Harold and Mildred learn something of the perils of parenthood. Married for a year, they are given the task of babysitting a couple of unpleasant little 'uns for a night- tie this in with rumours of a burglar in the neighbourhood and a fun night is on the cards. It's enjoyable and has quite a dark side- the elder of the children isn't just cheeky, he's downright malevolent- but all the way through I was thinking: well, you know, it could be better.
I didn't laugh much, I know that.
And some of the gags I didn't even get. I can kinda fit pieces together now and surmise that most of the early stuff in the film like the young lovers pushing around some kind of cask in a pram, and a whole procession of young men coming out of the same house pushing prams- well I'm guessing that this is about prohibition or something, yeah? Ah, silent comedy. A medium that was specicifically aimed at, let's be frank here, the widest popular culture audience imagineable, ultimately pretty much a lowest common denominator kind of thing, but separate yourself from the source by a few long decades and you may as well be tying to modernize Chaucer. Well, you get my drift. What was dumb fun then can take a little brainpower now.
There's a curious, very brief, animated episode in here- the wedding service of Harold and Mildred, and so unexpected is it that it may just be the highpoint of the film. It isn't funny, but it's quirky and sometimes that's enough. A lot of the business with the children, especially the baby's milk- hell, it's ok, it's just a litlle pedestrian, a little uninspired. You see Harold Lloyd on the screen, that great iconic figure, and pedestrian and uninspired just isn't enough.
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