Um Himmelswillen, Harold Lloyd! (1926)

Um Himmelswillen, Harold Lloyd!: Directed by Sam Taylor. With Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Noah Young, Jim Mason. An irresponsible young millionaire changes his tune when he falls for the daughter of a downtown minister.

“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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eComic genius Harold Lloyd had another tremendous success with FOR HEAVENu0026#39;S SAKE, a silent film very simple of plot but wildly delirious in terms of hilarious detail u0026amp; 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHere, 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 neu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe production values in the film are absolutely first rate, even down to casting the ‘faces,u0026#39; wistful u0026amp; 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJobyna Ralston once again amply fills the role of the girl of Haroldu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRobert Israel has composed an excellent film score which perfectly complements Haroldu0026#39;s antics on the screen.”