The 1930's were a strange, underwhelming time for Harold Lloyd due to the fact that his films were not box-office hits. "Movie Crazy" and "Feet First" were hilarious but they never got the audience they deserved. "The Cat's-Paw" and "The Milky Way" were more remote in their comic premise though they still have quite a few laughs in each. "Professor Beware" was not well-received either yet, not unlike "Feet First," it was a welcome return to his silent comic roots. It is one long chase picture to be sure, like his early two-reelers, yet the chase is breezy and engaging even if the story never really takes shape.
Lloyd is Professor Dean Lambert who has a certain obsession with Egyptian Neferus and the Pharaoh's daughter to the point that he sleeps in the sarcophagus! After getting into some trouble with a damsel in distress and an alcoholic (perfectly cast William Frawley) and the good old professor with no clothes on which causes him to be fired from the museum, we get a chase picture starting with a camper belonging to some recently married couple out to the desert, a couple of thieving partners including one purporting to be a judge, and cops on the professor's tail. To Harold Lloyd completists, some gags will seem familiar to those who have seen "Get Out and Get Under" with the car-inside-a-tent gag. There is also a chaotic finish with Lloyd consistently falling into the ocean water and fighting guys left and right to impress a woman and her father - always trying to make an impression. A repeat of Harold mimicking a chicken's clucking sound is not nearly as sidesplitting as his mimicking a horse's laugh in "The Milky Way."
Despite this being a reprise of hapless Harold Lloyd at his best and recycling old gags, I still found this far more enjoyable than "Cat's-Paw" or "The Milky Way" (though nothing quite tops "Movie Crazy" for that decade alone). It's nothing new, nothing remotely inventive about it and not exactly a step forward for Mr. Lloyd (he does use rear-screen projection for some chases which is cheating a bit) but it is terrific fun seeing him going back to basics.
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