Harold Hall, a young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in the movies.
Harold Lloyd in "Movie Crazy" ad from The Film Daily, 1932
After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a screen-test, and goes off to Hollywood. At the studio, he does everything wrong and causes all sorts of trouble. But he catches the fancy of a beautiful actress, and eventually the studio owner recognizes him as a comic genius.
This was the first film for Harold Lloyd in two years. Clyde Bruckman, who had directed Lloyd in his first two talkie films along with the sound version of Speedy, was recruited to direct Lloyd, who also served as producer. However, Bruckman soon fell ill to a lingering problem with alcoholism, which led to Lloyd stepping into direct, although he did not take credit for it.[4]
Background
The film was a major box office success. An estimated $675,000 was spent on the production and the film grossed over $1,439,000 in the United States alone.[2] The film also proved to be a major critical success as the vast majority of film reviewers praised the picture highly.[5] Cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller provided gags for the film.[6]