User reviews

There are actually two different versions of this film available. Yes, Lloyd re-shot a lot of his silent footage and released it as a "talkie". But he also released the silent version to the overseas markets and to theaters not yet wired for sound. While the story remains the same, the two versions are quite different in several areas.

I recently had the privilege of seeing the silent version restored by Jere Gulden of the UCLA Film & Television archives with a new score by Robert Israel at the Motion Picture Academy.

I enjoyed it. While not as good as the classic Lloyd films like "Safety Last", "The Freshman" and my personal favorite, "The Kid Brother", it's still pretty good and I think is superior to the sound version, particularly in the use of music. Also, it seems like once Lloyd found sound, sometimes he didn't know when to shut up. There are some nice moments in the sound version, but by 1928 Lloyd really knew what he was doing with silence and I think this version is superior.

Barbara Kent provides a nice, though tiny love interest (her bio says she was only 4'11). The scene in which Lloyd, without knowing she is the girl in the picture, goes on and on how beautiful she is, is heart warming and romantic. It plays so much better in the silence. Kent was brought back for Lloyd's "Feet First".

Just a note: the great Edgar Kennedy only appears in the sound version. He replaces the desk Sargent from the silent movie.

Hopefully they will soon release both versions on one DVD, similar to what they did with the two versions of "The Big Sleep" (war and post war versions).

Don't get me wrong, I love Harold Lloyd - both his talkies and silents. However, "Welcome Danger" was a real disappointment. It was Lloyd's first talking picture, started as a silent. When he finished he realized that sound had "arrived" and reshot it as a talking picture.

The awkwardness of the picture is no worse than any other early sound film, but the big problem is Harold's persona. As usual, he is the eager beaver trying to make good, but for some reason he makes his character out to be one of the most annoying personalities in film history. He is outright mean to people who really don't deserve it.

Lloyd plays Harold Bledsoe, a college student studying botany. His father is chief of police in San Francisco. After his father dies, Harold returns home to help the force with a crime wave in Chinatown. However, he becomes fascinated with fingerprint technology and soon has the department tied in knots with all of his cataloguing and fingerprinting. Soon the police department that welcomed him so heartily would do anything to get him out of their collective hair.

It is a shame this isn't on DVD because it is not THAT bad, and it is an important milestone in cinema history since it was Lloyd's very first talking picture. "Feet First" was his second talking effort, and a much better film too. One of the real treats of this film is an unbilled appearance by Edgar Kennedy as a desk sergeant in the San Francisco police department. He spends a long time on screen for him to have no credit whatsoever, but he does a wonderful job of playing the irascible beat cop we see in his later films.

Harold Lloyd's first talkie is a take on the always popular genre of a seemingly buffoonish, and klutzy inspector who solves the big case while acting the fool. First of all, the movie works, basically. Secondly, it fails to heed the unwritten rule of comedy "Keep them wanting more". Every gag is funny the first time, the second time but the third, fourth and fifth... NO!!! Despite this, Lloyd is funny and symphathetic. But I must comment, something was lost when Lloyd went to sound. It's like hearing him talk took away some of his movie star magic, a little star dust faded astern. He also seems to be slumming it, more interested in keeping his fans and his star status than making genuine great comedies. That said, the side kick inspector is good, and the final twenty minutes though a bit draggy is very funny. I laughed a number of times through that sequence. And the final shot and line is what the silent Harold Lloyd comedies were all about. It's a pity we don't get more of that in this movie.

Anyone who's seen `Singin' In The Rain' knows the panic engendered by the arrival of sound in Hollywood. Virtually overnight, the accepted methods and styles of filmmaking had to change to accommodate the new technology, and comedies were perhaps affected most of all. Instead of relying on wild car chases, broad gestures and sight gags, movies now had to include verbal comedy of the sort that wouldn't fit neatly onto title cards, and the dialogue had to be delivered with comic timing, since it was being heard rather than read off the screen. The most remarkable thing about this movie is how easily Harold Lloyd seemed to navigate this conversion to sound. The dialogue is clever, naturalistic, well-delivered and well-recorded, and the music has obviously been scored to support the action, and all this a matter of months after the first appearance of sound technology in Hollywood! The difference in technique is apparent when you compare the broader, overdubbed silent scenes with Clancy the cop and the somewhat more subtle, sound scenes at the police station and with Billie Lee.

