The Freshman (1925)

After several years of only reading about this movie, I finally got to see it from disc 1 of The Harold Lloyd Collection: Vol. 2. In this one, Lloyd dreams of college and becoming popular. But everyone makes fun of him there, unbeknownst to him, except for Peggy (Jobyna Ralston, his frequent leading lady during this time) who he falls for and she does in return. But then comes the chance to do good when the big football game comes into play. I'll stop there and just say that I found this quite funny though not enough to consider it the best of his films, in fact, I think I liked the other of his I saw recently-The Kid Brother-much better. Still, there was plenty to laugh at-the whole suit-falling-apart-at-the-dance had me in stitches-and the climatic football game was highly amusing enough. And, as with the other of his I just mentioned, there was also some nice sentimentality involved. So on that note, The Freshman comes highly recommended. P.S. I highly also recommend listening to the commentary provided by Leonard Maltin, Richard W. Bann, and Richard Correll for their astute observations. And I also loved the score provided by Robert Israel for this version.

Harold Lloyd was a master of action driven silent comedies,but he is also one of the most underrated actors in cinema history,and probably should have at least been considered for an Oscar or two,but as we all know,comedy is the most ignored and neglected genre of film in cinema history when it comes to awards.The thing that stands out about The Freshman is that the beginning of the film relies a little less on Lloyd's talent for sight gags and focuses more on the development of his character.He does a great job of getting us to like his character and care about what happens to him.When you see him get emotional over learning that he has,in fact,been made a fool of by those who made him feel as though he were the most popular man on campus,you want to get emotional with him.The sight gags are still there,though to a lesser degree,and they are as hysterical as ever.

For years, it has been parroted that this is his Best Film. Allow me to disagree. What don't i like about it? First, the student's cruelty to Harold is, at first, annoying. As the story goes on, it becomes painful to watch; even HAROLD cries! Many of the gags just aren't that funny; the "unravelling suit", for example. Much too much time is spent on it, but it's just not that good for the time allotted to it.The most redeeming thing about the film is the romance that develops between them; it's quite heart-warming & tender. (And, of course, i LOVE the jig he does when he introduces himself!).Imho, "Safety Last" was his best film, followed closely by "Movie Crazy", "Girl Shy", "Dr.Jack" and others.

I have only two strikes against The Freshman. The first is one that both critics and general movie audiences are always happy to accept, namely that Speedy is by far the oldest freshman at Tate University. It always makes me slightly uncomfortable to see a thirty-two-year-old seriously trying to pass himself off as a teenager. Some movies go to a lot of trouble to establish the fact that a mature adult is forced to enlist in a freshman class, and half the fun of the picture of course revolves around that dichotomy. But that situation is obviously not the movie Lloyd wanted to make. He compels us to accept Speedy as a teenager and tries to disguise the problem by surrounding himself with mature upper-classmen and past-retiring-age seniors.This brings me to my second beef. Although the screenplay is still very funny, it's nowhere near as neatly constructed as we expect from Lloyd. Characters are elaborately introduced and then simply dropped. After our lengthy opening "business" with the dean, for example, the man has another short scene and then simply disappears. We don't even spot him at the climactic football match. And what happens to the cad? Is there a scene in which he gets his comeuppance? If so, I don't remember it. And one would expect Speedy's parents to support him at the match. But they don't even bother coming! Hazel Keener looms large in the cast list, but her role is so weakly developed no-one would notice if she were dropped from the credits completely.It's not just the fact that these omissions just don't make sense, it's the fact that opportunities for more intense audience involvement were lost.Fortunately, thanks to Lloyd's comic skills and the expertise of his technical staff, the movie still rates as a little gem. Lovely Joby Ralston is most appealing as the girl in Harold's corner, and Pat Harmon contributes plenty of laughs as the continually frustrated coach (and so tough too that "he shaves with a blowtorch!").Yes, it also must be put on record that the titles are some of the wittiest we've ever seen. Just to read the titles alone is well worth the price of admission: "Do you remember those boyhood days when going to College was greater than going to Congress—and you'd rather be Right Tackle than President?" Yes, indeed!