"Movie Crazy" *** 1\2 (out of ****)
Harold Lloyd wants to become an actor!
Of course the real Harold Lloyd was a movie star but in "Movie Crazy" (1932) Lloyd plays Harold Hall, a young innocent man who dreams of one day acting in movies while his parents (Dewitt Jennings and Lucy Beaumont) watch on disapprovingly. Harold should stop wasting his time and do something constructive with his life.
But Harold has a plan. After reading a gossip movie magazine he comes across an ad. Hollywood is looking for new faces. People are encouraged to send in head shots along with a letter. Harold sees this as his big chance to find fame and to prove his parents wrong.
This set-up is, well, lets not beat around the bush, it was directly taken from the Mabel Normand silent comedy "The Extra Girl" (1923), which I have reviewed on here already. Even a mix-up with the head shots is used as the original photo Harold had of himself is accidentally knocked off the table as Harold sends another photo of a better looking man.
I was luke-warm to "The Extra Girl" and Normand's style of comedy. But I prefer "Movie Crazy". Neither film becomes a direct spoof on the industry, which I would have liked, but "Movie Crazy" does have better gags for Lloyd to work with. My problem with "The Extra Girl" and Normand was she didn't seem to be doing anything. There weren't enough set pieces for her. "Movie Crazy" puts Harold in very funny situations as it becomes something of a romantic screwball comedy.
The film was directed by Clyde Bruckman. Bruckman will not be known to most readers but during his day he was an important figure in comedy. He directed Buster Keaton in "The General" and co-wrote Keaton comedies such as "Sherlock, Jr.", "Our Hospitality" and "The Cameraman" (often regarded as Keaton's last silent masterpiece). He worked for Laurel & Hardy during the silent era as well, directing their two reelers "The Finishing Touch" and "Putting Pants on Philip" (one of their first shorts as an actual team). And he worked with Lloyd, directing two other talking films, "Feet First" and Lloyd's debut sound film "Welcome Danger" (which I may include in my "Masterpiece Film Series").
One of the writers on the film, (besides Bruckman and Lloyd) was Felix Adler. He too was an old comedy pro. Adler wrote several scripts for Laurel & Hardy including one of my favorites "Way Out West", "Saps at Sea", "A Chump at Oxford" and wrote Lloyd's previous talking comedies as well, "Danger" and "Feet".
But even with talented people behind him today's public doesn't appreciate Lloyd's sound movies. I have a hard time understanding why. When filmbuffs think of Harold Lloyd naturally his silent films come to mind (I included his "Safety Last" in my "Masterpiece Film Series). But the sound pictures tend to be ignored. Today's audiences just won't accept Lloyd in a talking film. The public at the time responded well to the films, though many did say Lloyd's comedy stopped being physical and became more verbal. This doesn't bother me. Movies had a new dimension to them. Sound provided another outlet for comedians to find laughs. Lloyd would be foolish not to explore it and all the possibilities of sound.
In "Movie Crazy" Lloyd does have some very good visual gags. The film's opening has a clever piece between Lloyd, a car and a bike. I won't spoil it but it reminds me very much of the opening of "Safety Last" in the sense we are set to believe one thing only to find it is the opposite. The gag in "Movie Crazy" takes us back to the silent era.
Another set-piece and probably the best, it takes up the most running time, is at a dinner party. Harold, mistakenly, thinks he has been invited, while in the restroom, he gets his coat mixed up with a magician, who has various, shall we say, "tricks" up his sleeve. Harold proceeds to the dance floor and becomes very surprised at his coat.
Harold had another problem with his coat the his silent film "The Freshman" (1925) when a tailor wasn't finished sewing his coat but Lloyd in a panic was afraid he would be late for a party, so he brings the tailor along as the suit falls apart. It clearly must have been the inspiration for the "Movie Crazy" sequence.
But that's what silent comedies did. Comedians took material from their silent films, added a few new changes and adapted it for sound. Many times the pieces are funny in sound pictures because we can hear reactions and word play.
Co-starring with Lloyd here is Constance Cummings. An attractive actress whom sadly never really found the fame she was looking for in Hollywood. "Movie Crazy" is one of the highlights of her Hollywood days (she later moved to England where she found more success. She appeared in the Noel Coward/David Lean collaboration of "Blithe Spirit"). Here she plays Mary Sears, an actress working on a picture where she plays a Spanish lady. She is the first person Harold sees when he arrives in Hollywood. For him it is love at first sight. She doesn't remember who he is.
The two meet again only this time Mary is not in costume. Harold doesn't recognize her. And thus treats her differently. In fact he is not impressed by her looks at all. Mary is bewildered by this. Usually men make advances at her every five minutes. What's Harold problem? But Harold is waiting for the Spanish lady to come his way. Once Mary soon figures out what is going on, she has some fun with the situation. This is the romantic comedy aspect of the film.
Interfering in all of this is Mary's co-star in the film within the film Vance (Kenneth Thomson). A drunk who thinks their on-screen romance should be off-screen as well. If he can't have Mary no one can, including Harold.
"Movie Crazy" while really is just a collection of comedy sequences rolled into a movie, has a nice pace to it and does keep a narrative storyline moving along. It doesn't have a strong beginning, middle and end and not really much of a conflict but this is a comedy. It's main objective is to
make us laugh. And "Movie Crazy" does have enough funny sequences to make us laugh.
Back in the silent era and the early 30s comedies just wanted to be funny. There weren't interested in a moral or even following a consistent storyline. But that is OK. I don't mind because I understand their objective. If the movie is funny I'll recommend it. And "Movie Crazy" is one of Lloyd's best sound pictures with only "Welcome Danger" as another top contender.
Viewers should keep their eyes open during the dinner party scene and spot Arthur Houseman as a guest playing a drunk. Every time I see him in a movie he played a drunk except in "Sunrise".
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