As a side note, notice how the character of the Chinese doctor is treated respectfully, and even the black henchman of the Dragon, apparently invulnerable except for his glass shins, isn't the usual stereotype we expect in movies of the period. On the minus side, the movie is overlong and could have done without the opening sequence involving Lloyd and his `disguised' girlfriend. But overall, this is an enjoyable comedy and an interesting record of Hollywood's transition to sound.

Harold Lloyd's first talkie is an uneasy transitional film between the silent and the sound era. It was originally made to be a silent, and it was re-written, and much of it was re-filmed in order to make it play. What would have been best for the movie would have been to cut out the fat. It goes on for far too long, just five minutes short of two hours, which must have been Lloyd's longest film. And I've read that the original cut was nearly three hours! I love Harold more than anybody, but two hours is a little too much. I couldn't even imagine a longer version. It is a pretty good comedy, though. There are a handful of brilliant comedy bits, and Harold Lloyd, more so than either Keaton or Chaplin, was just as good in his talkies as he was in his silents. There's also a lot of brutal slapstick. That was always a part of Lloyd's work, more than Keaton's or Chaplin's, but not even the Three Stooges are this violent! Harold must brain about thirty people. It is mostly funny – I'll give him that credit – but sometimes I had to give his enemies a sympathy `OUCH!' In the film's very funny finale, Lloyd fights a gigantic black man. To knock him out once and for all, Harold shoves his hand in one of those giant conch shells and clubs the guy on the head several times in a row. OUCH! 7/10.

While one can admire Harold Lloyd's willingness to plunge into sound films, this effort is a huge letdown after the brilliance of his silent films, culminating in `Speedy.' Many of the gags go on WAY too long, and sound makes much of the slapstick more painful than funny. It may be that sound also contributes to making Lloyd's character extremely annoying, especially in the early reels. If that weren't enough, the dubbing process used in the scenes not reshot for sound is very primitive and distracting. Worth seeing for Lloyd fans, but not too funny.

I saw this Harold Lloyd film as a part of their theme "first sound films by silent stars night" this month. I was surprised & though this film is not Lloyds best, it is quite OK. Harold's first sound film has been recently restored by the film preservation society, & they did a fine job restoring it.

Like Alfred Hitchcock who started filming a silent during this time & then converted it to a sound film, Lloyd did the same this with this film. The plot is quite unique for a comedy film. A Botany Student (Lloyd) is the son of a former San Francisco police chief who goes to San Francisco and is enlisted in the force because of his being dad's son. Then he helps crack a case to arrest the leader of a drug distribution network.

That sounds much too serious for a comedy, but Harold makes it work. He does put his touch of classic romantic comedy into it although the love interest does not dominate this film like it does Lloyds's Girl Shy for example. It just is a part of the puzzle that is there to help move the film along.

A lot of the same actors who were in his silent films are along for the first sound film too. All of them do a really good job. Harold changed Directors when he went from silent to sound & you will note upon viewing it that some of the sequences are still the silent ones with sound dubbed in, at times awkwardly. A few of the subtitles to explain the plot when moving from one sequence to another are still there too.

There a several of Harold's physical comedy sequences in this though no major chase scene like his previous film SPEEDY. Still, for his first sound film, Lloyds effort appears to be much smoother than most. His voice is actually what you'd expect looking at Harold. It would have been crazy for him to have a booming bass voice, & he doesn't.

He does face down sound quickly as he speaks in the films very first sequence. What is most unusual in this conversion is one of the more complicated plots for a comedy film. If you like Lloyds silent works this film will not disappoint you.

Welcome Danger was Harold Lloyd's first talkie, and the transition was not an easy one. Well, easier compared to those of Keaton and Chaplin, but Lloyd's silent pratfalls are poorly paced for a soundie and the film is desperately overlong. This is best reserved for hardcore Lloydites--beginners are advised to check out his mid to late twenties silents before investigating his talkies, of which this is the weakest.

As you might have read here, this movie bridges silents and sound, having been shot without sound, and reshot when sound arrived -- and it appears that little of the silent material was used. There are silent-style titles between scenes, but basically we're watching an early sound film.

Sadly, like many early sound films, it's bogged down by the clumsy technology. The camera is static and actionless... in a Harold Lloyd movie! Harold has few action scenes, or even moments, for most of the film. Meanwhile, his character, speaking for the first time, turns out to be a smart-aleck, not at all like his sympathetic silent persona. Add to that the many moments when he bops somebody on the head or kicks them in the pants, which in sound comes off as painful more than comic. And the fact that he keeps casually destroying other people's property with no motivation makes him come off as, well, kind of a jerk.

