Search - The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Vols. 1-3 on DVD

Incredible Trove of Silent Comedy Genius; A Real Event

Donald Rogers | Seattle, WA United States | 08/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am so looking forward to this release! I have seen only a few of Lloyd's features: Grandma's Boy, The Kid Brother, Speedy, The Freshman, Hot Water, Girl Shy and of course Safety Last! (I guess that's more than a few.) But the point is, most of these films have been hard to find; some have been unavailable for literally decades.

I think Lloyd as a silent comedian is second only to Keaton, and I say that as a Chaplin-lover. Buy this now!

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On November 15th New Line will release three two-disc collections with a MSRP of $29.95 each. All three collections will also be available in a boxed set, The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, which will include a bonus disc that will not be available separately. The boxed set will retail for $89.85. The discs will include the following films:


Volume 1
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Disc 1:
Girl Shy (1924)
Safety Last! (1923) w/ commentary by Leonard Maltin and director Richard Correll
An Eastern Westerner (1920)
Ask Father (1919)
From Hand to Mouth (1919)

Disc 2:
The Milky Way (1936)
The Cat's Paw (1934)
Why Worry? (1923)
Featurette "Harold's Hollywood: Then and Now"

Volume 2
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Disc 1:
The Kid Brother (1927) w/ commentary by Harold Lloyd's granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd, author Annette D'Agostino Lloyd, and Rich Correll
The Freshman (1925) w /commentary by Leonard Maltin, Richard Correll and author/film historian Richard W. Bann
Bumping Into Broadway (1919)
Billy Blazes, Esq. (1919)

Disc 2:
Feet First (1930)
Grandma's Boy (1922)
Dr. Jack (1922)
Now or Never (1921)
High and Dizzy (1920)
"Scoring for Comedy" featurette

Volume 3
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Disc 1:
Speedy (1928) w/ commentary by Suzanne Lloyd, Annette D'Agostino Lloyd and Richard Correll
Hot Water (1924)
Never Weaken (1921)
Haunted Spooks (1920) w/ commentary by Suzanne Lloyd, Annette D'Agostino Lloyd and Richard Correll

Disc 2:
Movie Crazy (1932)
For Heaven's Sake (1926)
I Do (1921)
Among Those Present (1921)
A Sailor-Made Man (1921)
Get Out and Get Under (1920)
Number Please? (1920)
"Greenacres" featurette


Bonus Disc
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Rare, vintage interviews and home movies
Tributes and interviews with family, friends and legendary celebrities including Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Tab Hunter and director John Landis
Narrative chronology detailing the life and times of Harold Lloyd, hosted by Leonard Maltin
Video bios of many of Harold Lloyd's collaborators and stars of the golden age of cinema
Harold Lloyd Academy Award speech
USC's Delta Kappa Alpha tribute to Harold Lloyd hosted by Jack Lemmon and Steve Allen
3-D photos shot by Harold Lloyd himself (3-D glasses included)
Photo and publicity galleries
Radio shows
And more!"

Stunning DVD picture quality and value package.....THANKS!

Richardson | Sunny California USA | 11/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am not going to review the movies....but the DVD set...
its outstanding..so far every film I have watched is magnificent....in picture quality. I only wish the Keaton films had been preserved this well. The audio commentaries (which are always welcome on silent films...are also well done,informative and entertaining). The extras are extremely tasty (featurettes...the one on LA in the day and now...is very fun and informative)...and MOST OF ALL????

the set is put together with quality being job ONE!
the packaging is classy..not cheap like many multiple disc sets...
the artwork is fun and prolific (again not the same image used over and over that we often get)...the menus on the DVDs are interesting.....Heck..this set is just been done bloody well right...FIRST class..all the way...and..
like another reviewer so brilliantly noted..at 27 movies for $62 ..its about $2.50 per feature...ridiculous value...

