Hot Water (1924 film)

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Hot Water is a 1924 silent comedy film starring Harold Lloyd.

Directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, it features three episodes in the life of Hubby (Lloyd) as he struggles with domestic life with Wifey (Jobyna Ralston) and his in-laws.

Episodic in nature (effectively three short films merged into one), the first episode features Hubby struggling with shopping (and an unwanted live turkey) on the way home. The second features Hubby grudgingly taking the family en masse out on his brand new Butterfly Six automobile, and the third is an escapade with his sleepwalking mother-in-law.

Hot Water was a light comedy with minimal character development, and followed Lloyd's early 1920's pattern of alternating what he called "gag pictures" with "character pictures". Some distributors had complained about the length of his previous elaborate feature Girl Shy, and Hot Water was the response. Its storyline was also interesting as a unique departure from most of Lloyd's 1920's features, because his character was married with a family, and was not striving for success, recognition, or romance. It was popular at the box office and grossed almost $2,000,000, an excellent return for a film of the period.

Feature films starring Harold Lloyd

Silent: A Sailor-Made Man (1921) • Grandma's Boy (1922) • Doctor Jack (1922) • Safety Last! (1923) • Why Worry? (1923) • Girl Shy (1924) • Hot Water (1924) • The Freshman (1925) • For Heaven's Sake (1926) • The Kid Brother (1927) • Speedy (1928) • Welcome Danger (1929, released 2005)

Sound: Welcome Danger (1929) • Feet First (1930) • Movie Crazy (1932) • The Cat's-Paw (1934) • The Milky Way (1936) • Professor Beware (1938) • The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947)