Marin malgré lui

A pretty unremarkable Harold Lloyd comedy that finds our scrappy hero unwittingly signing on with the U.S. Navy in order to impress a girl. You can probably guess the physical and sight gags that go along with life on a Navy vessel, and then a large portion of the latter half of the film finds Harold in an unnamed Arabian country single-handedly fighting hordes of sword-wielding goons in order to rescue his fair love, who's been kidnapped by a wealthy sultan. There isn't a whole lot to remember about this film -- I had to look it up just to remind myself of what the plot was about -- but Harold Lloyd fans know that even his lesser films provide a good deal of entertainment.

Grade: B

A brash millionaire, Harold Lloyd, impulsively joins the Navy to prove his worth to his girlfriend's rich father in this pleasant if unspectacular comedy. "Sailor Made Man" was Harold Lloyd's first feature comedy, which, according to reports, was originally conceived as a short film which grew increasingly longer. That evolution can be detected in the rather simple plot and lack of sophistication in regard to character development. In this film, Lloyd goes from being an insufferably selfish jerk to a somewhat normal sailor in about the length of one title card. Still, there are sufficient laughs, and a certain innocence to the romance that can't help but bring a smile, even if the film isn't as rich and assured as some of the features that followed. Not the best place to start for someone unfamiliar with Harold Lloyd, but a definite for fans.

While this film isn't really as long as most feature films, it is longer than a short and really falls in between the two types of films in length.

This film was remade three years later as WHY WORRY? though there were some changes made in the plot--enough that I recommend you see both. However the overall themes and plot elements are interchangeable. In both he's a rich guy who needs to grow up and be more industrious, and in both he ultimately rescues his lady while in a foreign land. In WHY WORRY? the setting was a revolution on a South American island and in this film it was a Muslim nation and its leader who kidnaps the lady to put her in his harem.

The general direction of the plot is pure Lloyd formula--wimpy guy meets girl and somehow rises to the occasion to fight for and win her. This is nicely made but not exactly different from many of his other films in this sense. It's worth seeing, but other films such as THE FRESHMAN, GIRL SHY and SPEEDY are better Lloyd vehicles.

Comedian Harold Lloyd was preparing for just another short film when the plot he and his team of writers came up with was sizzling with a wealth of gags. They were in a quandary whether to shelve some brilliant sequences to be within the restraints of their normal short 30-minute film or expand to a longer version. Producer Hal Roach recommended the later. Lloyd went along with his producer's opinion, and made his first feature film, December 1921's "A Sailor-Made Man." It was a decision that forever changed his movie career.

Clocking in at just 46 minutes, Lloyd's feature was a big money-maker at the theaters, cashing in almost half a million dollars on a $77,000 budget. The movie's plot of a rich playboy who is required to get a job before he marries his popular girlfriend could have easily fit into his previously two-reeler structure. But since his character's enrollment into the Navy required an exotic location, Lloyd expanded upon thrills and laughs to a longer motion picture.

This is Harold Lloyd's first "longer" film, going far longer than what was usual at the time (20-28 minutes per movie) but it moves as fast as movies half the length.

I haven't labeled too many of his films "charming," but that might fit here: charming and funny, of course. It has the usual silent-film wild ending that most feature silent comedies had. Instead of some streets, we have a chase through the Rajah's palace (including a pool) with all kinds of slapstick gags in the mix.

Earlier, rich-boy Harold becomes a common Navy sailor and the scenes on the ship, although not laugh-out-loud comedy, are in that charming category as the big bully seaman winds up being Harold's friend and fan.

All in all, without going into the whole story, it's simply a nice movie: nothing spectacular but definitely worth watching.