Customer Reviews

The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Vols. 1-3

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!

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!

I've been praying for a Harold Lloyd collection to be released since my childhood, when only brief snippets of his best comic work were available, and the 'Hanging from the Clock' sequence from "Safety Last" was the only accessible 'evidence' of a comic mastery that ranked him as an equal to Chaplin and Keaton. In truth, it always seemed that Lloyd got shortchanged, when the three comedians were discussed, as lacking the ballet-like grace, timing, and pathos of Chaplin, or the acrobatic, deadpan nonchalance of Keaton. Lloyd seemed to be pidgeon-holed as little more than "the nice guy with the glasses who climbed skyscrapers".

Thankfully, "The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Vols. 1-3" proves that Lloyd was much, much more than that, was certainly an equal to his comic peers (and in fact, often an even bigger box office draw), and was, arguably, the most influential of the three on film comedy, for over a half century.

Lloyd, in not wearing outlandish costumes, made his hero identifable to audiences, an 'average Joe' who shared the common dream of improving his life, and winning the girl of his dreams. He was a guy anyone would be happy to have as a friend, and because of this rapport, the ever-increasing, often spectacular calamities that would befall him, and the resourceful ways he'd solve them, were guaranteed crowd pleasers! Well-crafted (he would work on a feature with a team of writers, previewing each film frequently until each gag 'worked' properly), his films, particularly the silent features, are timeless, as funny and charming today as they were, over 80 years ago...and thanks to his preservation of much of his work, the film quality is near-perfect, unlike many of Chaplin and Keaton's silent comedies.

There is SO much to love in this collection, from the dizzying heights of "Safety Last", to the silliness of "Why Worry?" (which certainly influenced Woody Allen's "Bananas"); from the college football classic "The Freshman" (love that freshman 'jig'!), to the heroic "The Kid Brother"; from the sly yet sweet romance with his patient (future 'real-life' wife, Mildred Davis), in "Dr. Jack", to my personal favorite, his last silent feature, "Speedy" (featuring New York City, Babe Ruth, and the wildest streetcar ride you'll ever experience!)...and there is much, MUCH more!

A terrific collection of his short films are included, as well, and some early 'sound' features, including "Feet First" (which doesn't 'hold up' as well as his silent work), and "Movie Crazy" (which DOES, and proves Lloyd's mastery in a new medium).

And as 'icing' to the collection, there is a 'bonus disc', offering still photos on and off the set, production info, interviews, some of Lloyd's 3-D photo collection (with glasses), a timeline of his work, and a comprehensive biography of this truly 'Renaissance' man.

It is a dream collection, one of the finest Amazon has ever offered. I'm proud to have a copy, and hope my enthusiasm might help you decide to buy one, too!

You WON'T be disappointed!

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!

This is the way old films should be packaged. I was also happy with the way The Marx Brothers Collections were packaged, well at least the Warner Collection, but Universal didn't do half bad either. Now if someone would make a Laurel & Hardy collection like this I would be pleased.

I hear a lot of people my age complain about old Black & White movies, and silent films, saying they don't watch anything unless it's in color, I say then its their loss. Because these films are a part of history, and should be viewed by all. I'm 33 years old, Harold Lloyd died a year before I was even born, and I absolutly love all these old comedies. I would perfer to watch these movies, than watch some of the crap that is made now. Thanks to DVD they will last forever!!!

Enjoy, I sure did!!!!

I wasn't the biggest Harold Lloyd fan growing up. You didn't see much of him outside of the hanging off the clock. But I picked up this set after seeing the trolley/turkey scene from Hot Water. And I'm so happy. I've only made it through a few of the 14 features and 14 shorts on these sets. The bonus DVD in the boxset gives a great sense of what Lloyd the man was like. His Christmas tree is amazing. And the views of Green Acres let us know that this was not a man who was ripped off by the studio system. Also the man knew how to keep his Oscar winning speech short.

If you have already bought the Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton DVD sets - you will be blown away by this collection. Suzanne Lloyd has done her Grandfather proud with this project.

Harold Lloyd is not as well known as Chaplin and Keaton, probably, but Harold Lloyd is not only one of the funniest silent comedians, he is one of the funniest comedians ever.
All eleven of his silent movies are in this set. They are DR. JACK, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, THE FRESHMAN, GIRL SHY, GRANDMA'S BOY, HOT WATER, THE KID BROTHER, SAFETY LAST!, A SAILOR-MADE MAN, SPEEDY, and WHY WORRY? It also includes four of his talking movies. They are THE CAT'S PAW, FEET FIRST, THE MILKY WAY, and MOVIE CRAZY. And it includes twelve shorts. They are AMONG THOSE PRESENT, ASK FATHER, BILLY BLAZES, ESQ., BUMPING INTO BROADWAY, AN EASTERN WESTERNER, FROM HAND TO MOUTH, GET OUT AND GET UNDER, HAUNTED SPOOKS, HIGH AND DIZZY, NEVER WEAKEN, NOW OR NEVER, and NUMBER PLEASE?
So that is 27 films in all for only $62.89 on Amazon. That is about two and a half dollars a film. If you have never seen Harold Lloyd, you are in for a real treat. Please buy this set if you like silent movies. He is hilarious and so are his movies.

