By 1930, silent pictures were definitely a thing of the past. Harold Lloyd, one of the ultimate masters of silent comedy, was forced to adapt his style to sound. This was not as easy as one would think - "Welcome Danger", his first all-talking picture, displayed very little of his usual sight-gag style, instead relying on verbal quips and one-liners and, consequently, being vastly inferior to his silent masterpieces. Fortunately, Lloyd realized this and "Feet First", his second sound film, is again on par with his greatest silents - for the most part. Although totally lacking of something like a story, "Feet First" keeps the one-liner rate at an absolute minimum, instead abounding with sight-gags.
So how come that this movie is never counted among Lloyd's masterpieces? Some people consider it a total rip-off of his silents; it generally is not, it just follows the same pattern. The only letdown is the last reel; the house-climbing episode desperately tries to copy and improve Lloyd's earlier dare-devil climbing scenes but it fails to deliver, partly because of the poor editing and pacing (compared to "Safety Last"), partly because of the stereotype racist portrayal of the janitor, played by Willie "Sleep'n'Eat" Best.
Apart from that last reel, however, "Feet First" ranks among Lloyd's funniest, if not his best pictures (it simply lacks a bit of the beauty of "The Kid Brother" or the pace of "Safety Last" to rival with those two) and certainly among his prime talkies.
So how come that this movie is never counted among Lloyd's masterpieces? Some people consider it a total rip-off of his silents; it generally is not, it just follows the same pattern. The only letdown is the last reel; the house-climbing episode desperately tries to copy and improve Lloyd's earlier dare-devil climbing scenes but it fails to deliver, partly because of the poor editing and pacing (compared to "Safety Last"), partly because of the stereotype racist portrayal of the janitor, played by Willie "Sleep'n'Eat" Best.
Apart from that last reel, however, "Feet First" ranks among Lloyd's funniest, if not his best pictures (it simply lacks a bit of the beauty of "The Kid Brother" or the pace of "Safety Last" to rival with those two) and certainly among his prime talkies.