This is the earliest Harold Lloyd comedy I've seen in which he plays a spoiled young millionaire, a role he would occasionally assume in his feature films later on. In some ways this short feels like a dry run for the opening section of his great 1923 feature Why Worry? When we first meet Harold it's "the morning after," and he's suffering from a hang-over following a boozy bachelor party. He requires the services of his long-suffering valet (Snub Pollard) to pull himself together, but a telephone call from Bebe, his fiancée, suddenly puts the kibosh on their wedding plans. It seems that Bebe's horrendous mother -- who is called "gentle as a young buzz-saw" -- has heard about Harold's wild party, and has forced Bebe to break off the engagement and accompany her to the Canary Islands. Harold and his valet follow, but things turn strange when Harold is thrown overboard by crooks, then picked up by a pirate ship with an all-woman crew. The Pirate Captain, who bears a striking resemblance to Bebe's mother, orders Harold to swab the deck and do other menial chores. Before everything is sorted out Harold is nearly lynched and almost forced to walk the plank.
Based on this plot outline Captain Kidd's Kids may sound like fun, but in my opinion it falls short of Harold's best work in the two-reel format. The biggest problem is Harold's own characterization: he's not merely pampered, he's selfish and downright mean to his servants. Early on, when he wishes to test his razor, Harold simply calls a butler over and chops off a portion of the man's mustache. When the butler expresses dismay, Harold 'obliges' him by chopping off another portion to even it up, then turns his attention elsewhere. Soon after, Harold is unmoved when his valet is knocked into the sunken bathtub, and, worse, abandons his half-hearted attempts to rescue the guy when the phone rings. And so on. Harold is quite callous in this movie, and he never matures. In later years when Harold (or Buster Keaton) played this sort of character he would invariably grow up in the course of the story. That is, the spoiled young man would become more compassionate towards others and, ultimately, self-reliant. Lloyd the filmmaker hadn't learned that lesson yet when he made this movie, however; all he's interested in here is getting a laugh. That would be okay if we were too busy laughing to care about anything else, but unfortunately the material isn't up to Harold's usual standard. On the pirate ship he's ordered down below to work in the galley for an evil Chinese cook, but the gags aren't exactly inspired: Harold uses a dirty broom to clean plates, the cook burns his butt on the hot stove, etc. etc. Predictably, the all-girl pirate crew turns out to be a dream, but somehow the filmmakers never managed to take full advantage of the dreamlike possibilities of the premise.
Captain Kidd's Kids is a lightly entertaining short comedy for the undemanding viewer, but fans familiar with Lloyd's best work will likely find it a let-down, especially so because this was Harold's last film with his longtime leading lady Bebe Daniels. Bebe's always cute as a bug in these films, and very winning, but she had a solo career of her own to pursue. Harold's best work also lay ahead, and by the time he came to produce such classics as Why Worry? and For Heaven's Sake he'd know exactly how to handle the Spoiled Young Millionaire plot line.
Based on this plot outline Captain Kidd's Kids may sound like fun, but in my opinion it falls short of Harold's best work in the two-reel format. The biggest problem is Harold's own characterization: he's not merely pampered, he's selfish and downright mean to his servants. Early on, when he wishes to test his razor, Harold simply calls a butler over and chops off a portion of the man's mustache. When the butler expresses dismay, Harold 'obliges' him by chopping off another portion to even it up, then turns his attention elsewhere. Soon after, Harold is unmoved when his valet is knocked into the sunken bathtub, and, worse, abandons his half-hearted attempts to rescue the guy when the phone rings. And so on. Harold is quite callous in this movie, and he never matures. In later years when Harold (or Buster Keaton) played this sort of character he would invariably grow up in the course of the story. That is, the spoiled young man would become more compassionate towards others and, ultimately, self-reliant. Lloyd the filmmaker hadn't learned that lesson yet when he made this movie, however; all he's interested in here is getting a laugh. That would be okay if we were too busy laughing to care about anything else, but unfortunately the material isn't up to Harold's usual standard. On the pirate ship he's ordered down below to work in the galley for an evil Chinese cook, but the gags aren't exactly inspired: Harold uses a dirty broom to clean plates, the cook burns his butt on the hot stove, etc. etc. Predictably, the all-girl pirate crew turns out to be a dream, but somehow the filmmakers never managed to take full advantage of the dreamlike possibilities of the premise.
Captain Kidd's Kids is a lightly entertaining short comedy for the undemanding viewer, but fans familiar with Lloyd's best work will likely find it a let-down, especially so because this was Harold's last film with his longtime leading lady Bebe Daniels. Bebe's always cute as a bug in these films, and very winning, but she had a solo career of her own to pursue. Harold's best work also lay ahead, and by the time he came to produce such classics as Why Worry? and For Heaven's Sake he'd know exactly how to handle the Spoiled Young Millionaire plot line.