I've already written a review of another Harold lloyd(HL)DVD collection that has recently come out and there I mention that of all the HL DVDs available, this comedy collection stands superbly and dare say it makes all others seem inferior for the fact that it features almost all of HL feature films and comes with a bonus disc that is filled with a cornucopia of tips and images of HL.

I also highly evaluate that each film included in this collection is beautifully scored by the two noted professional composers who personally adore HL.Therefore everytime I enjoy this collection, I am always entertained by both HL himself and the excellent musical scores provided by who I already mentioned above.

Then why 4 stars? The reasons are that firstly, as I said above this collection features "almost all of HL feature films", this collection fails to hold two feature films remarkable in HL's carrier: WELCOME DANGER(1929), his first talkie and PROFESSOR BEWARE(1938) last film of the decade where HL worked on a regular basis(After this, as you might well know, he returned to the screen just once in 1947.).

Secondly, as a non-native speaker of English, subtitles provided for the talkie are very helpful. However, subtitles are not available for the commentaries provided by HL experts and this fact forbids me full appreciation of commentary-accompanied films.

Lastly, the image quality of each film is more or less satisfying except for that of the several talkies, MILKY WAY and CAT'S PAW in particular.

In spite of the above complaints, with only a handful of HL films available on either video or DVD in my country, I, as a huge fan of HL, highly evaluate this collection that is munificently filled with his masterpieces, tips and many more extra bonus images.

Before I bought this collection a few weeks ago, I had been a fan of Harold Lloyd at least some years, but I had not seen much of his best work, only about ten shorts and a few talkie features. I had never been able to get any of his full-length silent master pieces. This was a bit annoying, inasmuch as I have seen all but one of Chaplin's 81 films (the exception being the short HER FRIEND THE BANDIT, which is presumed lost) and at least 60 of Keaton's movies.

But Harold Lloyd? His movies have been given out on VHS, but I could not find them anywhere. Several of his shorts have been given out on DVD, but for one reason or another, I only bought a few of them, this in spite of that I found several of the movies I had seen with him really amusing.

Now I realize that I have nothing to be ashamed of. It was worth the wait. This collection includes three volumes with two discs on each (one of the discs in each volume has even two sides, A and B) and, if you buy the whole collection, you get a bonus disc filled with extra material of all kind.

Volume One includes three of his masterful silent features, the first one is widely considered Harold's very best film, SAFETY LAST!, which is followed up by GIRL SHY, and WHY WORRY?, a couple of his talkie features, THE CAT'S PAW and THE MILKY WAY, and the shorts AN EASTERN WESTERNER, ASK FATHER and FROM HAND TO MOUTH. A bonus documentary, HAROLD'S HOLLYWOOD: THEN AND NOW may also the found.

Volume Two includes another four excellent silent features, THE KID BROTHER, THE FRESHMAN (my favorite Harold Lloyd film), DR. JACK and GRANDMA'S BOY, and what I consider his best talkie, FEET FIRST. The shorts here should not be missed either; BUMPING INTO BROADWAY, BILLY BLAZES ESQ., NOW OR NEVER and HIGH AND DIZZY.

Volume Three is opened with Harold's last silent movie, SPEEDY. Other features are HOT WATER, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, A SAILORMADE MAN and his last huge hit on the box-office, the talkie MOVIE CRAZY. The short subjects here are the hilarious NEVER WEAKEN, and HAUNTED SPOOKS, GET OUT AND GET UNDER, NUMBER PLEASE?, AMONG THOSE PRESENT and finally I DO.

All films are in excellent condition. The musical scores are composed by Robert Israel and Carl Davis. All three volumes include production galleries, and several of the films have alternative commentaries by Harold Lloyd's granddaughter Suzanne, author Anette d'Agostino, film historian Leonard Maltin and director Richard Corrrell.

The Bonus Disc is nearly just as important as the films. First on the menu is an introduction to the Harold Lloyd Collection by Leonard Maltin, which is followed up by three hours of bonus material. Tributes and interviews with family and many more --Harold's daughter Gloria answers questions such as, "When did you realize that your father was world-famous?", "Do you have a favorite Harold Lloyd film?", "Did Harold become depressed because of his retirement as an actor?", etc.-- rare, vintage Harold Lloyd interviews and home movies, narrative chronology detailing the life and times of Harold Lloyd, Harold Lloyd Academy Award speech, Radio shows and even more! Also interesting to see is Harold Lloyd's 3-D photographs -- a couple of 3-D sunglasses are of course in the box.

This collection is simply marvelous and of course a must to every Harold Lloyd fan, but also you who are unfamiliar with Harold Lloyd or even silent films in general should not miss this. Well worth the money!