WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

ksf-2 Stars and directed by Harold Lloyd. (brother Gaylord Lloyd was assistant director, just to keep it all in the family.) Regular guy Harold Hall wants to get into showbiz, and when there's a mixup in the photos, he is on his way to a screen-test. It's a harold lloyd comedy, so there are mixups, falls, smashups, and unspoken gags all along the way. Unlike Lloyd, Constance Cummings had just broken into hollywood, so this is one of her earlier roles as "Mary". Many old-timey actors in uncredited roles as "dinner guest" listed in the cast list. The broken glass door gag and some of the other bits got a bit annoying, but over-all, it's quite good. Fun to see Lloyd at the top of his game... he had done silents for YEARS, but came out of favor, and didn't make so many talkies. Just for laughs, in the cast list, Arthur Housman is listed as "customer who didn't order rabbit".

Jimmy L. MOVIE CRAZY (1932) isn't one of Harold Lloyd's greatest comedies, or even, in this reviewer's opinion, his best talkie. It's a cliché story: small-town boy comes to Hollywood for stardom and falls flat on his face. Nincompoop wreaks havoc on movie studio. It's been done countless times, from Buster Keaton in FREE AND EASY (1930) to Red Skelton in MERTON OF THE MOVIES (1947).Harold Lloyd plays the part of the fool, who ruins everything he comes in contact with. This type of character (similar to the talkie roles MGM would write for Buster Keaton) is sometimes hard to watch. Hopelessly naïve and pathetic. Viewed as a freak and played for a sucker. Always knocking over stacked objects or falling in puddles.The gags are old and predictable (at least nowadays) and there are no groundbreaking stunts or anything. How many times have we seen the "oops, we must've switched hats" routine? And what do you think happens when Lloyd offers to help a woman unfold the top to her convertible? Or open an umbrella? Does that trick magician's jacket look just like Harold's, hanging in the restroom? (You bet it does.) This comedy just isn't all that funny, lacking some of the magic evident in Lloyd's silent classics.The best thing in this movie is the beautiful Constance Cummings, who gives a rather impressive naturalistic performance as a Hollywood starlet whose path is crossed by Lloyd's accident-waiting-to-happen character. Cummings grows fond of Lloyd (whom she nicknames "Trouble") and her character manages to bring a cute romantic element to the film.The first half-hour or so is pretty dull, but there's a fun little twist where Lloyd cannot recognize Cummings in her exotic on-set make-up and falls in love with the same woman twice. Cummings realizes this and plays around with Lloyd's heart. But does she actually love him, or is it all part of some game? This interesting "love triangle" is the strongest part of the script, and Cummings manages the dual role beautifully.MOVIE CRAZY isn't all bad, but it is something of a letdown. Most of the "comedy" is tiresome, although certain bits work better than others. Interestingly, this talkie lacks some of the wit of Harold Lloyd's silent films. The story is nothing special, but Constance Cummings shines in her role and anchors the sweetness that makes the film's second half worth watching.

theowinthrop With my seeing MOVIE CRAZY I have finally seen the last of Harold Lloyd's sound films. My opinion of them remains the same - the best of them are not as good as his silent films. But on their own they are entertaining enough.MOVIE CRAZY was a vast improvement over FEET FIRST. Done about a year after, Lloyd realized now that he had to control the use of sound when certain strenuous sequences (i.e., climbing the side of a skyscraper, or here fighting in a flooding movie set). The visual got reemphasized, and the results were better.Lloyd comes to Hollywood having won a screen test. This is an old plot ploy where the hero/heroine thinks fame and fortune beckons, but that the reality is far less wonderful as there are thousands trying to break into films with them. Oddly Lloyd's two leading silent rivals (Chapln and Keaton) never did a spoof of the film industry in a feature (Chaplin did a Mutual short film in 1917 called BEHIND THE SCREEN that did spoof the budding young industry). Keaton's SHERLOCK JR. spoofs the magic of film making, but not the production of film itself. Harry Langdon did appear as himself in the film ELLA CINDERS where the heroine was trying to break into film. The film follows two plots, of Lloyd getting his film test (which is typically a disaster, though the film crew maliciously tells him it was a success), and his meeting movie star Constance Cumming, which leads to a romantic involvement with her (and the growing jealousy of her co-star, Kenneth Thompson). The best portion of the film is the dinner party and the fight. Lloyd believes he was invited to a party with the Hollywood elite, and ends on the dance floor with the Louisa Closser Hale (the wife of Robert McWade, the studio head). He has accidentally changed his tales with a magician. The result is an onslaught of little animals (unfortunately including mice) that wreck the dinner dance. A highpoint: a drunk waiting his meal is surprised to find it being nibbled on by a rabbit!The finale is the fight between Lloyd and Thompson. Thompson is an extreme egomaniac who would kill Cummings before losing her (he thinks he is her man). He helps humiliate Lloyd earlier, and when he finds Lloyd accidentally on an empty movie set beats him up. But Lloyd later thinks he sees Thompson threatening Cummings and the real fight begins. It is actually on the set of a film where a ship is flooding, but Lloyd does not notice this (as he is concentrating on Thompson). There was a comment on another review of the film on this thread that it was reminiscent of the concluding fight in a flooded ship of Lloyd and Constantine Romanoff in THE KID BROTHER. That's true, but it also reminds one a bit (given how the water just gushes onto the set) of one of the last major silent spectacular films NOAH'S ARK. That film was famous for the massive flood on the set - supposedly so intensely flooded that some people were actually drowned in it.The film does end well, with Harold leaving with girl and contract, and accidentally pulling one last victory over the director of his movie test (Spencer Charters), with the director's own help.

