starring Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston
directed by Sam Taylor and Fred C. Newmeyer
76 minutes
Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) enrolls at Tate University. He expects that it will be just like a movie he saw. He meets Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) on the train ride to Tate and later winds up staying in her mother's boarding house. There is a mutual attraction but Harold is also very caught up in trying to make a name for himself on campus.
The College Cad has Harold's number from early on. He picks on Harold quite a bit but Harold is so upbeat and chipper that he doesn't take note of the abuse that is being heaped on him. The football coach only lets Harold on the team because he makes a good football tackling dummy. Peggy does her best to keep the truth from Harold about what others think of him. Harold, in the end, gets to be the big hero and score the winning touchdown in a football game.
I saw this film as part of this year's edition of the Silent Cinema Showcase at the AFI Silver Theater. It was introduced by Andrew Earle Simpson who also played the music that accompanied the film on an organ.
There are a few comedic set pieces in this movie. The longest ones are the football practice scene, the Fall Frolic (a celebration where Harold's outfit keeps coming apart at the seems), and the football game.
This is the third Harold Lloyd film I have seen in the past couple years. Last year I saw Hot Water (1924) and Girl Shy (1924) as part of that year's edition of the Silent Cinema Showcase. I also saw a Harold Lloyd film, I think it might have been Safety Last (1923), with my father when I was about 7 or 8 years old.
Jobyna Ralston was in all three of the Harold Lloyd films that I have seen in recent years. Brooks Benedict (the College Cad) got his first big role in this film. He has been in at least a dozen films I have seen but in uncredited roles in most of those movies. Sam Taylor and Fred C. Newmeyer also directed Hot Water and Girl Shy.
I smiled during most of this film and laughed a few times. It is light fare and not quite as funny as I hoped it would be. I enjoyed it but it didn't blow me away.
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