Sandwiched between such classics as Safety Last (1923), Girl Shy (1924), and The Freshman (1925), Harold Lloyd’s seventh feature-length comedy, Hot Water, tends to be an overlooked gem in his filmography. Following exhibitor complaints that his feature films had grown too long and complex, Lloyd responded with this breezy hour-long episodic comedy built around a sequence of gags, not character development. In fact, all the character development happens in the first three minutes, when Harold suddenly evolves from confirmed bachelor into a married man after a chance meeting with his dream girl. The rest of the film is devoted to Harold as the henpecked “Hubby” attempting to navigate the mayhem of married life. Similar in structure to his earlier gag-driven feature, Dr. Jack (1922), the story spools out in three “day-in-the-life” episodes: the first details Hubby’s misadventures aboard a crowded streetcar with an uncooperative live turkey; the second involves a disastrous drive in a brand-new car with his disagreeable in-laws; and in the third, he is haunted by the apparition of his formidable mother-in-law.
Hot Water was Jobyna Ralston’s third co-starring role with Lloyd, having taken over from Mildred Davis after the latter became Mrs Harold Lloyd. Ralston, who had previously worked in one-reel comedies for Hal Roach, would co-star in six of Lloyd’s feature productions before appearing in Wings (1927) alongside future husband Richard Arlen. Josephine Crowell, who plays the antagonistic mother-in-law, previously had character parts in D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), and would later play memorable roles in Mantrap (1926), The King of Kings (1927) and The Man Who Laughs (1928).
While Hot Water is not usually ranked among his most popular works, the fact that Lloyd included two of the three episodes in his 1962 anthology film Harold Lloyd’s World of Comedy speaks volumes about its quality – and its enduring ability to make audiences howl with laughter.

Steven K. Hill