MovieChat Forums > The Cat's-Paw (1934) Discussion > Worst Lloyd ever?

Worst Lloyd ever?

posted 14 years ago by donofthedial
4 replies | jump to latest

Just finished watching this near useless film. It just isn't funny at all. One sequence - the nightclub scene where HL gets caught up in a dance being done by the chorus girls - that's funny like Lloyd of old.

The rest of the film has a bunch of loud mouths running around screaming in tough-guy slang and that damn George Barbier who never shuts up.

The entire 'basement in Chinatown' sequence isn't funny and simply goes on and on.

The faux-Chinese character of Lloyd grows old very quickly.

Una Merkel is not leading lady material.

What a stiff!

[–] FranLovesBetteD 11 years ago

I agree with you about everything... except the Una Merkel part. She may not have been a great beauty, but certainly was extremely talented and a brilliant comedienne. She was the only thing that made me stand till the movie ended, which seemed to last forever...

Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop

[–] donofthedial 11 years ago

Thx for the reply. if I ever watch the film again, I will pay more attention to her.

Doesn't it make you wonder what people were thinking when they made the film??

[–] FranLovesBetteD 11 years ago

"Doesn't it make you wonder what people were thinking when they made the film??"
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LOL, I actually haven't thought about that, although I must admit I didn't find any of his talkies to be truly funny in their entirety (and I do love most comedies of the early-mid '30s). Sure, there were some funny moments in all of them, especially in "Movie Crazy", but unfortutanely none of them are as good as his silents. I'm glad, though, that Harold could make a succesful transition to the talkies, since he was very gifted. He's by far my most favorite comediant of the silent era.

Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop

[–] donofthedial 11 years ago

Lloyd was a genius, so it is so odd to find a film of his that is a near complete disaster. When he switched over to 3-D nudes, he made the right decision! :)