Classic Film Weekend: FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE in 35mm (1926) + Live musical accompaniment
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100th Anniversary | Live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton Harold Lloyd plays J. Harold Manners, a callow young millionaire who quite accidentally finds himself philanthropically sponsoring a relief mission. Although he originally intends to nix the deal, Manners has a change of heart after meeting Hope (Jobyna Ralston), the beautiful daughter of the mission’s evangelist founder. Manners now adopts their cause as his own, to the horror of his snooty society friends, who kidnap him in the hope that he will come to his senses and call off his impending marriage. But the mission’s stumblebums rally — drunkenly — to bring Manners and Hope together. A massive success at the box office, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE was what Lloyd termed a “gag” picture (as opposed to the “character” work in his previous film, THE FRESHMAN), focused on a pure distillation of comedic set-ups and payoffs and rapid pacing, topped off with a thrilling and funny chase-scene climax.
