For Heaven's Sake (1926)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Sam Taylor

Writers:

John Grey (writer)
Ralph Spence (titles)

Release Date:

5 April 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

The Uptown Boy, J. Harold Manners (Lloyd) is a millionaire playboy who falls for the Downtown Girl,...

Plot Keywords:

Mission | Millionaire | Pool Hall | Kidnapping | Drunk Scene

Cast

Harold Lloyd	...	The Uptown Boy
Jobyna Ralston	...	The Downtown Girl
Noah Young	...	The Roughneck
Jim Mason	...	The Gangster (as James Mason)
Paul Weigel	...	The Optimist

Runtime:

USA:58 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

The Harold Lloyd Corporation

Trivia:

This film was the first shown in the Museum of Modern Art's festival tribute to film comedy in 1976.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the car which was involved in the gun fight rolls to a stop, it stops on regular road. In the next shot it has been moved on to a train track.

Movie Connections:

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

Excellent!

In For Heaven's Sake, Harold Lloyd plays J. Harold Manners, a millionaire who just bought a brand new car to match his white pants. Next we see Harold's chauffeur is driving the car with Harold as a passenger. Seconds later a box with a cat painted on the front of it falls off a lorry truck and Harold's chauffeur overtakes the box thinking it was a real cat. He turns around to say something to Harold when without observing the road ahead of him, he drives head on into the front of an oncoming truck and Harold's head plunges through the roof of the car. Harold calmly steps out of the car with his fancy cigarette and cane and says to his chauffeur "That will be all for today, James" and walks straight into a car dealership, steps into a brand new luxurious car, takes out his check book and writes a check and he and gives it to the dealer and drives out. Such simple ideas for a comedy like this are absolutely brilliant. In the next scene a gang of thieves have just ran out of a store and a policeman shoots a couple of times when Harold drives onto the scene with his car. The policemen jump into Harold's car and drive in pursuit of the bandits until the car runs out of gas and as the policemen get into someone else's car, Harold in the meantime is trying to start up the car with a crank. The car has actually stopped on the railroad tracks and then suddenly a steam locomotive comes rushing through and reduces the car to rubble and Harold is standing there in the same position with the crank still in his hand, he shrugs and tosses it away.

The spectacular finale has Harold with a bunch of drunken groomsmen a top an unsteady double-decker bus hurrying to Harold's wedding. A wonderful movie.