Harold Lloyd: The Definitive Collection [DVD]

When I was a kid there used to be 20 minute compilations of Harold LLoyd movies...on BBC2 I think. I remember them cropping up during school holidays. Maybe you remember them too? "Hooray for Harold Lloyd!" went the memorable theme tune. Although looking back, I don't think I had a proper appreciation of the talent on show, I really do remember enjoying these short programmes of clips. So much so, that Lloyd's name and image stayed with me from those days (20+ years ago). From time to time over more recent years I have logged into Amazon and other sites on the off-chance of finding his material on DVD. Having read the rave reviews of the American release of this collection I looked forward to the British release. In the meantime I bought Jeffrey Vance's book (which is outstandingly good). My appetite well and truly whetted, I pre-ordered this collection. Imagine my frustration when the release was put back from May to July! Anyway, it was worth the wait! Having already accumulated knowledge about Harold Lloyd (through the afformentioned book) I have begun to properly discover the immense talent within this fascinating man. The films contained in this collection are not all great, but all are enjoyable. The Freshman, Speedy, Girl Shy, Grandma's Boy, Safety Last, The Kid Brother, Dr. Jack...I could go on but his best features stand comparison with anything produced then or since. The sight gags and visual humour are absolutley timeless in my opinion and you will laugh out-loud, believe me. The shorts move at a generally quicker pace and contain some wonderful sequences. The features appear to me to have been very carefully crafted and many allow space for Lloyd to develop character elements very satisfyingly. Lloyd was a good actor and arguably more versatile than his contemporaries; his "glasses" character allowed him great freedom and his characters appear natural within their stroylines. Having now read lots about Lloyd I think it is fair to say he was not a "funny man" as such. I think his contribution transcended a particular role or function; everything was agreed and approved by him; ownership of the films was his; the risks were his own, as were the rewards. The extra features in this collection are all worthwhile...some of the home movies are delightful. Harold Lloyd emerges, in my opinion, as a great and interesting man, clearly loved by those that knew him. Technically, the films here are somewhat variable; picture quality is never anything less than acceptable and is often exteremely good. The music works very well indeed and complements the images rather than distracting from them. I cannot recommend this collection highly enough. I think informed opinion now places him amongst the ranks of the very best film-makers. To understand why, buy this box-set! Thanks for reading.

If you mention silent film comedians today, most people will immediately think of Charlie Chaplin, closely followed by Buster Keaton. But in the 1920's there was a third big name who was commercially more successful than either - the wonderful Harold Lloyd. Unfortunately Lloyd kept a very tight reign on the distribution rights for his films, fearing that improper useage would impair his reputation. This meant that whilst Keaton and Chaplin films were freely available long after their filmmaking days had ended, keeping their names alive in the public conscious, the initially successful Harold Lloyd started to drop right off the radar. Which is a shame as he was wonderfully talented and made some absolutely hilarious films with his brand of physical and visual comedy. Not as depressing as Chaplin, or slapstick as Keaton he had a style all of his own which had more of a classy, intelligent feel to it. Like most other people here I discovered Lloyd through a television series in the late `80s, during my school holidays. They were a revelation, and I wanted to see more. But they were never repeated, and there were no video releases that I could find. There have been some sporadic DVD releases, but never anything that has done the man and his art justice. They often had odd music, bad restoration, incorrect running speeds and cropping that really made Lloyds fears about poor representation of his work seem justified. Now, finally, this magnificent set has been produced. Overseen by Suzanne Lloyd, Harold's granddaughter, it is a marvel. It contains, I think, all of Lloyd's surviving silent films (sadly many were lost in a fire at his house in 1943) and five of his seven talkies. The films are listed in other reviews which I will not repeat. The restoration on each is a wonder to behold. The image on some seems so sharp and clear it looks as though it was filmed yesterday. The usual annoying jumps, jerks and blemishes have been taken out, and the films run at their correct speed. Added to this are the sympathetic scores from Carl Davis and Robert Israel. Much care has been taken with each score to match the mood and pace of the action on screen, and these really do add immeasurably to the viewing enjoyment. The 29 films are presented on 9 discs in slimline cases, all held in a sturdy card slipcase. There is a wealth of extras on the discs, commentaries, documentaries and the like which I have not had a chance to view yet. An added bonus is in the case of disc one - 6 prints of photos of Marilyn Monroe taken by Lloyd, who was a keen photographer. This is an excellent set, and one that finally does the great man justice. 5 stars, no hesitation.