I urge people to buy this..if you are a fan you will have found Nirvana...if you are curious...its not a huge commmitment..
but I feel that respectable sales numbers for a quality project like this will encourage studios to treat other gems from the past with this love and care.....instead of just releasing the latest hits in five configurations and belching out sitcom episodes.....

This would make a wonderful gift for any cinema lover, comedy lover...or person with taste...on your holiday list.

I am a huge Chaplin and Keaton fan....and am starting to become a LLoyd affecianado while watching these...he isn't really anything like the other two silent greats...and that's good isn't it? Anyway...
well done to newline .....this is the kind of package I usually see from WB...so its nice to see another studio step up to the plate and compete for quality content and production!

I am adding this last paragraph after my earlier comments above...BUY THE BOX SET...the bonus disc has a wonderful collection of features that you can not get as a stand alone...from lovely memories of friends of Harold Lloyd to interesting histories of the motion picture process (camera and Lighting and demonstrations)...informative,interesting and entertaining....the producer of these programs is Eric Young and he should be singled out for his spectacular job..I hope he gets handed more projects because his treatment of these treasures is appreciated by those who care!"

The glorious cinema of Harold Lloyd in flawless prints

Stephen H. Wood | South San Francisco, CA | 03/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Among the dozens of movies and anthologies I have on DVD, THE HAROLD LLOYD COLLECTION is one of my personal favorites and bound to be one of my most played. In the world of silent film comedy greats, Harold Lloyd was less sentimental than Charlie Chaplin and much warmer than Buster Keaton. With his glasses character, Harold was the personification of the henpecked, never-say-die, confident young man beset with constant problems in Jazz Age America. Lloyd's screen image remains immensely appealing, leading ladies Mildred Harris and Jobyna Ralston are exquisite, his building climbing sight gags have never been topped (he is the one dangling from a clock in a famous still from SAFETY LAST), and his movies hold up wonderfully.

New Line Cinema's THE HAROLD LLOYD COLLECTION retails for a steep $90 (Amazon.com has it for $72), but includes every single silent short and feature that Harold Lloyd made during the 1920's and into the early 1930's. And the prints are all crystal-clear Lloyd Estate vault prints with lovely new music scores by Robert Israel. Unlike Keaton and Chaplin, the Lloyd films were all owned by him and kept off of TV for decades. The downside of this is that my 1960's generation grew up watching and loving Buster and Charlie, but not Harold. But we have reached a stage in 2006 when all three artists have virtually all of their cinematic work on DVD in mint-condition prints, so film scholars and general audiences alike are finally getting to enjoy the work of Harold Lloyd as a true silent comedy genius.

THE HAROLD LLOYD COLLECTION comprises seven disks over four volumes. Volume One includes SAFETY LAST (1923), GIRL SHY (1924), the sound features THE CAT'S PAW (1934) and THE MILKY WAY (1936) in restored UCLA Film and TV Archives prints, WHY WORRY? (1923), and three 2-reelers. Leonard Maltin and Richard Correll provide insightful commentary on SAFETY LAST. Both disks on Volume One include Production Galleries.

If you can only buy one of these volumes, go with the fabulous Volume Two, which includes my two all-time favorite Harold Lloyd silent features, THE FRESHMAN (1925) and THE KID BROTHER (1927); both have audio commentary. Also on Volume Two are the sublime silent features DR. JACK and GRANDMA'S BOY (both 1922), the sound feature FEET FIRST (1930), four 2-reelers, and a wonderful short documentary interview with Robert Israel and Kevin Brownlow on doing silent film music scores.

