365 Days: #31 High and Dizzy (1920)

It's a Harold Lloyd kind of day today. This title guarantees enjoyment. 

#31 High and Dizzy

The Boy has just entered the medical practice and has not had any patients until a man brings in his daughter for sleepwalking. The Boy goes to see a colleague, whose homemade medicinals begin to pop their corks, leading them to consume them all to prevent them going to waste. Drunken hilarity ensues until The Boy follows his sleepwalking love interest out on the ledge of a high building and takes a tumble. 

I love the illustrated intertitles in this short, especially when they are denoting drunken action, and the double vision scene was pretty impressively filmed. The way Harold Lloyd throws his body around is fun to watch, though seeing him nearly fall off a building was somewhat anxiety inducing. It's an entertaining film to provide brief respite from the daily toils and tribulations. 

You can watch this remastered episode on the Harold Lloyd channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBbepljxu0k

Business is slow.

Playing the patient.

Beginning to operate.

Medicinals

Saving the homebrew.

Heels over head.

Double vision

The moving hat.

Sleepwalking

Drunk walking

I hope there's a net below, though apparently he didn't need it.

How could she say no?

They would officially tie the knot in 1923.

365 Days: #30 Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933)

Today's picture is one I've been wanting to see but wasn't available until recently. Kay Francis and Lyle Talbot headline with many great supporting actors from the day, though what interested me most is seeing the portrayal of a female doctor in the 1930s. 

#30 Mary Stevens, M.D.

Mary Stevens and her friend and classmate since childhood, Don Andrews, graduate from medical school and set up their medical practice in the same office building. While Mary struggles to overcome bias against female doctors, Don quickly loses interest in the hard work doctoring requires, and decides to marry a politician's daughter to get ahead, with no consideration for his relationship with Mary. They have a falling out after Mary has to take over during a surgery Don is too intoxicated to perform, and she moves on to develop her own esteemed pediatric practice, while still harboring feelings for him. She reconnects with Don while on vacation and they spend a romantic evening together, which results in a pregnancy. When Don's wife refuses to divorce him because her father wants to avoid scandal, Mary decides to go abroad to have the baby and then adopt it to avoid a scandal that would negatively impact her practice. All goes as planned until her baby contracts infantile paralysis (aka polio) on the voyage home.

"Nothing's guaranteed to break up friendship like giving advice." 

Dr. Mary seems pretty smart except when it comes to men. I can't fathom why she would still be in love with dear old Don after he married someone else for money and position without giving her a second thought, not to mention the fact that he committed a crime. Love is blind. 

"Well, some people work for a career and some people marry one." 

365 Days: #29 Broken Lullaby (1932)

I am watching a very different Lubitsch film today. There's nothing lighthearted or comedic about this tale of war.

#29 Broken Lullaby

French soldier, Paul Renard, is overcome with guilt after killing a young German soldier, Walter Holderlin, during the First World War. He travels to Germany to visit the man's family, but can't bring himself to confess to murdering their son, allowing them to welcome him into their arms as someone who knew their son, which brings them some measure of comfort. When Walter's fiancée discovers that Paul was responsible for Walter's murder, she insists that he make a sacrifice.

"Who sent that young man out to kill Germans? Huh? And who sent my boy, and your boy, and your boy, and your two boys? Who gave them bullets and gas and bayonets? We, the fathers, here and on the other side. We're too old to fight but we're not too old to hate. We're responsible! When thousands of other men's sons were killed we called it victory and celebrated with beer. And when thousands of our sons were killed they called it victory and celebrated with wine. Fathers drink to the death of sons!" 

War. What's it good for? Absolutely nothing. This is a tender movie with some beautiful, quiet shots that speak louder than words. 

"9 million people got slaughtered and they're already talking about another war. And the next time there'll be 90 million! And the world calls that sane. Well then, I want to be insane!"

"We must learn not to weep and love what we have left."