“The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection” is an excellent DVD set containing hours of hilarious, comedic fun...
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If Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin rest on opposite sides of the silent comedy spectrum, Harold Lloyd fits snuggly in the middle. Chaplin and Keaton had distinct comedic styles that drew upon their natural abilities and skills. Where Keaton played broad physical humor for laughs, Chaplin employed a more down on his luck situational sensibility. Lloyd, on the other hand, uses a combination of physical prowess and a situational approach, often drawn from his characters´ wits, that defines his distinct comedic style.
Lloyd all but invented the idea of the "thrill-comedy" during the silent era, where his characters, often named Harold, where put into situations that where both harrowing and hilarious. Not an easy feat to achieve, even today. His brand of comedy was enough to make him one of the top box office draws for most of the 1920´s. Much like Keaton, Lloyd was very involved with the making of his films and owned the rights to many of the films he produced. As a result, "The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection" is an amazing look at Lloyd´s body of work, gathering 28 short and feature films into a seven disc, three volume set with a seventh disc chock full of extras.
The high point of the first volume is arguably Lloyd´s most famous work "Safety Last!" Anyone remotely familiar with film history knows the image of Lloyd dangling helplessly from a clock that hangs on the side of a building in downtown L.A. The film follows Lloyd, playing a character named Harold, as he works to get by in the big city. He hopes of making a name for himself so he can send home for his sweetheart and get hitched. When his girlfriend comes to town to surprise him things get a little overwhelming. There is a great sequence in the manager´s office, which he must pose as (he is only a retail clerk), so that he can convince his girlfriend of his importance with the department store. When he overhears his manager proclaim that he will pay anyone $1000 who can bring in more customers to the store, Harold gets the idea to use his roommate, a human fly, to attract more customers with a daring stunt. The day of the event, complications ensue and Harold must scale the side of the building himself. This all leads up to the classic moment of Harold hanging from the clock (which Jackie Chan paid tribute to in "Project A"). The pacing of the film never feels off and moves rather briskly with the humor all coming together in a seamless fashion. This is easily one of the best films in the set and one of the best silent comedies ever made.
The second volume of the set features one Lloyd´s best and most successful films, "The Freshman." It´s yet another gem in Lloyd´s body of work and further solidifies the genius of his comedy. Everything comes together seamlessly to create an enjoyable and hilarious film. Lloyd plays Harold 'Speedy' Lamb, a freshman in college, who´s only goal is to be the most popular student in school. He quickly warms up to a few upperclassmen who do nothing but play tricks on him. Harold thinks of it as nothing more than innocent ribbing by his new friends. For most of the film he is taken advantage of by his classmates, which leads him to believe that his popularity is gaining among them. He is oblivious to their intentions until a sweet natured girl, who he has deep crush on, helps him realize the truth about his so-called friends. Harold is devastated by the news but he presses on with his constantly cheerful, upbeat attitude. He vows to play well in the big football game and help defeat his school´s rival, but this is hard to do considering he is only a water boy.
"The Freshman" is a very funny film with Lloyd acting as the film´s anchor. His ear to ear smile in the face of overwhelming odds is a shot in the arm to stone faced, nonchalant comics of yesteryear. His comedy is familiar, yet unique enough to set him apart and help solidify him as a comic legend. Throughout the course of "The Freshman" and many of Lloyd´s other films, viewers feel equally nervous and on the verge of comical tears in watching Lloyd succumb to the situational circumstances that plague him. His solutions will often leave you laughing out loud.
As with many silent era comedies, most of the stories revolve around a simplistic boy-girl romance with extenuating circumstances. There is certain simplicity to most of the story lines, centering on some romance or another, varying in set-up and execution to create delightfully entertaining films. The situational humor of his films placed Lloyd in the same leagues as Chaplin and Keaton where he quickly came to be known as the everyman of silent comedy.
Spread across the set are the following:
Volume 1, Disc 1: "Girl Shy" (1924), "Safety Last!" (1923), "An Eastern Westerner" (1920), "Ask Father" (1919), "From Hand to Mouth" (1919), Disc 2: "The Milky Way" (1936), "The Cat's Paw" (1934), "Why Worry?" (1923)
Volume 2, Disc 1: "Kid Brother" (1927), "The Freshman" (1925), "Bumping Into Broadway" (1919), "Billy Blazes, Esq." (1919), Disc 2: "Feet First" (1930), "Grandma's Boy" (1922), "Dr. Jack" (1922), "Now or Never" (1921), "High and Dizzy" (1920)
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