Wednesday 18 February 2015

Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy (1962 Harold Lloyd)

Compilation of some of Lloyd's best bits, though the silent sequences are by far superior to his talkies stuff. It seems there's comedy in silent humour that doesn't work in sound, weirdly enough.

I could hate them for showing only the fleetingest moment of the thrillingest climb up the side of a building, from Safety Last (will have to buy that one), but there are enough other absolutely stunning scenes of the sort you just wouldn't be allowed to do now, laced with great humour, viz. Lloyd precariously hanging on to the roof of a speeding tram (various stunts / gags) then falling through the roof into a passing car, and trying to force the elderly driver to go faster (Girl Shy 1924, with Jobyna Ralston). Dizzying changes of film speeds and really quick editing make these incredibly fresh and energetic today. Those cars, with their spindly wheels, look so primitive...

Also terrific stuff on Latin American revolution in Why Worry? (1923)

He has a great deadpan style too - I loved the moment where he abandons his car by stepping out of it while it's moving, shrugs, and as he walks towards the camera you see the car has crashed into a bank behind him.

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