Harold Lloyd makes physical comedy out of the effort of getting something done, and we rate his patience as highly as his nerve. His resourceful underdogs earn our affection; the bashful romances can be less inventive.
Fi1m perspective
In The Kid Brother (1927), Harold Lloyd lets a tree-climbing joke take its time. The climb stays readable, so each movement gives us something to anticipate rather than another blur of activity to keep up with. Cinematographer Walter Lundin gives the height and the effort their proper share of our attention. We laughed, then felt anxious about the next bit of climbing, because the staging had made us care about completing the task. That patience is a substantial part of Lloyd's appeal as a filmmaker.
His filmmaking grew out of short comedies with producer Hal Roach, with the bespectacled character developing from 1917. Grandma's Boy (1922) helped carry his character-led comedy into features, and he established his own company in 1924 after parting with Roach. The Freshman (1925) gives the ordinary young man's wish to prove himself a setting in football; Speedy (1928), his last silent feature, takes that energy into urban chases. Sound arrived with Welcome Danger (1929), followed by a slower rate of production during the 1930s. The recurring attraction is a mild-mannered man solving problems through wits and persistence.
The Kid Brother makes that persistence particularly engaging because Lloyd's Harold Hickory is bashful without being helpless. There is enough assurance in the performance to let us enjoy his resourcefulness without having to pity him first. Working alongside director Ted Wilde, Lloyd allows the physical problem to hold our attention instead of insisting that we keep admiring the star. The jokes grow from the difficulty of doing ordinary things, and the film leaves enough time for us to follow how he might manage them.
The limitation is clearest in the courtship with Jobyna Ralston's Mary Powers: both performers are appealing, but shyness supplies too many of the jokes. The romance has warmth without the particular invention of the physical business, and we wanted the courtship to surprise us as often as the climbing. There is a wider risk in his dependable underdog stories, too: resourcefulness can become predictable when the same formula does too much of the work. Start with The Kid Brother, preferably without a second screen competing for those small, carefully judged movements.
Biography
Harold Lloyd was an American actor, comedian and producer who appeared in numerous silent comedy films. He was born in Burchard, Nebraska, and began his film career in the 1910s with short comedies, later forming his own production company after working with Hal Roach.
Lloyd starred in and produced feature films including Safety Last! (1923), The Freshman (1925), The Kid Brother (1927) and Speedy (1928). He performed many of his own stunts and released films through Pathé and Paramount. He also directed or co-directed several projects, including The Kid Brother.
His career spanned silent films and early sound pictures, with his final acting role in The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947). Lloyd died in Beverly Hills, California, in 1971.