A must watch for any fan of quality acting (it could be argued that Lloyd was the best 'actor' out of the 3 silent comedian greats) and entertaining storytelling and romance. I was never that familiar with Harold Lloyd (apart from seeing the clock image and hearing Jackie Chan reference him in interviews) and had recently finished my Buster Keaton boxset. I was never a fan of Charlie Chaplin, so i moved onto the Paul Merton series about silent comedy then Kevin Brownlow documentaries about the silent comedians. Check out the masterful 'A hard act to follow' about Buster Keaton and 'The Third Genius' about Harold Lloyd!! I got the Harold Lloyd boxset (for a bargain price) and that was it and started with 'Why Worry?' I was hooked! Still not beating Keaton, but a contender for a close second (as mentioned, never a huge fan of Chaplin) Fantastic witty gags and inspired visual humour. Plus he's a fantastic actor and the best of the three as a romantic lead. I didn't realise how much physical stuff he actually did (not just stunts, but the visual storytelling on display is masterful). Plus all his films have a heartwarming romantic slant, and the female characters are better written than Keaton or Chaplin. Plus his on-screen chemistry with his leading ladies is superb, he married one of them in fact! A must watch, with some cracking extras (although sadly not The Third Genuis documentary by Kevin Brownlow) Not all the films i thought were a success (i wasn't keen on the talkies for the most part... and some of the shorts, he's clearly learning his skills) And there is a few characterizations that were clearly part of the times, but slightly uncomfortable these days (hand-rubbing jew, dim and lazy blacks etc) But if you read between the lines, Harold's character is all about getting on with people, interacting with everyone without problems and using his brains not brawn to outsmart problems. So the themes certainly don't come across as uncomfortable. An essential purchase for anyone wanted great action, romance and some inspired gags from 'The second genius', Harold Lloyd.

I have been a fan of Harold Lloyd since I watched him on BBC2 when I was young, I always knew he was a huge star, but I didn't know he was the biggest and richest star in Hollywood in the 1920's. Interestingly it seems that during the 50's and 60's when television made huge stars all again of people like Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, The Three Stooges etc, Harold Lloyd refused to allow his films to be shown for fear of how they would be recieved, as a result he "became lost" to a whole new generation of fans. It was only after his death in 1971 that the real revival came about. As a result anyone in the UK who is thinking of buying this box set is probably over 30 and nostalgicly remembers "Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy" on BBC2 in 1970's and 1980's with the catchy theme tune "Hooray for Harold Lloyd". I myself got my introduction to Harold Lloyd this way, and I also remember the brief Ch4 revival in the early 1990's when a few of his feature films were shown along with the excellent 2 part documentary "Harold Lloyd - The Third Genius". This box set has all the major features and shorts (bar the last two talkies) but it is also choc full of extras, including important archive materials such as interviews with Lloyd himself, film commentarys, in depth interviews with Lloyd's daughter and grandaughter, as well as important friend and Lloyd expert Rich Correll. I deduct 1 star simply because of the musical arrangements. A good film score can turn an average silent comedy into a good one and vice versa, in my opinion the scoring by Robert Israel can at times be a little "overpowering" often the music doesn't fit the action and the viewer often feels they are attending a classical concert at The Royal Albert Hall. However, in my opinion Lloyd's best films are: 1) For the quintesential image of Lloyd hanging on the clock, SAFETY LAST. 2) A favourite with everybody, THE FRESHMAN. On this my first viewing I was an instant convert! 3) THE KID BROTHER, great character casting, great musical score by Carl Davis, the final 30 mins you will watch again and again! 4) Lloyd's talkies often recieve a slating, however it is impressive the way Lloyd changed his "style" from the slapstick of the silents to the situational comedy of sound, a few of these are very underated, in the particular I found THE CATS PAW to be a real hidden gem! In short do not hestitate to buy this Box Set.Believe me, if you can be bothered to look for Harold Lloyd on Amazon this is the collection you want, you won't be disappointed! More importantly the fan base is shrinking! Lloyd and others like him will only be remembered as long as they are shown on TV, and unfortunately in this era that is less and less, Lloyd deserves to be remembered, so if you care enough buy it, but also buy it and show it to your kids, your friends, anybody you'll be surprised at how many new fans will be made, you won't regret it!

I liked the silent films best but that said even the several talkies are very good as well though for different reasons. The set I had I had great difficulty with - I have two DVD players, a Samsung the more expensive of the two, and a Digilogic a cheap thing from Tesco, and found the latter best at playing the DVD's. Only 2 of the 9 would play on the Samsung so I had to copy the others from the cheap Tesco player onto Video tapes in order to watch them in the comfort of my lounge. I was told that the more expensive the DVD player the more likely it is to cause problems. In two cases I had to clean the discs with meths to get them to play at all. But these problems aside, these are well worth buying and will provide hours of pleasure. I think it is a pity the Amazon lists don't tell us what films each set contains, I would like to buy more, he made over 200 films, but don't want to duplicate those in this set. The films in this set are Movie Crazy/Welcome Danger/Hot water/Now or Never/High and Dizzy/Get out and Get under/Ask Father/From hand to mouth/The Freshman/The Kid brother/Bumping into Broadway/Bills Blazes/Speedy/Number please/A Sailor made man/I do/For Heavens sake/Why Worry/Dr Jack/Feet first/Safety Last/An Eastern Westenener/Girl shy/Never weaken//Haunted spooks/Haunted spooks/Grandma

