Never Weaken
{{short description|1921 film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Never Weaken
| image = Never Weaken FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption =
| director = Fred C. Newmeyer
Sam Taylor
| producer = Hal Roach
| writer = Hal Roach
Sam Taylor
H. M. Walker
| narrator =
| starring = Harold Lloyd
| cinematography = Walter Lundin
| editing = Thomas J. Crizer
| studio = Rolin Film Company
| distributor = Pathé Exchange
| released = {{film date|1921|10|22}}
| runtime = 28 minutes
| country = United States
| language = Silent (English intertitles)
| budget =
}}
Never Weaken is a 1921 American silent comedy film starring Harold Lloyd and directed by Fred C. Newmeyer.
It was Lloyd's last short film, running to three reels, before he moved permanently into feature-length production. It was also one of his trademark 'thrill' comedies, featuring him dangling from a tall building. Lloyd and his crew honed and perfected their "thrill" filming techniques in this film, and put them to use in the 1923 feature Safety Last!
Plot
File:Never Weaken (1921) by Fred Newmeyer.webm
Harold works in an office on a tall building next to his girlfriend Mildred (Mildred Davis). Mildred learns she will be let go by her employer, osteopathic specialist Dr. Frank Gary, because "business is slow."
To prevent Mildred from losing her job, Harold takes to the streets. He injures several people, then hands them a business card with Dr. Gary's information. Harold succeeds in acquiring patients for Dr. Gary, ostensibly saving Mildred's job. However, he enters Dr. Gary's office and sees Mildred accepting what he assumes is a marriage proposal from another man.
Distraught, he decides to commit suicide, blindfolding himself and setting up a gun which will fire when he pulls a string attached to the trigger. But after putting on the blindfold he accidentally knocks over a bulb which pops, and he assumes he has shot himself. At that moment, a girder from the next door construction site swings into his office, lifting him and his chair outside. Pulling off the blindfold, the first thing he sees is a sculpture high on his building which he takes to be an angel, and he assumes he is in Heaven. However a jazz band on an adjacent rooftop garden soon disabuses him of that notion, and he realises he is high above the city.
After several perilous escapades high on the construction site, he finally makes it to the ground, only to realise that the man Mildred was talking to was her clergyman brother, who has agreed to officiate at their wedding.
Cast
- Harold Lloyd as The Boy
- Mildred Davis as The Girl
- Roy Brooks as The Other Man
- Mark Jones as The Acrobat
- Charles Stevenson as The Police Force
- William Gillespie as Dr. Frank Gary, The Girl's employer (uncredited)
- George Rowe as Crossed-Eyed Accident Victim
External links
File:Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis in Never Weaken.jpg
{{commons category|Never Weaken}}
- {{IMDb title|id=0012499|title=Never Weaken}}
- [http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/N/NeverWeaken1921.html Progressive Silent Film List: Never Weaken] at silentera.com
- {{Internet Archive film|id=Never_Weaken_1921|name=Never Weaken}}
- {{YouTube|id=3XrjRVEV7FA|title=Never Weaken (1921) - Full Film}}
{{Fred C. Newmeyer}}
{{Sam Taylor}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Never Weaken}}
Category:1920s English-language films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:English-language comedy short films
Category:Films directed by Fred C. Newmeyer
Category:Films directed by Sam Taylor
Category:Films with screenplays by H. M. Walker
Category:Films with screenplays by Sam Taylor (director)
Category:Silent American comedy short films
Category:Surviving American silent films
{{short-silent-comedy-film-stub}}