High and Dizzy (1920) User Reviews

Learning at Length

[boblipton · 8/10 · 7 August 2018]

Mildred Davis sleepwalks. Her father, Wallace Howe, brings her in to Doctor Harold Lloyd for a consultation.

It's an ambitious comedy for Harold, timing in at almost half an hour.... which is, alas, a fawning way of saying that it's not as good as it might have been trimmed a bit shorter. But there's no doubt that Harold was getting popular. Yet so long as he stayed in short subjects, the money would remain likewise short, renting for so much a reel. The twenty-six minutes this one takes might not seem much to the modern audience for a blockbuster, but it allowed everyone at Hal Roach's studio to stretch a bit and see what they could do at longer lengths.

Unfortunately, it sags in the middle. Harold gets drunk with friendly bootlegger Roy Brooks, and the gags when they are together are pretty good. However, eventually Harold is off on his own, and the jokes are not as good.... and then out of nowhere, it's time to wrap up the movie.

Harold and his writers hadn't learned how to pace a longer comedy. They soon would learn; they could write a straight drama and when it didn't work out in previews, turn it into a comedy by dropping in gags, but stories don't stop and start like that.

precursor

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 8 August 2018]

Dr. Hale (Harold Lloyd) is a bumbling new doctor out of medical school. Work is rare. A man and his daughter walk into his practice. Hale works hard to pretend to be busy. It's love at first sight for him and the sleepwalking beauty. The father is not impressed and quickly takes his daughter away. Hale ends up getting high and dizzy on his office neighbor's secret stash of moonshine. The two drunks go to the hotel where Hale encounters the sleepwalking girl on the ledge.

This has Lloyd's brand of physical comedy. It has his highrise stunts still at its primitive stage. This Hal Roach short film is a precursor to his masterpieces later on. There is a bit of bite to his character in this one. It's a fun introduction.

Lloyd Gold?

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 20 May 2014]

A tipsy doctor encounters his patient (Mildred Davis) sleepwalking on a building ledge, high above the street. A subplot has Lloyd and his friend (Roy Brooks) getting inebriated on homemade liquor and then trying to avoid a prohibition-era policeman who pursues them for being drunk.

Certain aspects of this film are clearly anticipating Lloyd's more famous skyscraper-scaling scenes in "Safety Last!" and this short would make a good pairing with that film. (Criterion matches it with "The Freshman", which is fine, too.) Another reviewer commented, "It's obvious Lloyd is talented, but was still learning what roles were going to work best for him down the road." The film is further described as "uneven". I suppose I can relate. While I like this one, I will easily agree it does not rank among Lloyd's best work.

Somewhat Uneven Overall, But the Last Several Minutes Are Excellent

[Snow Leopard · 30 September 2005]

For much of the running time of this Harold Lloyd comedy, the quality of the story and the gags is somewhat uneven, but the last several minutes more than make up for any weaknesses. The whole movie is worth seeing, although for much of the time it alternates some very funny moments with more routine material. Later on, though, everything comes together in a finale that is funny, clever, and exciting.

Lloyd plays an inexperienced young doctor who falls in love with a patient played by Mildred Davis, and who then goes on a drinking binge with a friend played by Roy Brooks. There are some very funny gags in the 'drunk' sequence, and in particular the confrontation with the policeman features some very good timing and slapstick. The drunk act is slightly unusual material for Lloyd, and while most of the same things had already been done by screen comics like Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle who were particularly adept at it, much of it works here.

But it's the climactic sequence at the hotel that really makes "High and Dizzy" worthwhile. It's set up well, and it anticipates the more elaborate, brilliant sequence in "Safety Last". It also ties things together cleverly, and by saving the best for last, it turns a solid slapstick comedy into a very entertaining movie.

HIGH AND DIZZY (Hal Roach, 1920) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 21 December 2006]

Fast-paced fun which, as often with Harold Lloyd, features distinct - and proved - backdrops for his gags: first, the doctor's office (where the star, as a novice M.D., is forced to impersonate his own clients as a ruse to attract genuine ones!); then, the city streets after a drinking binge with his pal (capped by a pre-SAFETY LAST! [1923] scene in which they fall foul of a policeman); next, the hotel lobby where the reception desk and an elevator become the 'targets' of Lloyd's drunken havoc; and, finally, the trademark 'thrill' sequence in which both the tipsy Lloyd and sleep-walking heroine Mildred Davis are seen walking perilously on the ledge of a tall building!