It looks really dated and th quality is poor. It looked better on TV

I had my eye on this boxset before Christmas when it was £15 and so when I saw it on sale for £8.50 I jumped at the chance. What a bargain! This boxset contains all of Harold's feature films (including talkies) and many short films. There are also lots of extras - documentaries about Harold; bio's of some of his co-stars and some lovely home movies (which Harold got his Studio cameramen to film for him). I'm still working my way through the 9 discs. I've watched about 1/3rd so far. The films are in great condition - restored with orchestral soundtracks that really complement the films. I used to watch Harold when I was a child as they showed clips of his films in the school holidays. It's great to see the actual films. Harold is still as charming and funny as I remember him. Hooray!

This was meant as a special gift for my father who is returning home from hospital next week. I paid £120 for a new boxset, what arrived today was not shrink wrapped an on closer inspection was clearly not new - scratched discs, obviously second hand, marked covers. I am also suspicious as to whether these are bona fide discs and will be referring to Trading Standards. Am giving one star as negative star ratings are not available. Shoddy and duplicitous.

Harold Lloyd war das dritte Genie der Stummfilm-Ära. Er muss in einem Atemzug mit Charlie Chaplin und Buster Keaton genannt werden. Die Generation Ü30 wird sich erinnern, wie anfangs der 80er Jahre einige Harold Lloyd-Klassiker im Fernsehen liefen. Wer ihn einmal sah, muss ihn in sein Herz geschlossen haben. Leider war der Großteil seiner Spielfilme bis jetzt nicht auf DVD, geschweige denn VHS erhältlich. Diese Lücke schließt nun endlich (!) diese Kollektion als 9 DVD-Boxset. Sie lässt das Herz eines jeden Harold Lloyd- und Stummfilm-Fans höher schlagen. Im wahrsten Sinne, denn man vermisst nicht Lloyds Atem-beraubende Hochhaus-Klassiker, die ihm Unsterblichkeit verliehen, allen voran Safety Last!, worin Lloyd an der Uhr hängt. Des Weiteren sind die Schwindel-erregenden Klassiker Feet First (Tonfilm, 1930, in der langen, 90-minütigen Version), High and Dizzy (Kurzfilm, 1920) und Never weaken (Kurzfilm, 1921) enthalten. Einfach herrlich wie Lloyd nach dem Blick in die Tiefe die Haare zu Berge stehen. Lloyd war ein ausgereifter und vielseitiger Slapstick-Komiker mit ganz vielen Facetten und Einfällen, wovon die weiteren langen Stummfilme zeugen: A sailor made man (1921), Grandmas boy (1922), Dr. Jack (1922), Why worry (1923), Girl shy (1924), Hot water (1924), The freshman (1925), For heavens sake (1926), The kid brother (1927) und Speedy (1928). Nicht weniger innovativ agierte Lloyd in seinen Tonfilmen, wie dem hier zum ersten Mal erhältlichen Welcome danger (1929). Weitere Tonfilme im englischen Original sind Movie crazy (1932), The cats paw (1934) und The milky way (1936). Folgende kurzen Stummfilme runden die Zusammenstellung ab: From hand to mouth (1919), Billy Blazes, Esq. (1919), Ask father (1919), Bumping into Broadway (1919), An eastern westerner (1920), Get out and get under (1920), Haunted spooks (1920), Number please? (1920), Among those present (1921), I do (1921) und Now or never (1921). Diese 29 Filme, davon also 16 der 18 abendfüllenden Filme Lloyds (bis auf die beiden letzten weniger erfolgreichen Tonfilme), werden ergänzt durch viele Special Features (Programmzugaben) wie z.B. Audiokommentar während fünf Stummfilmen (Safety Last!, The kid brother, The freshman, Speedy, Haunted spooks), Kurzfilme aus Lloyds Privat- und Familienleben, ausführliche Biographie Lloyds, Kurzbiographien von Schauspielkollegen, Regisseuren etc. und vieles, vieles mehr. Alles in allem handelt es sich bei diesen mehr als 1700 Minuten (über 29 Stunden) um eine Wahnsinns-Zusammenstellung und zu Recht um DIE Definitive Collection in exzellenter Ton- und Bildqualität bei allerbestem Preis/Leistungsverhältnis!! Man kann, einmal durchgeschaut, gerade wieder von vorne anfangen. Besser und in spannenderer Erwartung habe ich DVDs noch nicht gekauft!!! - Danke und Respekt den Machern und Herausgebern, Danke Harold Lloyd.

Le coffret comporte les films les plus connus et les plus drôles de Harold LLOYD, impossible de s'ennuyer, rires garantis!