''Welcome Danger'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Clyde Bruckman Clyde Adolf Bruckman (June 30, 1894January 4, 1955) was an American writer and director of comedy films during the late silent era as well as the early sound era of cinema. Bruckman collaborated with such comedians as Buster Keaton, Monty Banks, ...

and starring

Harold Lloyd Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many silent comedy films.Obituary '' Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55. One of the most influential film c ...

. A sound version and silent version were filmed.

Ted Wilde Ted Wilde (December 16, 1889 – December 17, 1929) was a comedy writer and director during the era of silent movies, though he also directed two talkies released in 1930. He was born in New York City. His initial career was as a member of Harold ...

began work on the silent version, but became ill and was replaced by Bruckman.

Plot

Harold Bledsoe, a student of botany, is traveling by rail to San Francisco, where the captain of police has sent for him to help investigate a crime wave in the city's "

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

" district. Since Harold is the son of San Francisco's former police captain, municipal authorities hope he will be as skilled as his father in solving crimes. Also traveling to the city, but by car, are two people unknown to Harold. They are a young woman named Billie Lee and her little brother Buddy, who is in dire need of having his lame leg treated in San Francisco by "the famous Chinese physician" Dr. Chang Gow. During a brief train stop in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

, Harold has his photograph taken at a

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fi ...

. He is surprised to see in the print the face of an attractive woman next to his. Actually, Billie Lee had taken her photo at the same machine before Harold, but the film failed to develop properly, thus leaving her image on his double-exposed print. Harold's train halts again later for a minor repair; and while waiting outside the passenger car, he sees an unusual blossom on a nearby tree. He goes to fetch it but is unable to reach high enough, so he stands on the back of a cow. Suddenly, the train's whistle blows, which causes the cow to bolt with Harold holding on desperately. The animal soon throws him off on a dirt road where Billie and Buddy's old car sits with an apparent engine problem. Harold does not recognise Billie as the woman on his photograph; in fact, he thinks she is a boy since she is wearing a man's cap and

overalls Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

to work on the engine. Harold tries to help, but he only complicates things and repeatedly insults Billie. After she removes the

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...

, a passing motorist suggests they check their car's gas tank, which is indeed empty. The motorist gives them some fuel; but after he leaves, Billie realizes that she left the carburetor on the other car's running board. Now they must spend the night along the roadside. Harold makes Billie do much of the work setting up camp as he sits mooning over the mysterious woman in his photograph. Billie saw earlier that it is her image, but she does not tell him. After enduring more physical and verbal abuse from Harold, she finally changes her clothes in a tent and then shocks him by reappearing in a dress. He now recognizes her and flees, embarrassed by his boorish behavior. She catches him and asks if he still thinks she is as beautiful as in the photograph; he says yes. Next morning, the trio harness the cow to pull their car to a gas station. Harold then separates from Billie and Buddy to catch another westbound train. Once in San Francisco and at police headquarters, Harold is introduced to the process of

fingerprinting A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...

, which intrigues him. He causes chaos at the station for the next two weeks by using the messy, fine black powder to take fingerprints of everyone at the building, including the print of a visitor, John Thorne, a respected citizen who is pressuring the police to crack down on crime. Harold's antics continue to anger staff at the station, so the desk sergeant hatches a scheme to get rid of him and sends him on a mission to find the "Dragon", the mysterious master of the city's Chinese underworld. To "aid" Harold in his search, the sergeant gives him Mr. Thorne's fingerprint, but he lies and tells him it is the Dragon's print. Harold goes to Chinatown, where he sees Billie in her car. She gives him the address where she and Buddy are residing in the city. Harold then passes a flower shop and sees a beautiful potted flower he wants to purchase for Billie, but the employees refuse to sell it. Determined to have one, he throws money on the floor and dashes out of the shop with the flower and evades two employees in hot pursuit. He next visits Billie and gives her the flower. Dr. Gow is also there examining Buddy's leg. As he departs, he accidentally knocks the flower off a table and breaks its pot, revealing a package of

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...

