Never Weaken (1921)

Our hero (Lloyd) is infatuated with a girl in the next office. In order to drum up business for her boss, an osteopath, he gets an actor friend to pretend injuries that the doctor "cures", ... See full summary »

Director:

Fred C. Newmeyer (as Fred Newmeyer)

Writers:

Hal Roach (story), Sam Taylor (story)

Stars:

Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Roy Brooks

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Harold Lloyd	...	The Boy
Mildred Davis	...	The Girl
Roy Brooks	...	The Other Man
Mark Jones	...	The Acrobat
Charles Stevenson	...	The Police Force

Storyline

Our hero (Lloyd) is infatuated with a girl in the next office. In order to drum up business for her boss, an osteopath, he gets an actor friend to pretend injuries that the doctor "cures", thereby building a reputation. When he hears that his girl is marrying another, he decides to commit suicide and spends the bulk of the film in thrilling, failed attempts.

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Plot Keywords:

misunderstanding | slippery road | construction site | building construction | skyscraper | 

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Taglines:

See It Once "You'll See It Ten Times" You'll 'Never Weaken' (Print Ad- Sunday Chronicle, ((Paterson, NJ)) 25 December 1921)

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Genres:

Short | Comedy | Thriller

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

The print shown on TCM, restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, is the re-released version from 1925 through Associated Exhibitors. During the opening credits, a title page reads "This is an Encore Picture".

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Quotes

The Girl: He can do anything he tries. Why, he even learned the names of all the vice presidents.

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Crazy Credits

The cast title page is headed "Just passing by". Below the cast list: The Plot - a youth of twenty-one and a maid of eighteen. Shakespeare couldn't have asked for more.

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Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Hollywood Dream (2011)

User Reviews

Wish I'd been around to see it in '21...

This is comedy crafted from the material of nightmares, and Harold Lloyd (or his stunt double) displays a light-footedness and dexterity that is frankly quite astonishing. When you consider that Lloyd lost a thumb and finger when a supposedly dud prop bomb exploded in his hand just a year before this film was made it just adds to the courage he displays as he wobbles around on the narrow girders of a partially-constructed skyscraper hundreds of feet in the air. For my money, his stunts here far outshine those from Safety Last, the feature Lloyd made a couple of years later, in which he hangs from a clock on the side of a building.

The storyline isn't much to speak of, and the film is really two movies combined as the first half has little bearing on the second. Harold mistakenly believes his beloved (the future Mrs Lloyd, looking a little like Drew Barrymore in some shots) has fallen for another man and unsuccessfully tries to commit extravagant suicide with a gun and a length of string just as a stray girder from the construction project outside his office lifts the chair on which he is sat out of his office and into mid-air. The scenes in which Lloyd is perched on the chair are teeth-grindingly difficult to watch at times, and your laughter is really an hysterical release of tension rather than amusement at what is taking place on screen. I'd love to have seen this in a cinema back in 1921 – the audience reactions must have been something to see, and would have made the viewing experience all the more enjoyable.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1921 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nur nicht schwach werden

Filming Locations:

Hill Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rolin Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

19 min 29 min (2005 DVD)

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1