Why Worry?

In "Why Worry?" Harold Lloyd plays Harold von Pelham, a pampered and spoiled millionaire who has all the time in the world to worry about medical conditions that don't exist, and treat his smitten nurse and trusted valet as mere lackeys. He goes to a South American retreat for some much-needed rest and relaxation, but instead finds himself in the middle of a revolution. Along the way he picks up a devoted friend, a giant man named aptly Colossus, who becomes as loyal as a dog to Harold because he helps to pull an aching tooth. By the film's end, Harold has plumbed reserves of hidden strength, realizes he no longer needs his pills and medications, and discovers his love for his nurse.

The funniest thing about "Why Worry?" is that this little band of lovable characters never has a clue what's actually going on around them. They don't know one side of the warring parties from the other; they just know when they're in trouble, and they go from scene to scene doing whatever is necessary to get themselves out of scrapes without realizing how they're affecting the bigger picture. This film is wonderfully written and performed, with hilarious bits. Watching Harold's transition from pampered wimp to scrappy freedom fighter is delightful, and he has wonderful chemistry with Jobyna Ralston, who plays his nurse, and John Aasen, the impossibly enormous actor who plays Colossus.

This film is a treat.

Grade: A

The most lively of Harold Lloyd's classic comedies is arguably his most accessible when seen today, and can now be enjoyed without the indiscriminate editing and idiot soundtrack added by Time-Life Films in the early 1960s. Of all his silent features it's the least rooted in the ideals of its age, employing an element of fantasy quite out of character from his usually plausible boy-next-door scenarios. Adopting one of his popular idle, young millionaire roles, Lloyd stars as a wealthy hypochondriac on vacation in South America, thwarting a military coup with the help of his loyal nurse and a gentle (but formidable) giant. It's a measure of Lloyd's appeal that he could be so inventive without seeming at all out of the ordinary in the manner of Keaton or Chaplin. His innocence and vigor allowed him to milk an amazing amount of humor from any one gag (curing the giant's toothache, for example), building each laugh with an escalating but practical absurdity rarely possible outside of silent film comedy.

Take a hypochondriac & place him in the middle of a Latin American country with a revolution going on & what do you get? In this movie, you get great comedy. There are some sequences in this film that almost reach the classics of Safety Last or Girl Shy for Lloyd. Granted, there are a few spots early which are slow, but the uniqueness of how Lloyd plays off in the revolution & with the Giant are so classic that you almost forget the slow start the film has.

Actually, considering the film Lloyd did after this was Girl Shy, the split with Roach really did not slow him down, he sped up even faster. Still, this was the finish for the producer who discovered Harold & had taken him this far. It is so sad that thanks to the split, Harold owned all his films & a wholegeneration of American movie goers forgot he existed. I am so glad in recent years that we have been allowed to rediscover this talent. When you watch his films, you realize how much others who came much later actually were copying pieces of Harolds work in their own films. Remember The Bank Dick chase sequence? Harold did it first in Girl Shy. Remember the race to the church at the end of The Graduate? Lloyd did it first in Girl Shy & then consulted with Mike Nichols to do it again in the successful 1960's film. Forgotten genius describes Lloyd aptly & even though this is a notch below Safety Last & Girl Shy, it is well worth viewing.

This is one of Harold Lloyd's most entertaining comedies, with Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston and John Aasen making good use of a variety of material, especially a lot of Absurdist-style gags and routines. It starts just a little slowly in setting things up, but once it gets going, there are a lot of good laughs without a slow stretch.

Lloyd plays a good-natured but completely oblivious upper-class hypochondriac who travels to the tropics for a rest, and finds himself in the middle of a chaotic revolution. His naive initial reactions to the situation are quite amusing, and few screen comics could have pulled them off as well as Lloyd does.

As things get hotter for Lloyd and Ralston, the hilarious giant Colosso (Aasen's character) joins the madness, and that leads to some even more humorous gags. The lengthy sequence resulting from the first meeting between Harold and Colosso is very cleverly done, squeezing more than you would ever have guessed possible out of a simple situation. Afterward, Colosso's size and strength are used in many imaginative ways, with a lot of rather elaborate sight gags that are set up nicely.

The whole thing works very well. Once everything is set up, it flies by so quickly that it seems only to have taken a fraction of its running time.

Why Worry? (1923) : Brief Review -

Why Worry will make you feel sorry for not watching it. Another superb action-comedy blockbuster which was overshadowed between Lloyd's two great classics. Why Worry released exactly between, 'Safety Last' (1923) and 'Girl Shy' (1924), two of the finest Lloyd classics and also my top favourites. So, it is not on the level of both these classics and maybe that's why it was overshadowed or shall i say remained underrated but when you look at it after keeping the comparisons aside, it has everything any great comedy could offer. A hypochondriac vacations in the tropics for the fresh air - and finds himself in the middle of a revolution instead. This one has more action and very unimaginable too. Unlike Safety Last which had breathtaking stunts, but some terrific action sequences performed by Harold Lloyd and tallest actor ever John Aasen. They make you believe on those wonderful action scenes which were never seen before by the audience then. Besides, Why Worry has no worries as far as the typical Harold Lloyd-Newmeyer comedy is concerned. Watching Lloyd playing a millionaire is a very pleasant thing for me. I always found his face very charming but he played millionaire quite few times only and this was one among them. He is fantastic in his role, actually influential. That's one of the best thing about this film that it gave so many formulatic situations to cinema world. A Millionaire who is over possessive about his health and his Love Interest, his nurse is not as Rich as him all this is used in many films that came later. Also that Jail break scene or him getting mistaken military service, or pills stuff or him being normal by the end etc. So many formulatic creations in comedy genre. Overall, an amazing entertainer. May be slightly less than a Classic but definitely recommendable.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.