Three reeler time from Mr. Lloyd, as we ring in the year 1921, it’s NOW OR NEVER, come hold me tight, kiss me my darling, be mine ton…..sorry, got carried away there. Anywho, my main take away from this one, other than having an Elvis song stuck in my head every time I think of the title, is that Lloyd is slowly transitioning into features at this point, but not quite there yet. There is a bit of a dramatic story at the beginning with a neglected little girl who has a workaholic father and a social climbing mother. The people she seems to get the most care from are the eighteen year old maid, played by Mildred Davis and Harold himself once he’s in her care. This brings up a point that Mildred is really closer to Jobyna Ralston territory here in that her character seems more like a normal, fleshed out person versus the overly innocent little girl or comic spoiled brat she usually plays. More like the kind of leading lady, in other words, that appears in Lloyd’s mature features.
The back story of Harold and Mildred as children is cute and also feels like the kind of thing we’d see in a feature. We get a scene of the two as children and Harold promising to meet her again on her eighteenth birthday - and of course he does. I love the way they instantly recognize each other after all these years when they see each other. Just one of those things that adds some innocence to the story. So yes, these feature film qualities out of the way, this is a three reeler after all, so we get lots of gags, mostly on a train, or below a train, or on top of a train.
From a physical comedy point of view, my personal favorite part is Harold hitching a ride on the bottom of a speeding train while at the same time trying to get back stolen money from a hobo. A really funny visual scene and if in real life, incredibly dangerous. Nice topper when Harold goes through all that trouble and danger and has the money blown away through a cruel twist of fate. After that, all is forgotten with the hobo and they share newspapers and cigarettes. I really, really love that scene. We get a pretty cool thrill finale on top of the train as well. Harold, or probably a stunt double, doing some miraculous dodging and ducking to avoid smacking into a tunnel. So yes, all parts of the train get utilized here.
In the train itself, we get some cool berth gags. Love the way Harold tricks the porter into putting the two drunk guys in the same berth so he can have an empty berth all to himself. There’s also the gag where he gets the ticket from the man running to the train which always cracks me up. Yeah, another case where it’s not nice in real life, but played for comedy and daring and creativity just the same. The stuff with the little girl asking Harold for milk and water and to sing her a bedtime song is all cutesy stuff that would fit fine in an Our Gang short - or maybe a feature. Harold’s reactions to the girl pestering him are great. There is one part where he looks at the audience, breaking the fourth wall, very much like Oliver Hardy would years later. The milk gag is my favorite, the way he stops the train to simply go outside and get some milk from a cow.
So yes, a very good, transitional short for Harold Lloyd. Starting with the last short we discussed and going forward, Fred Newmeyer is in the picture directing. He’s somebody else who will join Harold in the transition to features.