. Telling them to say nothing about the drug, the doctor goes to the flower shop, where he is kidnapped. Later, Harold and Billie hear radio news that Dr. Gow had been seized and may be killed. Fearing his death would deprive Buddy of any hope of a permanent recovery, Harold leaves to rescue the doctor. In Chinatown, Harold sees Clancy, a street cop he had met earlier; and together they go to the shop. Aware of their presence, employees there set up a series of spooky effects to frighten them from the premises; yet, Harold and Clancy remain despite being terrified. Clancy does leave briefly to call for more officers before returning. Fights then begin with Chinese gang members and continue in passageways beneath the shop. Harold wanders through the basement area and soon encounters the masked Dragon and some of his men preparing to execute Dr. Gow. Harold manages to prevent the murder and struggles with the Dragon, who escapes with his hostage before the police burst in and arrest everyone else. When the police return to the station with Harold and gang members, Billie is already there, eager to find him. The police inform Harold about misleading him with the Dragon's fingerprint. He is mortified until he notices in a mirror that in his fight with the Dragon, the drug lord had left his sooty fingerprint on Harold's forehead, and it matches Thorne's print. Harold tries to explain the significance of this find to his colleagues, who only ridicule him. Thorne then appears at the station, and Harold instantly denounces him. As an influential public figure, Thorne is thought to be above suspicion, so the police apologize for Harold's behavior and try to detain him. He gets away and follows Thorne to his home, where he eventually extracts a confession from him. The police arrive and remain skeptical that Thorne is the Dragon until Harold finds Dr. Gow gagged and bound in a closet in Thorne's study. Thorne is arrested, and the film ends with Billie accepting Harold's clumsy proposal of marriage.

Cast

- Harold Bledsoe *

Barbara Kent Barbara Kent ( Barbara Cloutman) December 16, 1907 – October 13, 2011) was a Canadian film actress, prominent from the silent film era to the early talkies of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, Barbara Kent won the Miss Hollywood Beauty Pageant. ...

- Billie Lee *

Noah Young Noah Young, Jr. (February 2, 1887 – April 18, 1958) was a champion weightlifter and actor. Biography Young was born in Cañon City, Colorado. His father, Noah Young, was a foreman of the Glenrock coal mine who later became a coal mine i ...

- Patrick Clancy *

Charles B. Middleton Charles Brown Middleton (October 3, 1874 – April 22, 1949) was an American stage and film actor. During a film career that began at age 46 and lasted almost 30 years, he appeared in nearly 200 films as well as numerous plays. Sometimes credi ...

- John Thorne *

Will Walling William Walling (June 2, 1872 – March 5, 1932) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in 60 films between 1921 and 1932. He is known for his role as the railroad president in the 1926 film '' The Great K & A Train Robbery'', ...

- Captain Walton *

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...

- Police Desk Sergeant (uncredited) * James Wang - Dr. Chang Gow (uncredited) * Douglas Haig - Buddy Lee (uncredited) *

Blue Washington Edgar Hughes "Blue" Washington (12 February 1898 – 15 September 1970) was an American actor and baseball player who played in the Negro leagues from 1915 to 1920 as a pitcher and first baseman. Baseball career Washington started his baseba ...

- Thorne's Henchman (uncredited)

Premiere

In its October 3, 1929 issue, the popular New York-based

trade paper A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this ...

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' reports the following about the release and

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its fi ...

of ''Welcome Danger'': Notably, the premiere took place two weeks prior to the

Stock Market Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

Harold Lloyd's first "talkie"

Moviegoers in the United States began to hear for the first time the voices of many of their favorite stars as

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

released more and more "talking pictures" in 1929. Many reviewers at that time, in addition to expressing their opinions about a movie's plot and production values, provided readers with their initial impressions after hearing an actor actually speak on screen. Since ''Welcome Danger'' was Harold Lloyd's first venture into the sound era, there was significant public interest in his voice. In October 1929, the influential New York entertainment publication ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' gave overall high marks to ''Welcome Danger'' and to Barbara Kent's spoken lines but offered a somewhat mixed review regarding Lloyd's recorded dialogue: Walter R. Greene, however, a reviewer for ''

Motion Picture News The ''Motion Picture News'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1913 to 1930. History The publication was created through the 1913 merger of the ''Moving Picture News'' founded in 1908 and ''The Exhibitors' Times'', founded ...

'' in 1929, complimented Lloyd's stunts in ''Welcome Danger'' as well as the tone and general quality of the comedian's voice. "Harold Lloyd", Greene wrote, "has nothing to fear from talking pictures", adding "His voice registers excellently, and there is personality in its reproduction".

Preservation status

Both the silent and sound versions have been restored by the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the a ...

. This film was included in Optimum's region 2 'Harold Lloyd: The Definitive Collection' 2005 box set from the U.K., but was left out of the New Line region 1 'The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection' 2005 box set from the U.S. The film's copyright was renewed, and will therefore not fall into the public domain until January 1, 2025.

References and notes

External links

*
''Welcome Danger'' Detail View
SilentEra.com; accessed August 7, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Welcome Danger 1929 films 1929 comedy films American comedy films American black-and-white films Films directed by Clyde Bruckman Films set in San Francisco Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Felix Adler (screenwriter) 1920s English-language films 1920s American films