And so in Speedy's fancy, Chet Trask was tottering on his throne––

June 16, 2011 7:24 AM

A handful of complete Harold Lloyd films on YouTube:

A Sailor-Made Man (1921)
Why Worry? (1923)
Safety Last (1923)
Girl Shy (1924)
The Freshman (1925)

From the splendid F*** Yeah Harold Lloyd
posted by shakespeherian (19 comments total)

You're hanging from the huge arms of the clocktower IN MY HEART.
posted by The Whelk at 7:29 AM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

This is fantastic, thank you.
posted by longbaugh at 7:43 AM on June 16, 2011

I think I love his short films more than the full-length movies, but HL is a blast. I discovered Lloyd 25 years ago, when the local PBS station (KTEH) ran a big chunk of the shorts on weekend evenings. I knew about Keaton and Chaplin of course, and since that time, never understood why Lloyd wasn't a household name as well.

BTW, there's also a Tumblr dedicated to his frequent co-star (and eventual wife) Mildred Davis.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:57 AM on June 16, 2011

Thanks so much for these! Lloyd was brilliant and brilliantly funny.

This doesn't exactly make up for my inability to bid on his suit in the Debbie Reynolds auction, but it's dandy nonetheless.
posted by kinnakeet at 7:58 AM on June 16, 2011

The day I took the reins of my own giant clocktower, everyone I know started asking when I was going to recreate that scene from Safety Last. The answer so far is "I would, but my boss has instructed me not to," which sounds like a throwaway quip, except that my boss knows me well enough to make that very admonition.
posted by sonascope at 8:01 AM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

I've never watched these and they are pretty neat.

In Safety Last, the captions all call him just "The Boy" which I guess I can understand. It's supposed to be a "boy meets girl" type thing. But then his paycheck says "Harold Lloyd" on it, which is doubly confusing.

Then again, there's a lot of confusing stuff in here. They didn't know a lot of filmmaking tricks back then.
posted by DU at 8:05 AM on June 16, 2011

the captions all call him just "The Boy" which I guess I can understand. It's supposed to be a "boy meets girl" type thing. But then his paycheck says "Harold Lloyd" on it, which is doubly confusing

Or more self-aware than we're giving him credit for. There's a scene in the Buster Keaton short The Playhouse where (through some amazing trick photography) there's a whole stage and pit orchestra full of Buster Keatons performing the show. Then it cuts to a man and his wife in one of the box seats (also both played by Keaton) looking at the show's program, which has the cast list and crew and special thanks, and it's just Buster Keaton, Buster Keaton, Buster Keaton, etc. The man then turns to his wife and says "it looks like this fellow Keaton's the whole show!" Quite possibly one of my favorite moments in all of film.
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:18 AM on June 16, 2011

and it's just Buster Keaton, Buster Keaton, Buster Keaton, etc.

That's because Buster Keaton went through the little door leading into Buster Keaton's head.
posted by sonascope at 8:20 AM on June 16, 2011

This is great. I've been watching a lot of silent movies lately (mostly on Netflix streaming) but a few in theaters and am totally hooked. It's wonderful to rediscover how mature an art form film was by the early 1920s.
posted by octothorpe at 8:25 AM on June 16, 2011

Wonderful! Thank you!

Our local PBS station (WGTE) used to run Harold Lloyd films every afternoon after school, right before Siskel & Ebert re-runs. I think I might have been the only fourth grader in the neighborhood who liked old films.
posted by MissySedai at 8:28 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

never understood why Lloyd wasn't a household name as well.

A big part of this is that when television came along Lloyd wouldn't allow his films to be shown on it.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:36 AM on June 16, 2011

Crikey, Lloyd's filmography is impressive, although it seems the majority of those are shorts.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:42 AM on June 16, 2011

And his history with photography (including 3D photography) is also interesting. Note: if you search for Harold Lloyd galleries, many contain nudes, and may not be safe for work.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:48 AM on June 16, 2011

And if you've never seen the sequel to The Freshman, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, you'll see an early variation of The Hangover/Dude, Where's My Car genre.

He drinks one special drink and when he wakes up he discovers he bought a circus. And then he walks around town with a lion, which conveniently enough, helps the banks approve loans.

I wish I had a lion.
posted by CarlRossi at 8:55 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is great. Lloyd and Keaton were regular Saturday morning TV for me when I was a kid in the UK, and this Saturay is my birthday so everyone has to do what I say. Cake and Lloyd for breakfast it is.
posted by vbfg at 9:01 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love Harold Lloyd, and yet I can't shift the appalling earworm that was the theme tune of Time Life's butchering of his movies. And yeah, I was just at sonascope's clocktower yesterday, thinking it would be great for a Safety Last remake.
posted by scruss at 9:55 AM on June 16, 2011

For those silent film fans near San Francisco, the country's largest silent film festival will run July 14-17. No Harold Lloyd this year, though :o(
posted by Daddio at 6:46 PM on June 16, 2011

If you haven't seen it, the end of Girl Shy -- like the last, say, 20+ minutes -- is one long amazing chase scene.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:04 PM on June 16, 2011

Great stuff, cheers.
UK comedian Paul Merton did a great series of documentaries for the BBC on Lloyd, Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel+Hardy called 'Silent Clowns'. Definitely worth a look.
posted by SyntacticSugar at 2:46 AM on June 17, 2011 [1 favorite]