The Harold Lloyd Film Trust/ New Line Home Entertainment |
Alongside Chaplin and Keaton, silent comedian Harold Lloyd saw his critical and historical reputation wax and wane in the post–World War II era. This, despite the fact that Lloyd was a bigger box-office draw than either of his contemporaries by the end of the 1920s. In large part, Lloyd’s fate was a case of out of sight, out of mind. The star owned the rights to all his work — from his days clowning for Hal Roach in the late teens to his final sound comedies in the early 1940s — and long held his films close to the vest. After he refused to sell them to television, Lloyd’s cinematic legacy rested for decades almost entirely on a pair of compilation films he cut together and released in the 1960s, and for years after his death, Lloyd’s estate proved equally recalcitrant. The debut of New Line’s extras-crammed four-disc DVD box set, The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, reflects an obvious change of heart. An extensive collection of Lloyd’s best work, including the death-defying stunt comedies Safety Last (1923) and Speedy (1928), along with dozens of classic slapstick shorts, including Bumping Into Broadway (1919), the set also comes packed with home-movie footage, personal photos, the reminiscences of family and friends (including Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner and John Landis), multiple biographies, and an interactive timeline. There’s even a pair of 3-D glasses for viewing selections from Lloyd’s collection of amateur stereoscopic photographs — a longtime hobby. More than a collection of films, this set emerges as a testament to a life lived both on and off screen.
For those wishing to see Lloyd on the big screen, the Silent Movie Theater
(611 N. Fairfax Ave.) presents a newly restored 35mm print of Grandma’s Boy (1922),
Fri.-Sat., Nov. 25-26, at 8 p.m. and Sun., Nov. 27, at 1 p.m. For more info, go
to www.silentmovietheatre.com.
Other recommended new releases: Emergency Squad (DVD); Home Movies:
Season 3 (DVD); The Last Round (DVD); A Man Called Magnum
(DVD); Open House (DVD); The Sound of Music: 40th Anniversary
Special Edition (DVD); The Yogi Bear Show: The Complete Series (DVD).
Also released this week: VHS-DVD: Madagascar. DVD: A Bear Named Winnie;
Alien Fiend; Almost Normal; And Now for Something Completely Different Collection;
Beef 3; Bikini Chain Gang/Bikini Airways; Blue Murder; Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Collector’s Set; Cet Amour-Là; Charmed: The Complete Third Season; Cheers: The
Complete Seventh Season; Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin: Duet; Chick Corea and
Three Quartets Band; The Edukators; Fantasy Island: The First Season; The Flintstones:
The Complete Fourth Season; Frasier: The Complete Seventh Season; Friends: The
Complete Tenth Season; Golden Girls: Lifetime Intimate Portraits Series; Hard
Promises; The Heavenly Kid; Huckleberry Hound: Vol. 1; Jane Goodall: Return to
Gombe; Love at Stake; Metal Skin; Murder One: Season 2; Newsfront; O.C. and Stiggs;
Oklahoma: 50th Anniversary Edition; Old Yeller/Savage Sam; The Oprah Winfrey Show:
20th Anniversary Collection; P. Diddy Presents the Bad Boys of Comedy: Season
1; Pray TV; Rikky and Pete; SpongeBob Squarepants: Where’s Gary?; Stargate Atlantis:
Season 1; State Fair: 60th Anniversary Edition; Stealth/Air Force One; That ’70s
Show: Season 3; The Skeleton Key; A Thief of Time; Tru Calling: Season 2; The
Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: Fun With the Cat.
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