Sound quality is not bad for the primitive era, but many scenes are obviously redubbed. And the dialogue! It's inane, which is bad enough. But worse, it's painfully slow, mostly overpronounced in projected, stage-actory voices. As a result, the film drags on at an adagio pace for just short of two hours. Way too long for any comedy.

And to read, again here, that it was previewed at THREE HOURS, tells me that this must have been one of the classic ill-fated Hollywood productions.

And yet... There are some real treats here. Edgar Kennedy is great as the irascible desk sergeant. He's on screen for a long time, but unbilled. Meanwhile, prominent billing goes to Charles Middleton as the weaselly John Thorne. This pleased me because four years later, Middleton and Kennedy both appeared (not together) in one of the one or two greatest comedies ever made, Duck Soup.

In Duck Soup, Kennedy has a series of great scenes -- as the lemonade salesman with Harpo, followed by Harpo, Chico, and the hat-and-leg-swapping routine. And when Freedonia goes to war, he gets to sit on Harpo in the bath.

Meanwhile, Charles Middleton, third-billed here, has merely a bit in Duck Soup, as the prosecutor at Chicolini's trial, playing straight man to Chico and Groucho. Short, but like every moment of Duck Soup, sublime.

Out of respect to the greatness of Harold Lloyd, I can't give this less than a five. But no more, either. It's for diehards & completists only. I'm one myself, but this is a long, hard slog.

A young botanist seems to WELCOME DANGER when he goes looking for a master criminal in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Silent screen star Harold Lloyd made his first excursion into talking films with this enjoyable comedy. Originally initiated as a silent movie, Harold -- ever the progressive -- became convinced of the lasting viability of sound films and had the picture completely revamped, at a cost of over a million dollars of his own money.

Some of the sequences are obviously dubbed-over silent footage, and the entire film shares a love of too-much-talk with other movies of the era. But the comedy is good and certainly on a par with any other sound pictures being produced at the time. One prolonged scene in particular, Harold's foray into the depths of Chinatown, replete with hidden passages, trapdoors and sliding panels, makes an excellent use of both sound & music, and shows that Lloyd was still on top of his game.

Barbara Kent makes a spunky love interest for Harold; she's cute & lively and it's impossible to understand how he could possibly mistake her for a boy. Charles Middleton is an effectively nasty villain; and it's good to see Noah Young, a familiar face from so many of Harold's silent films, here playing a dumb but loyal cop.

Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Edgar Kennedy as a harassed desk sergeant.

Just saw the film last night on TCM (the sound version).

Very interesting to note the difference in pacing for silent gags and sound.

Most of the gags were only funny with the sound off. This is essentially a silent film with sound and dialog clumsily grafted on.

Also, I must agree that the lovable boy-next-door character audiences had come to expect shows up as a bully and low-life due, primarily, to his abusive and rough comments.

Contrasting, TCM also screened Buster's first sound offering - "free and easy". Clearly MGM and Buster had mastered the uses of sound - and how to pace a sound comedy. This film, unlike Harold's, was meant to be a talkie. (on the other hand, in a number of scenes, Buster appears a little drunk).

I look forward to seeing the silent version of this film.

This film was started as a silent and finished as a sound film. One would expect, then, to see some classic Lloyd "silent" comedy sequences, but this is a very disappointing and largely unfunny film. Lloyd's hallmark was always fresh, original, well-worked-out visual gags, but the poorly timed shenanigans here often remind one of something below the Three Stooges: the Bowery Boys, maybe. In virtually every other Lloyd film, regardless of whether he was shy, cocky, a success or a bumbler, his character was always inventive, thinking up ingenious solutions to the problems he found himself in. In this film, much of the humor is based on his simple stupidity. There are endless really primitive early action gags: one character gets the bad guys to chase him while the another stands behind a large crate and bats them on the head as they go by; a character takes a swing with a club to hit someone in front of him and accidentally hits someone creeping up behind him; a friend puts his hand on Lloyd's shoulder so he won't get lost in the dark, but when Lloyd gets back into the light the hand on his shoulder is that of a foe. These and other familiar lightweight gags abound, and the Lloyd's imaginative building of original gags is nowhere to be seen. In addition, nearly identical weak gags are sometimes repeated several times in a row. The bumbling around in a chinatown basement just seems interminable.

What happened? Lloyd's films before and after this one are all classics of top-notch comedy. This is a lapse that's unique in Lloyd's career.

