Product Details

• Actors: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Adolphe Menjou, Verree Teasdale, Constance Cummings
• Directors: Harold Lloyd, Alfred J. Goulding, Clyde Bruckman, Fred C. Newmeyer, Hal Roach
• Format: Box set, Black & White, DVD, Original recording remastered, Restored, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 7
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• DVD Release Date: November 15, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000B5XORA
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,116 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #21 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Silent Films > Comedy
  #84 in	Movies & TV > Westerns > Romance

• For more information about "The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Vols. 1-3" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection boxed set is the definitive account of one of the silent cinema's greatest comedians--and for a time, its most popular star. The seven discs included in this three-volume set have virtually all of Lloyd's 1920s features, most of his talking pictures, and a healthy collection of shorts. Because Lloyd--a canny businessman--retained control over much of his output, the films have remained under his (and his estate's) control through the decades, and the quality of the key titles is generally excellent.

Vol. 1 leads off with the most famous of Lloyd's pictures, the 1923 "thrill" comedy Safety Last. The bespectacled Mr. Lloyd found his spot in comedy by playing the persona seen here: an optimistic go-getter, energetic but not particularly remarkable, who perseveres as he moves up the ladder. In Safety Last, he really moves up: Harold is a department-store clerk who concocts a publicity scheme for his store, which results in a climactic, hair-raising ascent up the outside of the building (at one point hanging from the hands of a huge clock). There is at least one other masterpiece on Vol. 1, the wonderful Girl Shy (1924), in which Harold is a small-time tailor's apprentice who can't speak to women but nevertheless has penned a how-to book entitled "The Secret of Making Love." There's also the 1923 Why Worry?, which suffers just a bit with its odd milieu (tropical island beset by revolutionaries) but has some hilariously weird routines built around compact Harold and the giant John Aasen (8 feet, 9 inches). A trio of shorter films are included, plus two Paramount sound features, the oddball Cat's Paw and Leo McCarey's entertaining The Milky Way.

Vol. 2 has the brilliant The Freshman (1925), with Lloyd as a college plebe whose ridiculous ideas about making himself ingratiating to others (including hilariously inapt jig during a handshake) makes him the laughingstock of the campus. The movie concludes with a justifiably famous football sequence. The Kid Brother (1927) is Harold as the weak link in the tough Hickory family, while Dr. Jack (1922) casts him as a country doctor whose ordinary ways prove sharper than they seem (his co-star, as in some other films here, is future wife Mildred Davis). In Grandma's Boy (1922) Lloyd plays a small-town fellow who lives with his frisky grandmother; convinced of his own cowardice, he yearns to compete for the hand of a pretty girl. His courtly call to the girl's home is the occasion for uproarious battle with a ridiculous "formal" suit, mothballs, and a litter of kittens attracted by the goose grease on his shoes. The gem of the shorts here is High and Dizzy (1920), a warm-up for Safety Last, which has a great sequence with Lloyd tipsily navigating a ledge on a high building. Feet First (1930), Lloyd's second talking picture, has Harold as an upwardly-striving shoe salesman trying to finesse his way up the ladder. Some good shipboard sequences in the middle of this one, but the main drawing card is a throwback: Lloyd re-visiting the Safety Last hanging-from-a-building sequence, but this time working every variation known to slapstick.

Vol. 3 has Speedy, his last silent picture, which packs as many great gags per minute as any Lloyd film, and also has one of his sweetest love stories. But the film is also notable for its extensive location shooting in New York City. The sequences shot at Coney Island, with some wonderfully hair-raising (and understandably obsolete) rides, are gorgeous and historically valuable. Hot Water (1924) also goes into the time capsule of great Lloyd features, even if it feels like a handful of shorter films shoehorned together. This one gets its charm from basic domestic situations. Like Hot Water, For Heaven's Sake (1926) is an hour long; this funny one casts Lloyd as a rich twit who takes up with a girl whose father runs a homeless mission.

There's one talking picture, the somewhat routine Movie Crazy (1932), but the silent shorts, of which there are many here, are better. Check out Haunted Spooks from 1920, which has its share of good jokes but which is also fascinating for its place in Lloyd's career. He suffered an off-set accident midway through shooting, costing him the thumb and forefinger of his right hand; after a hiatus, he completed shooting with a prosthetic glove (which he used in films thereafter). A heartfelt 15-minute documentary on Lloyd's palatial L.A. estate, Greenacres, uses copious home-movie footage to show the marvelous place and give a hint of Lloyd's homey, likable personality (it's narrated by granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd). A bonus disc contains home movies, celebrity tributes, Lloyd's collection of 3-D photographs, and his honorary Oscar acceptance speech from 1953. --Robert Horton

Product Description
Having appeared in more than 200 films and widely considered to be one of cinema's most respected comic geniuses, Harold Lloyd was one of Hollywood's first true movie stars. Now, entertainment enthusiasts of all ages can enjoy the work of the man who inspired generations of acting greats with The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Biographies
Comparison Scenes
Featurette
Interviews
Introduction
Other:*All feature films and shorts are full frame versions. **All content will have Spanish subtitles. Only the pictures with sound will have English subtitles and closed captions
Photo gallery:REMASTERED! RESTORED! RESCORED!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 121 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Trove of Silent Comedy Genius; A Real Event, August 28, 2005

By	Donald Rogers (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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
=======
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
=======
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
=======
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
=========
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!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars stunning DVD picture quality and value package.....THANKS!, November 16, 2005

By	Richardson "Clarence" (Sunny California USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The glorious cinema of Harold Lloyd in flawless prints, March 26, 2006

By	Stephen H. Wood "Film scholar and vintage mov... (South San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!