No Need for a Plot...

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 18 January 2010]

Harold does his balancing act off the side of a building trick in this short, joined this time by wife-to-be Mildred Davis (or her stunt double). I didn't realise he performed this stunt in so many movies – this is the fourth I've seen – but it still leaves you with your heart in your mouth when you see him waving his arms wildly as he's perched on the very edge above a multi-storey fall. No doubt it was largely done with clever camera angles, but it still looks good, especially when Harold's drunken character doesn't realise the danger he's in.

He plays a doctor in this one, and given his propensity for binge drinking and chain-smoking he could have stepped straight out of the pages of a red-top tabloid. He's not the most ethical of doctors either, declaring his undying love for his patient (the aforementioned Davis) within moments of meeting her. For some reason he feels it's important to pretend he has lots of patients and adopts a number of disguises to do so, even though his real patient is already sitting in the waiting room.

After a while the action shifts to his friend's office down the hall. He's a home-brewing enthusiast, and when the corks start popping off the bottles he's got stashed in a filing cabinet, he and Harold decide its best to drink them all rather than let them go to waste. Lloyd makes a pretty funny drunk: not as funny as Chaplin maybe, but then he's not as spiteful either, even though he does do some distinctly un-Lloyd-like things while under the influence. In fact at times he's quite removed from the boyish, straw-hat sporting Lloyd we usually see. There's no real plot to speak of, but, given the strength of the material, Lloyd probably didn't feel he needed one…

the ledge sequence is the stepping stone to the much dangerous "Safety Last"

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 31 July 2023]

(1920) High and Dizzy COMEDY

Clocking in at 26 minutes that Harold Lloyd playing a doctor attempting to garner patients. By the time someone does show up, he tries to make a show for the father (Wally Howe) and his daughter at the waiting room that he is a popular doctor by putting on different disguises by trying to impress them. And it was at this point, he sees the love of his life (Mildred Pierce), during which the father was attempting to explain his daughter's sleepwalking problem. And as soon as the father realizes the love sick boy was not paying any attention to him, he then leaves the doctor's office with disgust taking his daughter with him. Down on his sorrows, the boy then goes to see his friend, another doctor (Roy Brooks) down the hall both in the same floor of a building. It is then his friend is making his own bootlegging business on the side, and out of circumstances forced the both of them to drink all the liquor. By the time they both come outside, they are already drunk, 'high and dizzy'- hence the title. One of the highlights is Lloyd on a ledge which is the stepping stone to much dangerous ledges sequences of all time in "Safety Last". This is the sixth of fifteen movies Harold Lloyd starred with actress Mildred Pierce.

Harold and a beautiful sleepwalker

[Petey-10 · 9/10 · 30 March 2008]

In this silent short Harold Lloyd plays a young doctor who has lack of patients.Then a father (Wallace Howe) brings her daughter (Mildred Davis) to the doctor.She has a problem with sleepwalking.The doctor pays too much attention to the daughter so the father takes them away.Harold's doctor friend (Roy Brooks) asks him to join in a drinking binge so they both get very, very drunk.Soon Harold finds himself at the same hotel as the girl is.And yes, she starts sleepwalking.High and Dizzy (1920) is directed by Hal Roach.The young Harold Lloyd gets to show his comical talent.He and Mildred Davis work great together.No wonder they got married three years later.They click in a way only a future married couple would.This movie is 26 minutes of pure fun.I found myself laughing to Mr. Lloyd's comedy more than once.

High and dizzy, and high and dizzy

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 27 September 2018]