Thanks to the good folks at Turner Classic Movies, this amazingly funny comedy -- with its various predictable pratfalls -- was aired for free on their TCM channel.

Lloyd is great, not just going through the motions, but really putting his all into the action sequences and comedic elements.

The peculiar thing about this film is that it contains some overtly sadistic elements, which appear near the end of the movie, not the least of which is when Lloyd puts the bad hombre's head in a vise and screws down the vise grips to make him confess to the whereabouts of the kidnapped Chinese doctor. There's whipping and punching and a funny sequence where the strongman has "knees of glass". Lloyd punches the strong man in the chest and nothing happens, but when he whacks the bad hombre's strongman on the shins, oy ... he jumps and dances around in pain.

It was probably a good idea to cut this movie down from around three hours to the running time, but for sure it works amazingly well in the final edit. All in all, an extremely satisfying motion picture experience, with Lloyd doing such a great job as the Original Nerd.

TCM presented a version of the movie which seems to have been beautifully restored and was very easy and enjoyable to watch.

True, the sound was a bit off sometimes but it was a treasure nonetheless.

It got a seven for my vote, and I can say it was great fun all the way.

Harold Lloyd (as Harold Bledsoe) is a botany student who travels to San Francisco, where he is called upon to help extinguish Chinatown crime; it is hoped Mr. Lloyd will follow in his police chief father's footsteps. Beautiful Barbara Kent is also making the trip; she wants to get her lame brother an operation, from a San Franciscan doctor.

Obviously, filmed both as a "silent' and as a "talkie" - sometimes, the dialog adds absolutely nothing to the on screen events; and, other times, talking is the only thing happening. The silent portions with dubbed talking work better if you just ignore the sound; in the strictly talking segments, Lloyd lacks the deftness of his better work. The physical humor looks more painful than funny. A questionable depiction of race grows with the long running time. If you aren't already a Harold Lloyd fan, this film probably won't make you one.

** Welcome Danger (1929) Clyde Bruckman, Malcolm St. Clair ~ Harold Lloyd, Barbara Kent

Sound technology was new in 1929--brand new--and WELCOME DANGER, originally filmed in silent mode, was re-filmed with sound, the crude sound of the '20s which alternates between being loud one moment and soft the next, forcing a constant hand on the volume if you wish to keep track of the painfully banal dialog.

HAROLD LLOYD, improbably cast as the son of a police chief who ruled Chinatown, is sent to San Francisco to wipe out crime among the drug lords. Lloyd is a botany student who isn't quite what the force was expecting.

The opening scenes with BARBARA KENT are delightfully played for comic situations, but again it's the script that's the real problem. She seems a natural enough actress and Lloyd delivers his lines in OK style, but it's slow going to watch each scene develop--and most of the comic situations are pretty lame. EDGAR KENNEDY has fun with his role as a desk sergeant who sends Lloyd off on what he thinks is a wild goose chase in Chinatown looking for The Dragon.

Some of the sight gags are still fun, left-overs from the silent version, but the film has to be considered an uneasy transition between silent and sound that never quite clicks the way Lloyd's silent comedies did. As Osborne said when doing the intro, some of it is "pretty rough".

Summing up: Except for the interesting Chinatown sequence (which goes on much too long), and the slight twist as to the identity of The Dragon, this one is strictly for Harold Lloyd fans who want to see his complete works.

When the film industry began stepping out of the silent era, and introducing sound into cinema, some stars and filmmakers had an easier time with it than others. Even removed by several decades from that shift in the paradigm the layperson can watch some titles and readily discern that the director, the actors, or both were struggling to figure out how to comport themselves with audio in the equation. Thankfully I don't recognize any such major difficulties in this 1929 feature, Harold Lloyd's first talkie - though by the same token, it feels outright strange and alien to specifically hear Lloyd's voice, or to generally hear most every odd and end that we're also seeing with him involved. In fact, aside from some possible stiltedness in the direction, while the production didn't seem to have any outward trouble in incorporating budding techniques and technology, it strikes me that the endeavor just seems unnecessary. Emphasized by the fact that silent and sound versions were made side by side, as I sit to watch the talkie I tend to see a picture in which the dialogue and audio mostly feel like afterthoughts, components that are not integral to the viewing experience and which could have been discarded altogether with only a few intertitles as a substitute. Maybe that was the real challenge in 'Welcome danger': not to adjust to using new equipment, speaking clearly, and synchronizing sound effects, but to meaningfully make use of methods that were brand new, and that audiences were demanding for their novelty.

