The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection (New Line) (1 Viewer)

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

I can vouch for the high entertainment value of:

THE KID BROTHER (my favorite, and perhaps the most Buster Keaton-esque of Lloyd's films)
THE FRESHMAN (a close second)
GIRL SHY (a very close third)
HOT WATER
SPEEDY
SAFETY LAST
MOVIE CRAZY

I'll definitely be picking up the box set, barring any financial troubles between now and November.

 

[Cosmo Penini]

Let's just hope these are not double sides disks!

 

[Ruz-El]

Call me crazy, but I think I'm going to blind buy the boxset, having never seen any actual Lloyd movies, just the odd clip here and their. It just looks like a hell of a deal. I liked the Chaplin sets, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard Lloyd described as funny as Keaton with the hear of Chaplin. Is this acurate?

Also, does this set represent some of his best work?

Cripes, Oct and Nov are crippling me! there is just too much good stuff coming out!

 

[Jason Seaver]

It's an almost complete set of his features - missing only Welcome Danger, Professor Beware, and The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (the only film he did after 1924 or so that the estate doesn't own outright). Most of the silent features are very good indeed (the program that ran at a local theater didn't have any of the shorts); the talkies are a bit more hit and miss.

 

[JohnPM]

Unless I'm very mistaken, Universal owns "Professor, Beware" along with the other pre-48 Paramounts. In any case, it was syndicated by MCA from 1958 onward. This is one feature that did not revert back to Lloyd.

 

[Derek_McL]

I don't think anything reverted back to Lloyd so to speak, he was much too careful to keep control of his films right from the time he became his own producer in 1923, he started with Hal Roach and part of their separation agreement which was by all accounts very amicable was that Lloyd would keep control of even most of his films made up to then even though now most of those are in the public domain. The difference with Professor Beware (1938) is it technically wasn't a Lloyd production, he was employed just as a normal actor on that film. It came about because of good reviews of his performance in The Milky Way (1936) even though that film and The Cat's Paw (1934) actually lost money though I wouldn't say either is terribly bad just disappointing compared with the silents.

If you like Chaplin you'll probably love Lloyd, their styles in some respects are not dissimilar. Above all Lloyd was a master if not the master of sight gags, his films have probably more gags than Chaplin and Keaton and generally they are more accessible to the silent comedy newbie. He was brilliant at setting up gags and topping them.

His weaknesses are sometimes thin characterisation and casual narrative structures, most of the weaker films have wonderfully funny sequences though. Some of the shorts are gems better than a few of the features IMO, they sadly like most of this material have been generally forgotten for too long (hopefully this set isn't too late to redress this).

Lloyd didn't take any directing credit like Chaplin and Keaton did but he controlled ever aspect of these films, he deserves more recognition as a comedy auteur. Harold wasn't just as popular as Chaplin in the 20s he was more popular on a consistent basis (11 silent comedy features to Chaplin's 3), people lined up year after year to see his films.

 

[Eric Peterson]

I hope that these aren't DVD-18. The good news is that this isn't being released by Universal, or I would have to pass on this release. Hopefully Newline doesn't use the same production facilities as Universal or we're all in trouble.

 

[Ruz-El]

Thanks for the opinions on the content of this set, looks like I well be blind buying!

AFAIK, New Line uses the same facilities as Warners for DVD's, so if these are DVD-18, they should be fine. Now why I think that, I can't tell you, I seem to think that Warners and New line have some kind of connection?? My apologies if I'm talking out my butt again.


Could it be that with these being silent films with a mono soundtrack, they have the space to squeeze more content on the discs? Are the soundtracks orchestral, or a guy on a organ which I'm guessing would take less bitrate??

 

[Patrick McCart]

Only the talkies are mono. The silent scores are stereo and orchestral.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

If you're new to Lloyd, I would recommend you not try to delve in chronologically. His early silent shorts are fairly derivative and frankly not all that interesting and may put you off. Start with the features and you'll get a much better sense of what he's about. Unlike Chaplin, who did much of his best work in his shorts, Lloyd really flowered in the feature-length format.

 

[Ruz-El]

Fricken sweet!!

This is a pretty decent year for silent stars on DVD, with Warners Garbo set and this. I'm getting excited, as I'm blind buying both of them.

(or I'm a sucker for blind buying 2 boxsets that well put me out close to $200 bone!)

Mark, I'm deffinately a Lloyd newbie, and typically I watch boxsets in chronological order. The way this set is presented, I'll probably just watch it a disc at the time, it would be too cumbersome to do it chronologically, what with haveing to get off the couch to change discs and stuff. I'm getting tired just thinking of it!

 

[Nigel McN]

I can't say I have seen much if any Harold Lloyd stuff, but this box sounds mighty tempting.

 

[Aki K]

Here in Finland the majority of Harold's features were shown on TV this past winter (and rerun this summer). Starting from "A sailor-made man" up to "Milky Way" missing out on only "Feet first" and "Welcome Danger". I actually taped them, but with this upcoming boxset I can now happily chuck those tapes into the bin!:wink:

With this and the R2 Preston Sturges boxset and upcoming Disney Treasures...it looks like a grim financial winter.:wink:

 

[LaurenceGarvey]

Not to mention the Karloff/Lugosi set, the Hammer Horror set, the new Astaire/Rogers collection...

 

[Marko Berg]

Excellent news. I will preorder the complete set with the bonus disc without hesitation, even though I only really remember Safety Last! well. That film is shown on television here regularly, and as Aki says, other Lloyd films have been well featured on TV over here lately, but I really want these DVDs badly.



I fully agree, and I plan on introducing my young son to Lloyd's comedy as soon as the set arrives, starting with this film. Until then, we'll be watching Image Entertainment's Chaplin releases.

 

[Charles H]

Is Harold Lloyd's WORLD OF COMEDY (1962) going to be included also? It's a wonderful anthology (sampler?) of Lloyd's best work, and when I saw it on its original release there was an actual spontaneous ovation at the conclusion. It is the only time that I recall that happening in a commercial theatre.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I am looking forward to the 3D content. I have the book "3D Hollywood" (now out-of-print) and it has some great HL photos.

- Steve

 

[Nigel McN]

So is this up for pre-prder on Amazon yet? didn't see it the last time I looked.

And a little off topic, if I buy the PAL Charlie Chaplins, am I getting them at the correct speed then?

 

[Marko Berg]

The new two-disc special edition Chaplin releases are sourced from PAL masters and are therefore speeded up by nature in all regions.

Generally speaking, genuine PAL DVDs at least offer additional resolution and possibly better image quality since there is no additional conversion to NTSC involved, though I don't know if conversion artifacts are detectable in the Warner Bros. R1 Chaplin releases. If you are looking at obtaining these new releases, go with PAL instead of NTSC in this case.

 

[george kaplan]

If you want Chaplin at it's correct speed, you'll have to seek out the Image discs. Thank God I kept those.