In both last week’s blog and this week’s issue of Creative Loafing, I mentioned how the Main Library’s summer film series (being held at ImaginOn) opens this Sunday with a screening of the 1923 silent classic Safety Last!, starring the great comedian Harold Lloyd.
If watching Lloyd’s hilarious antics in the film leaves you thirsting for more (and, really, it should), consider buying (or at least renting) The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, a magnificent box set released by New Line Home Entertainment back in 2005. This three-volume, seven-disc compilation includes 28 of Lloyd’s most popular releases (both features and shorts) as well as a bounty of supplemental material.
Harold Lloyd in Safety Last!
Lloyd’s appeal was as the all-American kid trying to make good, and this
trademark characteristic can be seen in his two acknowledged masterpieces,
both included in this set. Safety Last!, the film being screened at
ImaginOn, contains the world-famous sequence in which Lloyd’s character
grasps onto a clock’s arms as he dangles high above the city streets, while
The Freshman (1925) casts him as a college nerd who unexpectedly finds
success on the football field.
The 28 films are spread out over six discs, along with extra features such
as audio commentary on select titles, production galleries and a few
featurettes. A bonus disc (included only with this set, though the film
volumes can be purchased individually) is generous with the supplemental
material, so much so that Leonard Maltin is on hand to explain the disc’s
table of contents page. Among the treasures to be found are home movies, a
narrative chronology of Lloyd’s life, his Academy Award speech upon winning
an honorary Oscar in 1953, 3-D photos taken by Lloyd (yes, the set includes
a pair of 3-D glasses) and much more.
This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2007.
