Now or Never (1921), a three-reel Harold Lloyd comedy, is
considered one of his most delightful shorts. Much of the film's
charm comes from Lloyd's rapport with child actress Anna May
Bilson, who plays Dolly, a lonely little girl in the charge of
Harold's babysitting girlfriend, Mary (played by Mildred Davis,
the actress who would soon become Mrs. Harold Lloyd). Mary takes
Dolly along on a short trip to see her boyfriend. It turns out to
be Harold, of course, who somehow ends up on the same train. When
Mary discovers that her employer also is aboard, she is forced to
hide and leaves Dolly in Harold's care. Harold, who has no money
and no ticket, must elude the conductor. This leads to a series
of exciting gags, reaching a climax as a tunnel approaches with
Harold on top of the train.
At the time of
Now or Never Lloyd was entering the prime
of his career; it was during the 1920s that he became the highest-
paid actor in Hollywood, and often outstripped his closest rivals,
Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton, at the box office. The year
before
Now or Never, during the filming of
Haunted
Spooks (1920), Lloyd suffered an accident in which he lost his right thumb and forefinger, forcing him to wear a
glove-like prosthesis in all future films.
Producer/Director: Hal Roach
Original Music: Robert Israel
Principal Cast: Harold Lloyd (The Boy), Mildred Davis (Mary),
Anna May Bilson (Dolly).
BW-36m.
by Roger Fristoe