The film title can be interpreted 2 ways, as suggested in my review title. 1)Lloyd is dizzy drunk 2)Lloyd and Mildred are high up and dizzy on a building ledge. Both interpretations apply simultaneously to Lloyd, at times. We can easily divide this comedy into 3 sections: 1)Lloyd as young Dr. Hale, in his office. 2)Lloyd and his friend Ray Brooks as drunks on the street and in a hotel 3)Mildred Davis's sleepwalking scene, including the ledge walking scene by both: one drunk and the other sleepwalking. .......Dr. Hale is bored, he has so few patients. He masquerades as various patients to pass the time and impress his few patients. In comes cute Mildred Davis with her father. Seems she has a sleepwalking problem. The father goes into Hale's office with Hale. Hale thinks he's a separate patient, and immediately diagnoses a problem which he says will require surgery. The father angrily denies he has such a problem, and after Hale flirts with Mildred, he takes her away.. Hale visits his friend down the hall: Ray Brooks. They get drunk on his home brew, then go outside. Hale tries to put Brooks' coat on both of them. A little later, he puts Brooks' coat on him, but includes a support pole on his backside. They have fun with a street freight lift, going up and down several times, and escaping from a cop who goes down with the lift........They enter a hotel where Hale has fun collecting the keys from various pigeon holes, and messing up the mail. He thinks the elevator floor indicator is a clock, and throws his watch away when it doesn't agree with the 'clock'. Finally, he gets upstairs, where Brooks is, and tries to get in a room, going through all the keys until he finds the correct one. He goes in the bathroom, and looks at himself in the large mirror on the door. When he turns around again, an African American has opened the door, and he thinks he's looking in the mirror. When he turns around again, the man is gone and closed the door. Hence, he's looking at himself again.........Now, we come to the most interesting part: Hale goes out into the bedroom and notices Mildred sleepwalking on the narrow ledge. outside his window.(What a coincidence!) She comes in through the window and walks around the room, before exiting back on the ledge. Hale follows her out on the ledge. Very dicey! She returns to his room , locking the window. He's trapped on the ledge, and almost falls off.(Seems like he should be able to get back in through her window?) Eventually, she unlocks the window and goes back to her(his) bed. Hale enters his window, scaring her at first. Her father, with 2 men, come to the door, and start banging on it. Hale quickly asks if she will marry him, and she nods her head. They go to the window and lean part way out, Hale throwing something down through the window below. An irate man appears. They say they want to get married. He just happens to be a minister, and has them say their vows.

Out On A Ledge With Mr. Lloyd

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 23 August 2003]

A Hal Roach HAROLD LLOYD Comedy Short.

An intoxicated Harold goes HIGH AND DIZZY when he tries to rescue the dangerously sleepwalking girl of his dreams.

This very funny film puts Harold for a few precarious minutes out on a ledge, thereby becoming one of the ‘thrill pictures' for which he is mostly remembered, especially by those who've not seen much of his work. The film was produced not long after the freak accident which destroyed half of his right hand, hence the gloves. Harold's eventual wife, Mildred Davis, plays the lovely Girl here; her longtime chum, Roy Brooks, plays the inebriated bootlegger with whom Harold shares an elaborate extended drunken sequence. Mr. Brooks would later become Harold's personal assistant at Green Acres, the Lloyd estate.

an okay Lloyd short

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 30 April 2006]

The character that Harold Lloyd solidified in films like GRANDMA'S BOY, DR. JACK, THE FRESHMAN and THE KID BROTHER was still a couple years away when this short was made. Because of that, the nice and sweet guy he was known as in these films still isn't totally developed. He's a pretty nice guy in this short but at times, he does things that just aren't characteristic of this prototypical Lloyd character--such as getting intensely drunk. No, I just can't see the guy from these later films getting intentionally drunk--it just wouldn't fit his character. Also, another less than stellar point is the whole sleepwalking shtick--Mildred Davies sleepwalking routine makes her look like a Nazi on parade--with her right arm extended and walking in zombie-fashion.

BUT, if you ignore this and just watch this film without these expectations, it's a pretty good flick--though the drunk hi-jinx become a little annoying after a while because it seems a bit overdone.

a perfect introduction to Harold Lloyd's brand of comedy

[django-1 · 9/10 · 9 January 2005]

I watched and taped all of TCM's tribute to Harold Lloyd last year, and have recently been working my way through the last few items I taped but hadn't watched. Wanting to turn my girlfriend on to Lloyd, I asked her to watch this short, made after he had established his "glasses character" but before he made the move to longer, feature-length films. HIGH AND DIZZY is the perfect introduction to Harold Lloyd's brand of comedy. As a doctor with few patients (he has cobwebs on his office phone), Lloyd shows great personal charm and the gags are brilliantly devised to move fast yet work a routine in every possible way before moving on from it. For instance, one scene where Lloyd helps his friend (they are both inebriated) put on a coat, and there is a telephone pole between the man's back and his coat, occurs naturally in the plot sequence, is milked every possible way for about thirty or forty seconds, and then leads to another ridiculous situation. The whole film is that well-constructed. Lloyd's great physical skills are in evidence throughout. Of course, there has to be a "danger" element in a Lloyd film, so here he (and his sleepwalking female patient) are put on a ledge. A drunken man AND a sleepwalker on a ledge about twenty stories high! Now THAT is a brilliant set-up for comedy. The clarity of the copy of the film provided to TCM by the Lloyd estate is sparkling, and Robert Israel's musical score, which subtly works sound effects (pratfalls, ringing telephones) into the musical compositions, helps to move the film along and also helps people not used to watching silent films to appreciate what is happening. It's sometimes hard to get an average person to watch a feature-length silent film, so HIGH AND DIZZY might be the perfect short to show someone as an example of Harold Lloyd's dazzling comedy genius. I heard a rumor that SAFETY LAST may be shown theatrically in 2005--let's hope that's true. Imagine how wonderful it will be to see Harold Lloyd's most famous "thrill comedy" on the big screen!

