Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Vol. 1 - 3: Safety Last! / Eastern Westerner / Ask Father / Girl Shy / From Hand To Mouth / ...

Great review, Erik! My favourites are The Freshman, Girl Shy, and of course, Safety Last. I wish they would do a similar collection for Buster Keaton, which would include all his works.

Kurtis

Thanks, Kurtis.

Kino has an awesome Keaton collection that's been out for quite some time, it has most of his prominent work, shorts and features alike. Though neither of these collections has EVERYTHING, they do feature many great films.

Yes Erik, good job you touched on some of the things that made Lloyd special onscreen- his "everyman" persona, upbeat attitude, athleticism and great comic skill. It speaks volumes of his abilities when he can "say" so much in his silent films, and without mugging to the camera either. His style doesn't appear dated. I recently viewed many of the films in this collection and like you was amazed at their condition, which was helped in part to Lloyd owning his own films and protecting them well over the decades. What a legacy he left to us!

Undoubtably Safety Last is the film he will always be remembered for- one of the most inventive, thrilling and funny movies ever made. The final sequence is at times painful to watch, it will have you squirming on the edge of your seat. Safety Last was the first film of his I ever saw and admittedly I enjoyed it so much that subsequent first viewings of his other noted films were a bit of a letdown- he had really set the bar high with that one in my estimation! But I came to appreciate my other favorites like The Freshman, Girl Shy and Speedy.

Speedy (like all his films in a sense) is marvelous viewing on many levels, which has been mentioned just for the time capsule quality of a 80+ year old look back at NYC and Coney Island amusement park with its remarkably dangerous-appearing (but fun!!!) rides that would never pass muster these days. I was also struck by the sweet love story and carefree fun the couple had at the park. Sure it was all sugar and spice but didn't seem sacharine in the least and what's so wrong with a little escapist dreaming of a time and place the movie depicts in those scenes so well?

Now the reality of the times when the films were made is never more evident than in the way blacks (and Jews) are depicted in many of the movies of that era, and there are many wincingly appalling demonstrations of that in some of the films in this collection. It's something most of us in these more "enlightened" times could not avoid noticing. Of course it has to be put into some kind of perspective and shouldn't detract from the genius and entertainment within these films- but nonetheless can't be ignored at the same time I would think.

Well, I really did enjoy this collection and it's very well put together, with lots of extras and nice appropriate menus (you'll see what I mean) -One quibble I have though is the choice of whether to have language subtitles (which only occur obviously during title and inter-title sequences in silents) is defaulted to having them enabled on - I believe in Spanish- which is the case for every film and extra in the collection. Very minor complaint.

The music is very well done as was mentioned, and having experienced some rather awful repetitive and piano-key rattling silent soundtracks (try listening I dare you to Milestone's DVD release of Ernest Shackleton's South film- about his 1914-17 Antarctica expedition which was filmed by Frank Hurley). The relentless piano accompanying the film will drive you nuts and sadly takes away from what is a monumental film achievement, especially given the circumstances. So with this in mind I was extremely impressed with what was used in the Lloyd Collection, it is a great asset to these films. Robert Israel scores most of the films, along with a few by Carl Davis. They both used bands to great effect. Davis' soundtrack to Safety Last is a favorite of mine. Very melodic and memorable, it stood out to me from all the rest. -FOTM