From Hand to Mouth (1919)

A penniless young man tries to save an heiress from kidnappers and help her secure her inheritance.

Director:

Alfred J. Goulding

Writer:

H.M. Walker (titles)

Stars:

Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, 'Snub' Pollard

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Harold Lloyd	...	The Boy
Mildred Davis	...	The Girl
'Snub' Pollard	...	The Kidnapper (as Harry Pollard)
Peggy Cartwright	...	The Waif (as Peggy Courtwright)

Storyline

As a penniless man worries about how he will manage to eat, he is joined by a young waif and her dog, who are in the same predicament. Meanwhile, across town a dishonest lawyer is working with a gang of criminals, trying to swindle an innocent young heiress out of her inheritance. As the heiress is on her way home from the lawyer's office, she notices the young man and the waif in the midst of their latest problem with the authorities, and she rescues them. Later on, the young man will have an unexpected opportunity to repay her for her kindness.

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Plot Keywords:

will | inheritance | rescue | dog | breaking a window | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Short | Action

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 December 1919 (USA)

Also Known As:

De la coupe aux lèvres

Filming Locations:

Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rolin Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min 22 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First pairing of Harold Lloyd and future wife, Mildred Davis.

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Connections

Featured in American Masters: Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (1989)

User Reviews

Enjoyable & Thoughtful

This Harold Lloyd comedy is both very enjoyable and very thoughtful, and it works especially well considering that it was made during a time in Lloyd's career when he was gradually making a transition in the way that he portrayed his characters on-screen. The story and the characters bear many resemblances to Charlie Chaplin's popular comedies of the same era, but Lloyd and director Alfred Goulding give it a style and tone of its own.

Lloyd plays a penniless drifter who befriends a very young street waif, played with charm by Peggy Courtwright, whose character is accompanied by an equally endearing dog. The three of them are rescued from a scrape with authorities by an heiress played by Mildred Davis, who turns out to have some worries of her own.

After a bit of a slow start, things pick up, and it works very well, combining the different story lines with plenty of slapstick and some very thoughtful moments as well. Most of the themes are familiar ones, but it does a good job with them, and Lloyd succeeds with some material that is rather different from that in most of his movies.