Movie Crazy (1932)

Harold Hall, an accident prone young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in pictures. After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a ... See full summary »

Director:

Clyde Bruckman

Writers:

Vincent Lawrence (screen play and dialogue), Agnes Christine Johnston (story),

Stars:

Harold Lloyd, Constance Cummings, Kenneth Thomson

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Harold Lloyd	...	Harold Hall aka Trouble
Constance Cummings	...	Mary Sears
Kenneth Thomson	...	Vance
Louise Closser Hale	...	Mrs. Kitterman
Spencer Charters	...	J.L. O'Brien
Robert McWade	...	Wesley Kitterman - Producer
Eddie Fetherston	...	Bill - Assistant Director (as Eddie Fetherstone)
Sydney Jarvis	...	The Director
Harold Goodwin	...	Miller
Mary Doran	...	Margie
DeWitt Jennings	...	Mr. Hall (as De Witt Jennings)
Lucy Beaumont	...	Mrs. Hall
Arthur Housman	...	Customer Who Didn't Order Rabbit

Storyline

Harold Hall, an accident prone young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in pictures. After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a screen-test, and goes off to Hollywood. At the studio, he does everything wrong and causes all sorts of trouble. But he catches the fancy of a beautiful actress, and eventually the studio owner recognizes him as a comic genius.

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Plot Keywords:

actress | screen test | mistaken identity | drunkenness | los angeles california | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 September 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cinemanía

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Center Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$675,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harold Lloyd Corporation, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min 81 min (re-release) 98 min (restored)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Clyde Bruckman is the credited director, but most of the film was actually directed by Harold Lloyd due to Bruckman's often being incapacitated due to his alcoholism.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the shipboard fight scene, the mounted life preserver is seen to accidentally fall. Near the end of the fight, it is back on its mount.

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Connections

Featured in Funny Side of Life (1963)

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Soundtracks

"Indiana"
(1917) (uncredited)
Music by James F. Hanley
Whistled by Harold

User Reviews

a silent clown icon no longer in his comfort zone

The story of a disaster-prone movie buff who crashes Hollywood and becomes a star in spite of himself might have been lifted from erstwhile silent clown Harold Lloyd's own rags-to-riches autobiography. The film is widely considered Lloyd's best 'talkie', but it can't hope to match his silent classics, and doesn't try to approach the dizzy verbal pace of screwball comedy just then coming into vogue. Ironically, Lloyd himself is the weak link in the film; his (considerable) pantomime talents and optimistic go-getter personality were better suited to Jazz Age silent comedy, and didn't translate well to the Great Depression. Only the somewhat bizarre love interest, between the typically shy Harold and a temperamental actress (who doesn't tell him she's also the Spanish bombshell he's infatuated with) seems more in step with sophisticated sound-era comedy conventions. Technophiles take note: the climactic backstage battle, in which Harold finally proves himself, was clearly shot silent, but the clumsy telegraphing of each gag well in advance kills the tempo.