More lows than highs sadly

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 28 August 2016]

"High and Dizzy" is a 25-minute black-and-white silent short film from 1920, so this one will have its 100th anniversary soon. It is another Harold Lloyd comedy movie and if you look at the names who worked with Lloyd on this one, behind and in front of the camera, you will not only find many longtime collaborators to Lloyd, but also his soon-to-be wife Mildred Davis, who had taken over from Bebe Daniels as Lloyd's leading lady at this point already. The title already tells us that this one takes audiences to wuthering heights, but it includes much more than that such as a doctor who really does not act professionally at all and a showdown at a hotel where the main protagonists meet again. A bit too much of a coincidence. I also feel this film felt a bit generic with the usual romance/angry father routine does not feel that fresh anymore. I give this one a thumbs-down. Lloyd has done better in other works.

Young Lloyd Still In The Learning Stage

[ccthemovieman-1 · 14 July 2006]

I rarely mention what other reviewers say but since there are only a half dozen reviews of this Harold Lloyd Short, I read them all and would pretty much agree with the comments about it being "uneven" and Lloyd's drunk routine not up to his 'character,' a persona he had acquired by the mid to late '20s, I admit, though, he and actor Ray Brooks team up to do a few funny gags as the two drunks stagger their way around town. It's obvious Lloyd is talented, but was still learning what roles were going to work best for him down the road.

There are some other clever sight gags in here (a man tying himself up in post, Lloyd pretending to be his first patients as a doctor, etc.) but overall this isn't really much until the final five minutes when Harold goes into his walking-on- the-ledge of a building routine. It's pretty amazing stuff. The romantic ending with the quickest wedding 'ceremony' in history is totally goofy but fun to watch.

To be perfectly honest, I was expecting more. This isn't one of Lloyd's films I sit through often, even if it is short.

High and Dizzy is a wonderfully funny primer for Harold Lloyd's later Safety Last!

[tavm · 9/10 · 31 July 2007]

High and Dizzy is the second Harold Lloyd short I saw on tape that I recorded from AMC in 1995 when they did the Third Film Preservation Festival when the subject was comedy (The first was Get Out and Get Under). Like the previous one, this was introduced by his granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd Hayes and had music provided by Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra. This was another hilarious comedy produced and directed by the legendary Hal Roach in which Mr. Lloyd plays a newbie doctor who's so desperate for business that when a father and young adult daughter (Harold's eventually wife Mildred Davis) arrive, he passes himself off as several patients in order to make them think that he's a very busy man! Turns out the daughter has a sleepwalking problem but since Harold mistakenly thought the father was the patient, they leave. From there, Lloyd comes to a colleague who's preparing some alcohol (this being during Prohibition) as they get drunk and wander the streets. They then go to the hotel where the daughter is staying and where all havoc is caused with the climax being on a ledge where Ms. Davis is sleepwalking and Mr. Lloyd, still drunk, blindly follows her and gets stuck when she closes the window before he can get back in! Thus was born an idea that would result in a more spectacular sequence in the later classic Lloyd feature, Safety Last! This is another highly essential viewing for those who love silent movie comedy especially those of Mr. Lloyd.

First Lloyd Film on High Ledge

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 8 October 2021]

Movie buffs mostly know of the iconic image of silent film comedian Harold Lloyd by his hanging from a clock high atop a skyscraper, seen in 1923's "Safety Last." The first sequence in his movie career showing him walking on a ledge of a tall multi-story building was in July 1920's "High And Dizzy."

