For Heaven's Sake

There's a non-stop orgy of sight gags and pratfalls throughout this Harold Lloyd comedy, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE. Lloyd is a carefree millionaire who is dazzled by a pretty mission girl from the other side of the tracks. Once they connect, it's love at first sight and from then on Lloyd tries to please the girl and her missionary father by bringing as many new clients to their sermons as he can.

He visits the local pool hall to round up a bunch of toughs by making them chase him through the streets. This leads to one of the wildest scenes in the movie as the foot chase is full of inventive gags. He succeeds in rounding up enough hooligans to fill the mission just as police arrive on the scene looking for stolen jewelry. Again, the situations are all played for broad comedy and most of it works.

The climactic chase aboard a double decker bus is wildly choreographed for maximum comic effect--but truth be told, by this time the slapstick has been piled on so thick that the final chase seems anticlimactic.

By the time it's all over, you realize that Lloyd has told a story with very little plotting involved. It's a thin yarn stretched out over a series of sight gags--all of which he executes with perfect timing. But enough is enough. It gets a bit wearisome before it's all over and boy ends up with mission girl. The End.