MartinHafer I recently obtained and watched every film from the huge Harold Lloyd box set recently released by the Lloyd family. So, finally, I was able to watch Lloyd's sound films along side his silents and compare and contrast them. In general, his sound films are far better than I had expected--for years, I only watched his silents as I incorrectly assumed his sound movies wouldn't be very watchable--and in general, reviews for the sound versions of Lloyd and Keaton's films are pretty poor. Of all the sound films, I think I disliked THE MILKY WAY the most--it was pretty dull stuff. However, FEET FIRST, THE CATS-PAW and this film were all quite entertaining and worth seeing--regardless of whether or not you are a fan of Lloyd's silents.MOVIE CRAZY is a cute film about Harold wanting to become a movie star. He accidentally sends someone else's photo to a Hollywood exec (Mr. O'Brien). Well, O'Brien sees the picture and decides to offer him a screen test based only on the picture. But, when Harold comes to the studio he makes a mess of everything--and really annoys O'Brien by accidentally destroying his hat and smashing his glass doors! Despite this, through some silly mistakes (brilliantly executed by the way), Harold is told to still take the screen test. He is horrible, but everyone tells him he was great as sort of a practical joke.Harold then meets a sexy Spanish lady on one of the sets and he mistakenly thinks she loves him. Then, shortly after this, he meets another actress and creates so much havoc helping her that she nicknames him "trouble"--and he is like a walking disaster waiting to happen. Harold likes this other lady as well and doesn't realize she IS the Spanish actress--just without all the makeup and accent. It's extremely funny when he tries to juggle BOTH ladies--seeing one without telling the other! This actually works because they really did look like two different women plus the actress (Constance Cummings) did a really good job in the two roles. Unfortunately, this cute ruse gets out of hand and the lady becomes jealous of "the other woman" (which is herself) and she tells Harold to get out of her life forever.He doesn't realize she told him to get lost because she wrote him a note on the first piece of paper she could find--the back of an invitation to a fancy party. He thinks he's been invited and shows up to meet her. In the process, she accidentally switches jackets with a magician and this results in a wonderful scene where he is dancing and rabbits, pigeons, etc. keep popping out of his coat! It is simply hilarious and strongly reminiscent of the falling apart suit in THE FRESHMAN (which he made several years earlier)--but different enough that it doesn't feel like a cheep knockoff (like the climbing scene in FEET FIRST--it was a cheap effort to re-create the the movie WELCOME DANGER).Well, this time, after he makes a total fool of himself at this swank party, she tells him off for good--but you can see she still feels for him. He admits his defeat and promises to leave her alone once and for all. However, throughout the film, a nasty drunk actor had been threatening Harold and telling him NEVER to see this actress. Now, the jerk of an actor doesn't know Harold has agreed never to see her again. And, the jerk actor beats up Harold and tells him "I'd rather kill her than have her see another man". Harold, after he awakens, responds in his very typical way by rising to the occasion and using both brawn and his brain to teach this guy a lesson. The problem is, all of this is accidentally filmed (the director gets knocked out so no one tells the cameramen to stop filming and Harold doesn't know he's on film). It's a very rousing and fun extended fight scene--one of the best of the era.Later, the studio head sees the fight scene and incorrectly assumes it was all staged. He thinks the scene is great and very funny so he offers Harold a contract. Harold, not wanting to be dishonest (like he had been with his ex-girlfriend), admits it was NOT staged and refuses the big contract. In doing so, he endears himself to Ms. Cummings who now is totally smitten with him after she also finds out WHY he fought with the other actor. In addition, the studio head STILL insists that Harold signs the contract and everyone lives happily ever after (except the director who HATES Harold and the jerk actor who is beaten up).The movie strongly excels at plot development and depth in the characterizations. In this sense, it's really better than his silent films. I also loved how so often little mistakes or misunderstanding snowballed to amazing proportions! However, a drawback (and not a big one at that) was that Harold's character, at times, was too clumsy to be believable. I don't really know why this film hasn't gotten more attention--it IS one of Lloyd's best films and stands up well against any comedy of the age--including Chaplin's. I would go so far to say that although the movie wasn't as technically brilliant as Chaplin's MODERN TIMES or CITY LIGHTS, it was more entertaining and made me laugh more. An undiscovered film and wonderful insight behind the scenes at the studios.