A Sailor-Made Man (1921)

An idle, wealthy playboy foolishly joins the Navy when the father of the girl he wants to marry tells him to get a job to prove himself worthy.

Director:

Fred C. Newmeyer

Writers:

Hal Roach (story), Sam Taylor (story),

Stars:

Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Noah Young

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Harold Lloyd	...	The Boy
Mildred Davis	...	The Girl
Noah Young	...	The Rowdy Element
Dick Sutherland	...	Maharajah of Khairpura-Bhandanna

Storyline

When The Girl's father insists that, before he will agree to The Boy's marrying his daughter, he must first prove that he can do something more worthwhile than act the playboy. He joins the navy. When his ship docks at a Middle Eastern kingdom, The Girl and her father also arrive by yacht. The local maharajah kidnaps The Girl and it is up to The Boy to rescue her.

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Plot Keywords:

ship | rescue | port | sailor | slapstick comedy | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1921 (USA)

Also Known As:

Marin malgré lui

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hal Roach Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

47 min 46 min (2002 restoration) 47 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released on 25 December 1921, it grossed $485,000. The success of this film as a feature led Lloyd to abandon making 2-reel shorts. His next film, Grandma's Boy was designed from the start as a 5-reel feature and would be released nine months after A Sailor-Made Man.

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Goofs

When The Girl takes the cigar away from the old woman on the streets of Khairpura-Bhandanna, she turns and sees Harold approaching; she then immediately reaches out her arms to embrace him and she's holding the cigar in her right hand. In the next shot, as she has her arms around Harold's neck, the cigar is now in her left hand.

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Connections

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

User Reviews

a decent early Lloyd feature

While this film isn't really as long as most feature films, it is longer than a short and really falls in between the two types of films in length.

This film was remade three years later as WHY WORRY? though there were some changes made in the plot--enough that I recommend you see both. However the overall themes and plot elements are interchangeable. In both he's a rich guy who needs to grow up and be more industrious, and in both he ultimately rescues his lady while in a foreign land. In WHY WORRY? the setting was a revolution on a South American island and in this film it was a Muslim nation and its leader who kidnaps the lady to put her in his harem.

The general direction of the plot is pure Lloyd formula--wimpy guy meets girl and somehow rises to the occasion to fight for and win her. This is nicely made but not exactly different from many of his other films in this sense. It's worth seeing, but other films such as THE FRESHMAN, GIRL SHY and SPEEDY are better Lloyd vehicles.