To be sure, from the moment we start watching these matters catch our attention; maybe, like Charlie Chaplin, Lloyd could and should have just continued to stick to silent movies for a few years, for after all, his works up to this point were all roundly superb. Even with all this having been said, though, such considerations do not especially take away or distract from what the viewing experience otherwise has to offer. While he didn't have the same star power as some of his contemporaries, there's a reason Lloyd's name gets mentioned alongside the likes of Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy, for he was a reliable comedic genius. We're given plentiful situational humor, gags, physical comedy, and energetic, playful dynamics between characters, with some bits that are downright brilliant. Lloyd's signature "Glasses" character, kind and well-meaning but less than worldly, earns no few laughs even in the earliest minutes - and, to the credit of the filmmakers, there are scattered but increasingly frequent moments throughout when sound cues are used very effectively (even if an alternative approach could have been taken to achieve the same effect without sound). 'Welcome danger' is lighthearted, silly fun, and if in some capacity the employment of audio is imperfect, or makes this feel more common and unremarkable, the sum total ably surpasses any subjective concerns about the transition to talkies. With excellent stunts, effects, props, and sets also feeding into the shenanigans, this is solidly entertaining all around.

There remain some indelicacies, or inelegance, or inclusions that haven't necessarily aged well. Though it can easily be chalked up to the noted circumstances, the audio is imbalanced, with some distinct weak spots. While not necessarily as bad as what some other titles have done, there are some sensibilities here with regards to San Francisco's Chinatown, and its residents and culture, that are a smidgen racist or insensitive, or that reflect outdated notions. (One particular line given to the star, around the 52-minute mark, made me cringe deeply.) On that note, moreover: all of Lloyd's works have boasted a narrative of some strength to carry the day, but they overall remained gentle, mirthful larks; the proportions in which plot and comedy are stirred together here seem a tad off-kilter, with the story increasingly threatening to overshadow the amusement. All these vexations are also reflected in the prominent stature herein of the police ("copaganda"), the contemporary equivalent (preceding even Harry Anslinger) of the misguided "War on Drugs," and even some small details, like fictional Harold's cheeky obsession with fingerprinting (largely trusted but never proven in reality, and even somewhat debunked over time). All this culminates in extreme tonal issues entering and throughout the second half as more serious airs of the drama and crime flick varieties throw off the lightheartedness, and ultimately I can't help but wonder if the runtime of just under two hours (accordingly longer, for the silent version) couldn't have been trimmed in some fair portion.

What it comes down to is that 'Welcome danger' is quite good, but not flawless. It's well made in every regard, from the noted stunts, effects, props, and sets, to costume design, hair, and makeup. I've no notes for the actors, including not just Lloyd but Barbara Kent, Noah Young, Charles B. Middleton, and all others on hand who give vibrant, lively performances; Clyde Bruckman's direction is smart and sharp (save perhaps for the tonal inconsistencies), and the cinematography and editing are unfailingly terrific. The screenplay at large is outstanding, for even if I disagree with some choices, the narrative is firm, the scene writing and characters are flavorful, the dialogue is well considered, and above all, the humor is simply a joy. Still, whatever the creative process was that led to so much and so hefty a plot, the end result feels like the least Harold Lloyd film of any Harold Lloyd film made up to this point, even disregarding the addition of sound. There are strong elements of crime, drama, and even adventure and mystery that adjoin the hilarity, and for as well done as this broadly is, there comes a point where the comedy rather discretely takes a backseat - or, if you will, the most distant row of seats in a large passenger van, if not a bus. There also comes a point, if not multiple points, at which we glance at the digital timer and are a little taken aback by just how much feature remains, with a great deal of story left to be resolved. The film is enjoyable, but it only partly feels like the Lloyd we know, love, and want. Maybe we can say the star wanted to try his hand at something different, which is fine, and commendable; nevertheless, between both Lloyd's presence and the totality of the writing and direction, when all is said and done the picture is a mishmash that doesn't entirely fit together, and that doesn't entirely feel right on a basic level.

Please understand, I do enjoy this. It's a good time, well done, and worth watching on its own merits; much more than not it's a swell credit to all involved. It also feels in no small measure like two screenplays brashly smashed together, careening heavily between decidedly divergent moods. I'm pleased to give 'Welcome danger' my recommendation - but it's a sadly soft recommendation, and it's safe to say that one should highly prioritize Lloyd's silent classics over this first foray into the sound era. Check it out if you have the chance, by all means, but just be aware that in many ways, some more severe than others, it has problems that weigh against it.

