http://www.cinefamily.org...dar/wednesday.html#silent
HAROLD LLOYD / Silent Wednesdays in November at 8pm
11/5 @ 8pm / SERIES: HAROLD LLOYD
Saftey Last
The simple story of an everyman literally climbing the ladder of success, Saftey Last contains one of the most hilarious extended gags ever filmed. Lloyd plays
a meager clerk given the opportunity to earn $1000 if he concocts a memorable publicity stunt for his department store. His idea: get his daredevil roommate to
climb the store's exterior like a human fly. When the roommate runs afoul of the law, it's up to Lloyd to perform the feat. And perform it brilliantly
he does; taking up the whole last third of the picture, Lloyd's ascent is a masterwork of comic tension, with the added bonus of the thrilling reality of
Lloyd actually dangling off a very tall building. The image of Lloyd gripping the hands of its clock tower remains one of the most iconic American film images,
but it's just one of the many terrific gags in this fast-paced feature.
Dirs. Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1923, 35mm, 73 min.
Tickets - $10
11/12 @ 8pm / SERIES: HAROLD LLOYD
Why Worry?
shown with
A Sailor-Made Man
In Why Worry?, hypochondriac Lloyd arrives on a South American island vacation, to find himself caught up in the locals' political revolution, which at
first, he doesn't even notice! Mistaken for a freedom fighter and jailed, he meets the giant Colosso, and together they plan an escape and an end to the
island's violence. The film benefits from a breathtaking abundance of non-stop gags and the eye-catching presence of giant Johan Aasen as Lloyd's
sidekick, a device not unlike Andre The Giant's turn in The Princess Bride. As well, Why Worry? marked the first appearance of Jobyna Ralston in a Lloyd
film, who was to be his romantic foil in five subsequent features. Originally conceived as a simple two-reeler, an expanded A Sailor-Made Man became
Lloyd's lavish first feature. Lloyd portrays a wealthy slacker who joins the Navy, and finds intrigue by the armful as he rescues his girl from the
clutches of a Turkish harem.
Why Worry Dirs. Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1923, 35mm, 63 min.
The Sailor-Made Man Dir. Fred. C. Newmeyer, 1921, 35mm, 47 min.
Tickets - $10
11/19 @ 8pm / SERIES: HAROLD LLOYD
Girl Shy
Girl Shy highlights two of Lloyd's major strengths: the sweetness and warmth of his shy, sensitive persona--and the high energy of his elaborate trademark
chase sequences, of which Girl Shy ranks as his greatest. Lloyd stars as a country fellow who's extremely nervous around women, yet has written a seduction
self-help book! On his way by train to meet a publisher, he chats up Mary (Jobyna Ralston), who proves to be the girl of his dreams, but is on her way to marry
a man who's totally wrong for her. After they meet up once more with her sleazy suitor in tow, Lloyd realizes he must save Mary from the mistake of her bad
marriage. His ensuing madcap race to stop the wedding is a phenomenal avalanche of setpieces, a stream of vehicular chaos so crazed and masterfully handled
that it will leave you breathless.
Dirs. Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1924, 35mm, 80 min.
Tickets - $10
11/26 @ 8pm / SERIES: HAROLD LLOYD
The Freshman
Widely regarded as Lloyd's masterpiece, The Freshman was hugely popular upon its 1920s release, and is also a scathing satire of what was then a pop
culture fad: interest in the "college life". Skewering his usual "everyman" persona, Lloyd plays a middle-class kid obsessed not with
career, but with becoming a Big Man On Campus, and once he's enrolled at Tate College, his inability to hit that mark is a expert mix of comedy and pathos.
Eager to get recognition of any kind, Lloyd zeroes in on an impossible goal: to lead the school's football team to victory for its final big game. As
usual, the film is worth seeing for its epic setpieces alone: a superbly choreographed number in which Lloyd's falling-apart cheap suit is constantly
re-stitched by his stealthy tailor during a college dance, and the climactic football game, partially filmed at the Pasadena Rose Bowl.
Dirs. Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1925, 35mm, 76 min.
Tickets - $10
(This screening is actually 12/03- 11/26 is a misprint.)
11/26 @ 8pm / SERIES: HAROLD LLOYD
For Heaven's Sake
shown with
The Kid Brother
Lloyd alternated between making character-driven and "thrill"-driven pictures, and For Heaven's Sake ranks as one of his best
gags-for-gags'-sake films. Lloyd plays a wealthy man who funds a homeless mission, falls for a volunteer worker, is kidnapped by his rich friends offended
by his breaching of class, and must escape their clutches to "make it to the church on time". His ensuing escape on a double-decker bus remains one
of Lloyd's finest chase numbers. Next up is The Kid Brother, one of Lloyd's most visually elegant pictures. He plays the meek youngest son of a rural
sheriff, whose family is accused of stealing town funds. The real culprits are layabouts employed by a traveling medicine show, and it's up to Lloyd to
right their wrongs. This picture's fantastic epic chase takes place on a creaky grounded frieghter, as Lloyd and a simian(!) companion track down the
heavies at a 45-degree angle.
For Heaven's Sake Dir. Sam Taylor, 1926, 35mm, 58 min.
The Kid Brother Dir. Ted Wilde, 1927, 35mm, 84 min.
Tickets - $10
12/10 @ 8pm / SERIES: HAROLD LLOYD
Speedy
Lloyd's final silent film, Speedy, offers up humorous stakes laid on the struggle between the ol' horse-drawn trolley and the upcoming urban rail
system--a clever metaphor for the transition from silents to talkies. Lloyd plays an underemployed baseball fanatic whose sweetie's grandfather is about to
lose his trolley to evil rail kings. To save the business, Lloyd must keep the train running, no matter what, including interference from the rail thugs. Shot
mostly on location in The Big Apple without the rear projection technique of later Hollywood car chases, Speedy's risky chase sequences feature a
cab-driving Lloyd delivering Babe Ruth (in a cameo apperance) to Yankee Stadium, and a climactic gallop through the crowded streets of Manhattan. As well, the
film offers a frenzied, impressive look at a bustling 1920s New York City and Coney Island, sneaked with the era's equivalent to "guerrilla
filmmaking."
Dir. Ted Wilde, 1928, 35mm, 86 min.