Volume Three has the silent comedy feature classics SPEEDY (1928, with commentary), HOT WATER (1924), and FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE (1927); the UCLA Film Archive restoration of the sound satire MOVIE CRAZY (1932) to its full 96 minute length; a whopping seven 2-reel and 3-reel shorts; and a tour of Lloyd's estate, Greenacres, in Beverly Hills by his lovely granddaughter Suzanne. She also does commentary on a few of the shorts on the various volumes. Many people do not know that a prop bomb accident blew off Harold Lloyd's right thumb and a finger in 1919 or 1920. He needed several months to get his eye sight back and had a prosthetic right hand glove made that he wore on screen until he retired as an actor in the late 1940's. So those hair-raising building climbing scenes were done with no trick photography, no computers, and only eight fingers. The 2-reel comedy Lloyd was making at the time of the accident is HAUNTED SPOOKS (1920), and it is included on Volume Three with commentary.

Volume Four is a bonus disk only available with the whole boxed set. It includes over three hours of circus delights, including Leonard Maltin leading us through Harold Lloyd's life decade by decade; short biographies of almost everyone who worked with him during the 1920's; heartfelt tributes and interviews about Lloyd by celebrities both old and too new to have been his co-stars (like Robert Wagner and Debbie Reynolds); 3-D photographs he took (the glasses are included); a USC Cinema banquet circa 1960; a very short Oscar speech in 1953 when Lloyd won an Honorary Oscar; and publicity galleries to go through at your leisure.

Gosh, I adore THE HAROLD LLOYD COLLECTION! Yeah, I know, it costs a fortune. Two ideas: don't buy or rent any other movies on DVD in the month you buy it; or give it to a loved one for Christmas or hint that they should give it to you. It really has wall-to-wall slapstick comedy (and poignant drama) in easily acccessible short and feature lengths. And in magnificent print restorations with glorious Robert Israel music scores to give you a feel for the greatness of silent comedy at its peak. DVD boxed sets simply do not get any better than this New Line Cinema masterpiece, except for maybe Kino Video's stupendous 11 volume Buster Keaton set. Happy viewing!

"

Funniest Silent Comedies Ever Made

Bruce H. Jensen | San Lorenzo, CA United States | 11/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is it, the set we have been waiting for, the most comprehensive set of films ever by the silent comedian who was the master of visual comedy! Harold Lloyd's comedy was surpassed by nobody, equaled by but a few, and was recognized in the 1920s as the paragon of extraordinary entertainment.

In retrospect, Harold Lloyd is often compared to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, often by unknowledgeable people, and often to his detriment - and this comparison is not only entirely unfair but also entirely unnecessary. Each of these three comics, each in his own way, each with indispensible results, brought superior comedy films to the masses, and we are truly fortunate to have them as survivors from a time when most film records are lost forever.

Chaplin and Keaton were very different from one another, and Harold Lloyd, too, was deliciously different. When each played to his own strengths, each achieved filmic immortality. Generally unlike the other two, Harold Lloyd played a quirky everyman (whether his character was rich or of modest means), almost always warm, frequently charming, sometimes devious (if always to an ultimately positive end) and subject to the same human weaknesses that all of us possess - but also with a twinkle in his eye and a fast mind and nimble grace that he could use to avoid the worst in his quest for the best...just as all of us would like to be! His movies would often see him evolve from a very silly and superficial character to one of substance and character, which makes his films all the more enthralling. On top of this, he was able to pack more gags and funny situations into his films than practically anyone else, and side-by-side comparison with the other masters will bear this out.

His comedies bring these qualities to full light, and unlike Chaplin and Keaton, whose best creative intentions were sometimes but not always fulfilled for various reasons, Harold Lloyd's silent comedies are extraordinarily excellent without a clunker in the bunch, and his sound films, while different and perhaps more tentative, still achieve a high level of quality, owing mostly, I think, to his ability to have controlled the final product.

So, you can grab this set and dive in with full confidence that you will not be let down by anything in it. Whether you gasp with amazement and fear as Harold creeps along girders in NEVER WEAKEN, thrill to his race to rescue his father in THE KID BROTHER or laugh yourself silly in his attempts to thwart a revolution in WHY WORRY?, you will be amazed and heartened by the incredibly funny and wondrously clean comedy of this giant of film art. Purchase without fear!"