Item #: 8222 Category: SILENT Format: VHS MPAA Rating: G

Woolly Rating: 5/10 (115 votes)

MEMBER COMMENTS ON THIS VIDEO

Kevin Rayburn

Aug 19, 2002 @ 17:43:38

Early Harold Lloyd: A 1-hour Gem
"Grandma's Boy" (1922) is the feature that put silent comedian Harold Lloyd on the map. It was the first of his ten features and was a smash hit. He would go on to be the most commercially successful movie comedian of the 1920s (even more successful than contemporaries Chaplin or Keaton). This one is plotted like most other Lloyds: a shy, withering small-town milquetoast wins the town's respect and the girl after becoming a hero and taking on a bully. In terms of flow and incident, this is one of Lloyd's best. The story, action, and gags never flag. And there's even a Civil War flashback sequence that will remind viewers of Buster Keaton's later famous comedy, "The General." There's a hilarious scene involving chocolates, mothballs and gasoline and a beautifully executed final chase involving the capture of a murderous tramp. Everything plays out in a tight and completely satisfying one hour. The print quality and transfer on this VHS are good; even better on the short "Somewhere in Turkey" (1918) which precedes the feature. The short, with co-star Snub Pollard, is rather bad, I'm afraid, but it does not diminish the sheer delight of the feature that follows. As of this writing, I've also seen Lloyd's "The Kid Brother," "Safety Last," "Girl Shy," and "The Freshman," but I would put this early effort at the same level as those more acclaimed comedies. "Grandma's Boy" is a very rare and hard film to find. Once again, Wild and Woolly deserves the highest praise for having this in stock. **** GRANDMA'S BOY (1922) review c. 2002 Kevin Rayburn earthgroove1@yahoo.com

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