half of his right hand.

The production values in the film are absolutely first rate, even down to casting the ‘faces,' wistful & careworn, seen in the mission scenes. The logistics involved in filming the action sequences on actual city streets, involving crowds of extras and split-second precision timing for the stunts, is beyond merely impressive. Lloyd, who fathered the idea, put the film through five previews until he was sure he had it perfect.

Jobyna Ralston once again amply fills the role of the girl of Harold's dreams. Diminutive Paul Weigel exudes saintly goodness as her father. Noah Young brings bullish bluster to his role of a tough gangster tamed by Mr. Lloyd.

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

Callous millionaire playboy Harold Manners (Harold Lloyd) mistakenly burns down street preacher Brother Paul's coffee cart for the poor. He overpays a $1000 cheque and Paul builds a mission in his name. Harold's horrified to find his name associated with the do-gooder and intends to take down his name. Instead he falls for Paul's daughter Downtown Girl Hope and works to win her heart by creating a thriving mission. When their marriage is announced, his rich friends from the old days kidnap him for his own good.

The train running over his car is hilarious. Lloyd's unflinching deadpan delivery absolutely sells it. There are great comedy bits throughout. The romance isn't that bad either although it's pretty straight forward. There are a few big stunts but nothing as iconic as his building climb. The bus ride during the climax is impressive at times. This is good fun.

Harold Lloyd in his prime as a multi-millionaire who thinks nothing of buying - and trashing - two cars in one day, and who funds a mission for the poor without realising it. He wants nothing to do with it until he spies the minister's comely daughter (Jobyna Ralston). Some decent jokes, an hilarious chase sequence, and a hair-raising race to the altar on a driverless bus help place this, perhaps lesser-known entry, amongst the comedian's better works.

As per 'Why Worry?', Harold Lloyd once again plays an eccentric millionaire here, though one without a worry in the world compared to his earlier hypochondriac. It is refreshing to see Lloyd as something other than his usual nebbish self and the film gets off to a strong start with Lloyd causing chaos everywhere while never being phased, not even when bandits are shooting at him from a speeding car. The plot soon veers in a very different direction though as Lloyd meets and falls in love with the daughter of a preacher who he accidentally donated to. It is a plot turn that comes without any character progression and it almost feels as two different films have been spliced together as Lloyd jumps from being cool and detached to energetically drumming up business for the preacher's mission 'Never Weaken' style. There is also a weird kidnapping subplot that comes out of nowhere and never quite feels right (despite leading to a good chase scene). Indeed, clocking in at under one hour, it feels as if a significant chunk of the film is missing - and according to some reports, Lloyd trimmed the movie himself after being dissatisfied with the final product. The film is not quite as poor as all that, but coming on the back of the well developed narrative comedy that 'The Freshman' was, this feels like a step back towards the skits-based plotting of his earlier works.

I saw this film at the Silent Movie Theater when I was in Los Angeles last summer. It was my first Lloyd. Three quarters of the film was as funny as any Buster Keaton film I've ever seen, and funnier than any Chaplin. I tend to be more of a smiler than a laugh-out-louder, but the first chase scene in this film gave me abdominal cramps. It brought the house down. I don't think I've ever heard such raucous laughter in a movie theater before. It was a great, great chase scene. And it was a great experience being in a theater packed with people, even little kids, fully enjoying a 75+ year old film.

I've since seen two more Lloyd features, Hot Water and Speedy, but For Heaven's Sake is my favorite so far. If it weren't for a long and kinda unfunny sequence toward the late middle of the film, with Harold herding a pack of drunks, it would probably be my favorite silent comedy, period--my current favorite is Keaton's The Cameraman, incidentally.

The announcer guy at the theater claimed the print of For Heaven's Sake they were screening was the only one in existence. I don't know if it was an original nitrate print or what. I think I remember that it looked fairly pristine. I hope the film makes it to DVD soon, lest something unfortunate happen to the print, especially if they're going to take chances screening it publicly.