The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) starring Harold Lloyd,
Synopsis of The Sin of Harold Diddlebock
In The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, Harold Diddlebock is a bank cashier with 22 years of service behind him and thinks only ahead to a time when he can marry the cashier further down the aisle. When he gets fired his dream appears to be over. But a winning streak at betting finds him the new owner of a circus. Then the fun really begins!
Editorial review of The Sin of Harold Diddlebock courtesy of Amazon.com
MAD WEDNESDAY was the popular re-release title of the film originally entitled THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK (1947). The movie was a cavalcade of hilarity written by Preston Sturges specifically for Harold Lloyd, the great silent screen comedian, to entice him out of retirement. It worked and boy, does this film WORK. The early part of this movie utilizes a bit of silent movie stuff from one of Harold Lloyd’s pictures and then segues slowly into this great story.
Twenty years after his triumphs as a freshman on the football field, Harold is a mild-mannered clerk who dreams about marrying the girl at the desk down the aisle. But losing his job destroys that dream, and when he finds a particularly potent drink at his local bar, he goes on a very strange and funny rampage (with a lion in tow).
Harold meets up with a new friend, Wormy, and together they plot a get-rich scheme to acquire, then sell, a circus to prospective bankers. MAD WEDNESDAY is a crazy, madcap farce which unfolds with cameos and walk-on performances by a huge cast of veteran character actors, silent screen stars and comedians of the day. The dialogue is funny, ridiculous and madcap. MAD WEDNESDAY is such a treat and reminds viewers of frantic & fun of movie making the way it used to be which surely inspired many later works such as ITS A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD and RATRACE. The comedy takes its time, builds slowly at first, but soon increases to a frantic pace. By the end of the movie, you’ll be howling. MAD WEDNESDAY is a must-see picture!
Cast of characters
- Harold Lloyd (Safety Last!; Speedy) … Harold Diddlebock
- Jimmy Conlin (The Great Rupert) … Wormy
- Raymond Walburn (Start Cheering) … E.J. Waggleberry
- Rudy Vallee (Unfaithfully Yours) … Lynn Sargent
- Edgar Kennedy (From Soup to Nuts; Air Raid Wardens) … Jake the Bartender
- Arline Judge (The Mysterious Mr. Wong) … Manicurist
- Franklin Pangborn (The Bank Dick; Reveille with Beverly) … Formfit Franklin
- Lionel Stander (The Kid from Brooklyn) … Max
- Margaret Hamilton (13 Ghosts; The Wizard of Oz) … Flora
- Jack Norton (The Whispering Shadow) … James R. Smoke
- Robert Dudley (The Mysterious Island 1929) … Robert McDuffy
- Arthur Hoyt (Start Cheering) … J.P. Blackstone
- Julius Tannen … Nearsighted Banker
- Al Bridge … Wild Bill Hickock
- Robert Greig (The Picture of Dorian Gray) … Algernon McNiff
- Georgia Caine … Bearded Lady
- Torben Meyer … Barber with Mustache
- Victor Potel … Prof. Potelle
- Jackie the Lion … Jackie the Lion
- Frances Ramsden … Frances Otis