If nothing else, "Welcome Danger" would be interesting for film buffs for the way silent and sound cinema mix up: you can practically see the transition happening before your very eyes. But besides that, there are several cleverly constructed gags in this long, at times slow yet quite creative comedy, which also boasts occasionally innovative use of sound, particulary in one sequence where the screen stays black for minutes on end and the action is strictly aural. Harold Lloyd's character can be a jerk and a bully at times, but he is also impressively athletic; in fact, he reminded me of an early Jackie Chan in this film, which must also set some sort of record for most people comically conked on the head with various objects. Beautiful Barbara Kent has a warm, sweet voice, but she still seems a little hesitant with her dialogue. **1/2 out of 4.

How many bludgeonings can you have in a movie before it ceases to be funny? My five year old and I might disagree on this, but I think that Harold Lloyd crossed that subtle line in this movie. It started off cute and funny, but quickly became sadistic. Compared to Hot Water and Safety Last, this was a poor comedy; however, compared to the Three Stooges or The Ritz Brothers, it wasn't bad.

Maybe hitting several dozen Chinese immigrants in the head with a club was funnier back then...

When comedian Harold Lloyd announced he was producing his first talkie, fans were squirming in anticipation of hearing his voice. The actor had pretty much finished a silent version of the movie which began filming in August 1928. But when the cascade of talkies flooded the theaters in 1929, Lloyd realized his silent days were over. He had been reluctant to make a talkie, saying "I do not believe the public will want spoken comedy. Motion pictures and the spoken arts are two distinct arts." He reshot half of the film and released the October 1929 "Welcome Danger," his first talkie.

Loyal Lloyd fans flocked to the theaters to listen to the words of the comic they followed for over a decade. The reviews from the press was reassuring, even though much of his dialogue was ad libbed. As a novelty, viewers couldn't have been happier. Motion Picture News wrote that "Harold Lloyd has nothing to fear from talking pictures. His voice registers excellently, and there is personality in its reproduction."

But certain Chinese activists were not happy with the portrayal of Asian-Americans in "Welcome Danger." The film's plot deals with Lloyd's character, Harold Bledsoe, traveling to San Francisco from Boston on the invite of the police in hopes he's as good as his father was as a detective there. There's a crime wave in the city, including the smuggling and selling of opium in Chinatown. The movie depicts the inhabitants of Chinatown as traffickers in opium and contained lines of Lloyd saying the Chinese all look the same.

When "Welcome Danger" first played in Shanghai, an activist, Hong Shen, a United States educated student in theater, stood up and protested against its depiction of Chinese. He was brought to the Shanghai police, who told them the movie was just a farce. Shen didn't buy it, and lobbied China's Film Censorship Committee to stop showing the film in Shanghai. Its members agreed. Not only was "Welcome Danger" banned in the country, but it began a series of Hollywood films that were prohibited from that country's theaters showing scenes demeaning Chinese-Americans.

As far as future Lloyd movies being shown in China, after some defensive statements from the comedian justifying the scenes in Chinatown, he did eventually offer his apologies. The actor reassured the county's authorities his admiration for the Chinese people, its civilization and its culture. His movies were allowed to be shown again in China, every one except "Welcome Danger."

"Welcome Danger" was Harold Lloyd's first sound film, and I must admit while contrary to public opinion I enjoy Lloyd's sound films. And "Welcome Danger" I think might be his best sound picture ("Movie Crazy" is also another contender), and one of Lloyd's best period. Some people complain that when Lloyd starting making "talkies" he abandoned his usual style of humor, sight gags and such, but for some reason I don't care and I'm not bothered by it. I think what most people are missing out on is the fact that movies were entering a "new" era. We were heading into a "new" way of making films. And they wasn't time for anything "old". So when Harold Lloyd starting making pictures I think he knew that he was going to have to keep up with the times and create something "new". A lot of people don't like the witty one-linners Lloyd gives, they feel the character is out of place doing that. What they're problem is they don't realize, this isn't the old character Lloyd was playing. And "Welcome Danger" starts off fast and funny. One-linners, sights gags, puns, it's flying everywhere.

I guess my opinion of Lloyd differs some everyone else, but, I wouldn't pass up the chance to see this one. It's very funny. *** 1\2 out of ****