Lloyd plays a friend of a home beer brewer who knows, with the Prohibition law against alcohol just enacted, he must get rid of his stock of beer. Lloyd and his friend quickly chug down the inventory, setting up a series of drunken capers that end up in the city's high rise hotel. The sequence showing Lloyd as he follows sleep walking Mildred Davis on the outside ledge still amazes viewers today, especially when the comedian grasps a trim to regain his balance, only to see that trim split from the building's facade.

Wholesome and ahead of its time

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 17 October 2023]

A kooky premise that leads to Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis teetering out on building ledge, a precursor to his iconic work in Safety Last!, combining thrills, comedy, and a "love at first sight" romance.

Much of the film is devoted to drunken gags, as a half a year into Prohibition, Lloyd depicted getting severely inebriated on homemade beer with his pal (Roy Brooks). They had to consume 44 pints over the course of an hour, you see, because the carbonated bottles were spontaneously popping open and they had to "save it." The antics include eluding a cop and wreaking havoc in a hotel by pocketing most of the room keys from the front desk, then randomly opening the letters to guests. The highlight was probably the multiple exposure effect to depict the vision of his drunken friend, as Lloyd tottered down a hallway.

The payoff is out on the ledge though. Lloyd and Davis were not actually high over the ground, they were on a cleverly constructed rooftop set on a steep part of Hill Street in Los Angeles, where a platform and balustrade weren't in the view of the camera. There is a shot of a stunt person out on an actual ledge to make the effect look even more realistic. The moment when Lloyd's hair stands up in fright is brilliant, and was apparently achieved with a tremendous amount of static electricity.

It's heartwarming to know that Mildred Davis would marry Lloyd a few years later, and they remained married until her death in 1969 (Lloyd would die just a couple years later). Roy Brooks was an openly gay close friend of Davis's, also from Tacoma, and was hired by Lloyd as his personal assistant, living in an apartment at the Lloyd residence for decades. There is something both incredibly wholesome and ahead of its time in all of this, something that I think matches Lloyd's filmmaking.

Lesser Lloyd

[thinbeach · 3/10 · 22 September 2016]

This film is comparable to LLoyd's 1923 feature 'Safety Last!' - both of which use the thrill of high ledge walking above city streets for dramatic and comedic effect. The latter is far more developed however, so I would seek it out. It is also comparable to Chaplin's short 'Pay Day' - both of which feature lengthy sequences of a drunk character stumbling about. Again, Chaplin's is far more developed, one of my favourite silent shorts, and I would seek it out over this.

'High and Dizzy' is very run of the mill. Only really notable for some fun character dress ups Lloyd does at the start in his doctors clinic, pretending to play his patients.

Very Good Lloyd

[Michael_Elliott · 28 February 2008]

High and Dizzy (1920)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Wonderful Hal Roach short has Harold Lloyd getting drunk and then having to save his sleepwalking love by climbing a tall building. I must say Lloyd isn't very good at playing a drunk because it was easy to see him "acting" but the situations he gets himself into were downright hilarious and rank as some of the best laughs I've seen from him. The highlights are certainly at the start when Lloyd tries to pretend he has more clients than he really does and the "coat around the pole" scene.

Two different sketches that aren't blended together enough

[cricketbat · 5/10 · 21 September 2023]

High and Dizzy is my first experience watching an entire Harold Lloyd movie. To be honest, I was not overly impressed with it. It felt as if the filmmakers threw two comedy sketches together into a bottle and didn't blend them quite enough. This short film also seems to spend most of its time focusing on the drunks' antics, which get old rather quickly, and not enough time on the sleepwalking story, which is the more interesting plotline. There are some fun visual gags, and I still plan on seeking out more works by Harold Lloyd, but I don't think I'll be watching High and Dizzy again anytime soon.

On the Roof

[tedg · 19 June 2009]

I recently saw "Hangover," and wondered why we find intoxication so universally funny. Not expecting much of an answer from anywhere, I came to this. The gimmick here is that our hero gets drunk and then follows a sleepwalking girl (who Harold later marries!).

The whole movie is a setup for them wandering out on one of those ledges that seems to only exist in movies: incredibly high, just narrow enough to walk on and accessible from double hung windows. Now I have every reason to believe that they really did perform this dangerous stunt — and it is only slightly less impressive that they were only pretending to be oblivious. Many people watching this would know that Harold blew half his hand off in a previous stunt that went wrong.

And yet, it depends on that drunk routine. It didn't seem funny, nor can I see how it ever would have, though I know it was considered hilarious. But then this was made during prohibition, roughly equal to the situation today with roofers.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.