The Sin Of Harald Diddlebock

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock is a 1947 comedy written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring the silent film comic icon Harold Lloyd and featuring Jimmy Conlin, Raymond Walburn, Rudy Vallee, Arline Judge, Edgar Kennedy, Franklin Pangborn and Lionel Stander. The films story is a continuation of The Freshman, one of Lloyds most successful movies.

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock was Sturges first project after leaving Paramount Pictures, where he had made his best and most popular films, but the film was not successful in its initial release. It was quickly pulled from distribution by producer Howard Hughes who took almost four years to re-shoot some scenes and re-edit the film, finally re-releasing it in 1950 as Mad Wednesday.

The film is generally considered to be a product of Sturges and Lloyds declining careers.

Lloyd was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy", and the film was nominated for Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, both in 1951. Lloyd, however, was never to star in another film, turning instead to production, and releasing compilation films featuring his earlier silent film work.

In this film, that reprises a character portrayed by Lloyd in a 1925 film, it is shown what happened to our hero, Harold Diddlebock (Lloyd), twenty years after his big triumph on the college football field. Struggling in the same job he received twenty years previous, Diddlebock is fired so he wanders the streets and eventually goes into a bar.

After drinking his first drink in his life, and a specially prepared drink in his honor, Diddlebock goes on a crazy rampage through town, buying things including a new wardrobe, a horse-drawn cab with cabby and also a circus.