The second, and arguably best, of Harold Lloyd's sound pictures is this
rollicking madcap satire on the diabolical art of social climbing, with
Lloyd once again playing the bespectacled everyman character which made him
the highest paid actor in Hollywood. The film was directed by
Clyde Bruckman who worked with the other great comic actors of the era,
Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields and Laurel and Hardy.
Feet First is best remembered
for the hilarious set piece in which the comic genius indulges in a
series of death defying stunts halfway up the side of a
skyscraper. This sequence, similar to one seen in Lloyd's silent
masterpiece Safety Last
(1923), was realised without any camera trickery and shows the comic
performer at his most inventive. Just when you think the gag has
run its course, Lloyd surprises us with another Dare Devil stunt which
provokes even greater hilarity. Whilst Lloyd's sound films rarely
matched the brilliance of his earlier silent films, this is one that
does show an inspired touch, filled with gags which still have the
power to reduce a grown adult audience to tears of laughter.
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Film Synopsis
Harold Horne, a modest sales assistant in a Honolulu shoe store, falls
for a girl whom he believes to be his boss's daughter. By chance,
he ends up on a boat with the girl, his boss and the latter's wife, and
immediately starts trying to impress them by impersonating a business
tycoon. Harold's attempts to conceal his real identity become
increasingly desperate when he sees an advertisement in a newspaper in
which he is shown to be a successful graduate of an "improve your
personality" correspondence course. Having finally succeeded in
throwing all of the incriminating newspapers overboard, he ends up in a
mail bag and is transported by mail plane back to the mainland.
When he finally manages to get himself out of the mail bag, he finds
himself on a window cleaner's cradle, halfway up the side of a tall
building...
Script: Felix Adler, Lex Neal, John Grey (story),
Alfred A. Cohn (story), Clyde Bruckman (story),
Paul Girard Smith (dialogue)
Cinematographer: Henry N. Kohler,
Walter Lundin
Music: Claude Lapham
Cast: Harold Lloyd (Harold Horne),
Barbara Kent (Barbara),
Robert McWade (John Quincy Tanner),
Lillian Leighton (Mrs. Tanner),
Henry Hall (Mr. Endicott),
Noah Young (Sailor),
Alec B. Francis (Mr. Carson - Old-timer),
Arthur Housman (Drunken Clubman),
Willie Best (Janitor),
James Finlayson (Painter),
Paul Girard Smith (Seasick Passenger)
Country: USA
Language: English
Support: Black and White
Runtime: 93 min
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