A Sailor-Made Man on AllMovie

Although this comedy was hailed as Harold Lloyd's first feature, at four reels, it's really more of a glorified short. It was originally meant to be a two-reeler (the previous film, Never Weaken, was considered an anomaly at three reels), but Lloyd and his crew wound up with too many good gags and decided to leave them all in. Unlike Lloyd's subsequent films, this picture is light on characterization and relies more on its wild gags than on the star's winning personality. Lloyd plays an insufferable rich young man. The father of his sweetheart (Mildred Davis) does not approve of him, and insists that he must do something with his life if he is to be worthy of the girl. Harold's answer is to join the Navy. His dream of being an admiral contrasts sharply with reality, where he is at the bottom of the pecking order. His ship lands on the coast of a fictional Middle Eastern country, Khaipura-Bhandanna. The girl and her father have also sailed there and a wicked Maharaja (Dick Sutherland) kidnaps the girl from her father's yacht. It is up to Harold to rescue her, which he does with his famed athletic skills and a lot of humor.