I had watched this for the first time while I was in Hollywood as part of a TCM marathon of Harold Lloyd films in November 2005 (to coincide with the DVD release of New Line's 7-Disc Set). I must say that in the past I had underestimated it, because I did not pick up the "Connoiseur Video" PAL VHS a few years ago (as I had done with 3 other available titles by this great comedian). The plot deals with a painfully shy tailor's apprentice (he stutters terribly at the sight of a woman) who has secretly published a lovers' manual, and himself falls for a wealthy girl (the demure but utterly charming Jobyna Ralston, a frequent Lloyd co-star) who is about to be married off to a bigamist heel.
The film displays dazzling invention throughout and is frequently hilarious, but also laces the proceedings with just the right dose of sentiment: the climactic exhilarating chase is spectacular and one of the very best of its kind, while the disruption of the marriage/abduction of the bride ending might well have inspired THE GRADUATE (1967)! Some of the funniest stuff includes: the fantasy sequences depicting Lloyd as an irresistible ladies' man, illustrating his theories on how to seduce a vamp and a flapper; the car exchange sequence (which sees Lloyd losing the ramshackle vehicle he ended up with down a cliff); and his hitching a clandestine ride on a car which is about to be parked in its garage.
The film displays dazzling invention throughout and is frequently hilarious, but also laces the proceedings with just the right dose of sentiment: the climactic exhilarating chase is spectacular and one of the very best of its kind, while the disruption of the marriage/abduction of the bride ending might well have inspired THE GRADUATE (1967)! Some of the funniest stuff includes: the fantasy sequences depicting Lloyd as an irresistible ladies' man, illustrating his theories on how to seduce a vamp and a flapper; the car exchange sequence (which sees Lloyd losing the ramshackle vehicle he ended up with down a cliff); and his hitching a clandestine ride on a car which is about to be parked in its garage.