Harold Van Pelham (Harold Lloyd) is a young, wealthy spoilt American businessman who obsesses constantly about his health, believing he is deathly sick while in reality he is perfectly fine. Determined to improve his physical condition with an extended rest in a "tropical" climate, Harold travels by passenger ship with his valet Mr. Pipps (Wallace Howe) and personal nurse (Jobyna Ralston) from California to vacations= in the tropics for the fresh air at supposedly peaceful "Paradiso", a small South American island off the coast of Chile.
Once in Paradiso, Harold does not find the peace and seclusion the hypochondriac is desperately seeking; instead, he stumbles into the midst of a revolution against the island's republic. The uprising is being organized and incited by Jim Blake (James Mason), a greedy "renegade" from the United States, who wants to overthrow Paradiso's government "to further his own financial interests".
After being separated from his valet and nurse, Harold wanders about the island's main town, oblivious at first to the fact that an armed revolt has occurred. Blake soon arranges to have the bewildered hypochondriac thrown into the local prison. There Harold meets Colosso (John Aasen), a gigantic fellow prisoner who is described by the warden as a "wild hermit" and "half crazy with a terrible toothache".
The cellmates engineer an escape together, and Harold helps Colosso by pulling out his painful tooth. Much relieved, the huge man is eternally grateful and vows to do Harold's will. Harold now insists that the military conflict and social unrest on the island are "bad for my heart" and must be stopped, so he and Colosso, along with Harold's nurse, manage by themselves to defeat Blake and his forces and quell the revolution.
Those actions finally convince Harold that he is actually quite fit and that he no longer needs to fret daily about his health or take his array of unneeded medications. With a renewed sense of vitality, he now leaves Paradiso with Colosso and his nurse, and the trio board a ship bound for the United States, presumably reuniting on the vessel with Mr. Pipps (who reappears at the end of the film). Upon their return, Harold and his nurse marry; and Colosso finds employment as a very imposing "traffic cop".
A 1923 American silent comedy action film directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor and starring Harold Lloyd. This was the last film made in Lloyd's partnership with Hal Roach Studios. Lloyd and Roach parted on good terms, as each simply wanted to go in different directions and Harold Lloyd now had enough money to finance his films independently. One of 26 films Harold Lloyd made that featured his brother Gaylord Lloyd. This was also Lloyd's first film to have Jobyna Ralston as leading lady. She would go on to star in his next five films. She was picked primarily because Lloyd wanted somebody who was exactly the opposite of his previous leading lady, Mildred Davis. Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis married while this film was in production.
The village set for the film was used in Roach's Our Gang short "Dogs of War" (1923), filmed at the same time and featuring guest appearances by Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston. Boarding liner "Harvard" and sister ship "Yale" made regular runs from Los Angeles to San Francisco as part of the Los Angeles Steamship Company.
In the film's original script, the main character was to go to Mexico instead of the fictitious island of Paradiso. Lloyd made the change in response to concerns that using Mexico as the setting perpetuated unfair stereotyping.
George Auger, also known by his stage name "Cardiff Giant", was a Ringling Brothers circus giant who was originally contracted to play the role of Colosso. Unfortunately, Auger died the day before he was scheduled to travel to California to begin filming. After a nationwide publicity campaign to find his replacement, Norwegian John Aasen from Minnesota was chosen for the role. Aasen was discovered as a result of a newspaper article about the enormous size of his shoes.
The film was distributed by Pathe Exchange with sales assistance from the distribution company Associated Exhibitors.
"Why Worry?" was popular with audiences in 1923 and received widespread praise from contemporary reviewers. Variety, among the leading entertainment-industry publications of the period, complimented not only the film's level of humor but also noted the consistent quality of Lloyd's work:
"He rarely misses with his feature comedies and the latest is no exception. It is a production made for laughs and produces them. As with other Lloyd pictures it is full of genuine comedy ideas. The creative ability of the comedian asserts itself with credit also due to the author [Sam Taylor], who likewise aided in the direction for some of the comedy ideas...Lloyd feature comedies are looked upon as box office winners. The latest will live up with ease to the reputation of its predecessors and may be relied upon to produce."