Harold The Rescuer

Harold The Rescuer is the first of a separate film series in the whole Harold Douglas franchise. The film takes place after the events of Harold The Champion. Harold Douglas is the only character from the Harold The Spy films to reappear, with an all new supporting cast.

Plot
Evil mastermind Lenny Brent threatens to destroy Washington D.C. using a particle ray if his plans for high end dentist offices aren't approved in 5 days time. Harold Douglas and Edwin Koffman are hired by the president to find the particle ray and destroy it. Lenny Brent also hires his henchman, Dr. Dangerous, to kill Harold.

Dr. Dangerous sneaks into Harold's house and attempts to wipe Harold out with a book. Harold notices some noise behind him, but Dr. Dangerous turns so Harold cannot see him. Later, Dr. Dangerous tries to hit Harold with the same book, but Harold moves out of the way. Harold finally knocks Dr. Dangerous out with a nutcracker. The next day, the president reveals that he had known that Lenny was planning to assassinate Harold, and forgot to place bodyguards.

Harold and Edwin sneak into one of Lenny's offices, and hack his computer. They find that the particle ray is in Vancouver, Canada, and Edwin is reluctant to go to Canada. They also find out that the area around the particle ray has high-tech security systems, and the only way to shut those down is to get access codes from a lady named Christina Applebaum.

Harold and Edwin go to Christina's lair, and Harold "goes to the bathroom" to get the access codes. Meanwhile, Christina recognizes Edwin, and the two fight, when Christina realises that Harold went to get the access codes. Harold loads the codes onto a card and falls out the window. Harold tries again to convince Edwin to go to Canada, but Edwin refuses to go.

Harold goes to Vancouver, and Edwin uses the access codes to shut down the security system. He shuts down one generator, but Lenny uses a backup generator to power the particle ray. Harold calls Edwin, and Edwin tells Harold the location of the backup generator. There is a fingerprint sensor leading to the backup generator, and Edwin hacks it so it recognizes Harold's fingerprint. Harold finds the backup generator, but doesn't know which switch would power it off. Harold finds the right switch at first guess, shuts down the particle ray, and the president thanks Harold.

Cast
Anthony Devera as Harold Douglas

Alec Wyers as Edwin Koffman

Morgan Hickman as Lenny Brent

Nicholas Merchant as The President and Dr. Dangerous

Katya Edwards as Christina Applebaum

Production
During development of the now canceled Harold The Spy 2, producer Nicholas Merchant expressed interest in filming additional material for an exclusive N25 release. This was similar to the plan for the original Harold the Spy, which was going to have an N25 version as well, though it was never made. HTS2 director Anthony Devera and Merchant worked on an agreement, and Merchant shot his additional scenes. After editing, Merchant realized how drastic these changes were. The edited scenes already were 7 minutes long (the film's planned run time was 10 minutes). He decided to shoot most of the film himself, and then add in just a few crucial scenes from the Vietnam Camera version.

With production on the Vietnam Camera scenes stalling, it became unclear whether Anton and Kirill Gruzberg would return. To move on with production, Devera and Merchant cut Anton's character and cut some of Kirill's scenes and expanded the role of Alec Wyers, who was originally to play Edwin Koffman only in the N25 version. Edwin replaced Donald, Anton's character.

Merchant began work on these new scenes, attempting to make as little reshooting as possible. Only one original shot scene had to be partially reshot, with the rest of the film remaining intact. With Merchant shooting most of the movie, Devera's director and writer credit being called into question. Of the then 8 minute movie, Devera had neither directed nor wrote any of it. All of it's content was shot by Merchant for the exclusive N25 release.

It was decided to split Harold the Spy 2 into two films: Harold The Rescuer, which was to be the film Merchant had been shooting, and Harold The Spy 2, which would be Devera's original screenplay containing Donald Hark and Lars Lewan. Harold The Rescuer takes place after Harold the Champion, and two more films were planned to follow Harold The Rescuer.

Now it's own film, Merchant cut Kirill's remaining scenes and replaced him with a new villain: Lenny Brent.

Production wrapped on June 7th, 2014. Merchant designed an animated intro for the film and edited it.

Marketing and Reception
Harold The Rescuer was released on June 18th, 2014. It has gotten positive reviews, though lower than predicted views.

Sequels
Harold The Rescuer was to be the first of the second Harold Douglas trilogy, the first being the Harold The Spy films. The HTR trilogy will take place after HTS and will feature the supporting cast of this film. In July 2014, N25 decided to focus on original content instead of sequels, so the third Harold The Rescuer film was canceled, and the second film was renamed Harold and Edwin.