Harold Lloyd: The Definitive Collection [DVD]

If you mention silent film comedians today, most people will immediately think of Charlie Chaplin, closely followed by Buster Keaton. But in the 1920's there was a third big name who was commercially more successful than either - the wonderful Harold Lloyd.Unfortunately Lloyd kept a very tight reign on the distribution rights for his films, fearing that improper useage would impair his reputation. This meant that whilst Keaton and Chaplin films were freely available long after their filmmaking days had ended, keeping their names alive in the public conscious, the initially successful Harold Lloyd started to drop right off the radar. Which is a shame as he was wonderfully talented and made some absolutely hilarious films with his brand of physical and visual comedy. Not as depressing as Chaplin, or slapstick as Keaton he had a style all of his own which had more of a classy, intelligent feel to it.Like most other people here I discovered Lloyd through a television series in the late `80s, during my school holidays. They were a revelation, and I wanted to see more. But they were never repeated, and there were no video releases that I could find. There have been some sporadic DVD releases, but never anything that has done the man and his art justice. They often had odd music, bad restoration, incorrect running speeds and cropping that really made Lloyds fears about poor representation of his work seem justified.Now, finally, this magnificent set has been produced. Overseen by Suzanne Lloyd, Harold's granddaughter, it is a marvel. It contains, I think, all of Lloyd's surviving silent films (sadly many were lost in a fire at his house in 1943) and five of his seven talkies. The films are listed in other reviews which I will not repeat. The restoration on each is a wonder to behold. The image on some seems so sharp and clear it looks as though it was filmed yesterday. The usual annoying jumps, jerks and blemishes have been taken out, and the films run at their correct speed. Added to this are the sympathetic scores from Carl Davis and Robert Israel. Much care has been taken with each score to match the mood and pace of the action on screen, and these really do add immeasurably to the viewing enjoyment.The 29 films are presented on 9 discs in slimline cases, all held in a sturdy card slipcase. There is a wealth of extras on the discs, commentaries, documentaries and the like which I have not had a chance to view yet. An added bonus is in the case of disc one - 6 prints of photos of Marilyn Monroe taken by Lloyd, who was a keen photographer.This is an excellent set, and one that finally does the great man justice. 5 stars, no hesitation.

Harold Lloyd made an astonishing number of films - 84 shorts in 1919 alone, more than Charlie Chaplin's total output! His first major character was a Chaplin-clone, 'Lonesome Luke', but in 1917, he developed the "glasses" character. Poor in some films, rich in others, "Glasses" was always striving to be better and a century later, the character remains timeless.This set is exclusively of that character - most of the 'Lukes' have been lost.So, what do you get? With the disc they're on to remind me when I'm looking for them, it's...Silent features:D7 - A Sailor-Made Man (1921) - originally going to be edited down to a short, released as a feature insteadD6 - Grandma's Boy (1922) - his favouriteD3 - Dr. Jack (1922)D1 - Safety Last! (1923) - the most famousD3 - Why Worry? (1923) - probably the funniestD1 - Girl Shy (1924) - wonderful chase sequenceD5 - Hot Water (1924)D9 - The Freshman (1925) - another iconic apearence with the American Football matchD7 - For Heaven's Sake (1926)D4 - The Kid Brother (1927)D6 - Speedy (1928)The better 'talkies':D8 - Welcome Danger (1929)D3 - Feet First (1930)D8 - Movie Crazy (1932)D2 - The Cat's-Paw (1934)D2 - The Milky Way (1936)(Missing from the list is Professor Beware (1938) and The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947) and/or its reworking asMad Wednesday (1950). To be honest, your life is complete without those.)There is also a small sample of his 'Glasses' character shorts:D9 - Ask Father (1919)D4 - Billy Blazes (1919)D4 - Bumping Into Broadway (1919)D9 - From Hand to Mouth (1919)D6 - Haunted Spooks (1920)D1 - An Eastern Westerner (1920)D5 - High and Dizzy (1920)D5 - Get Out and Get Under (1920)D7 - Number Please (1920)D5 - Now Or Never (1921)D7 - Among Those Present (1921)D7 - I Do (1921)D6 - Never Weaken (1921)Because Harold Lloyd owned his films and kept the negatives, transferring them to safety film when that replaced nitrate, the features are in excellent condition for their age with soundtracks by Carl Davies or Robert Israel. A few - not nearly enough - have commentaries, including from people who knew Lloyd.There is also a bunch of extras on the Lloyd, the 1920s, and memories.

Le coffret comporte les films les plus connus et les plus drôles de Harold LLOYD, impossible de s'ennuyer, rires garantis!

Harold Lloyd war das dritte Genie der Stummfilm-Ära. Er muss in einem Atemzug mit Charlie Chaplin und Buster Keaton genannt werden. Die Generation Ü30 wird sich erinnern, wie anfangs der 80er Jahre einige Harold Lloyd-Klassiker im Fernsehen liefen. Wer ihn einmal sah, muss ihn in sein Herz geschlossen haben. Leider war der Großteil seiner Spielfilme bis jetzt nicht auf DVD, geschweige denn VHS erhältlich. Diese Lücke schließt nun endlich (!) diese Kollektion als 9 DVD-Boxset.Sie lässt das Herz eines jeden Harold Lloyd- und Stummfilm-Fans höher schlagen. Im wahrsten Sinne, denn man vermisst nicht Lloyds Atem-beraubende Hochhaus-Klassiker, die ihm Unsterblichkeit verliehen, allen voran Safety Last!, worin Lloyd an der Uhr hängt. Des Weiteren sind die Schwindel-erregenden Klassiker Feet First (Tonfilm, 1930, in der langen, 90-minütigen Version), High and Dizzy (Kurzfilm, 1920) und Never weaken (Kurzfilm, 1921) enthalten. Einfach herrlich wie Lloyd nach dem Blick in die Tiefe die Haare zu Berge stehen.Lloyd war ein ausgereifter und vielseitiger Slapstick-Komiker mit ganz vielen Facetten und Einfällen, wovon die weiteren langen Stummfilme zeugen: A sailor made man (1921), Grandmas boy (1922), Dr. Jack (1922), Why worry (1923), Girl shy (1924), Hot water (1924), The freshman (1925), For heavens sake (1926), The kid brother (1927) und Speedy (1928).Nicht weniger innovativ agierte Lloyd in seinen Tonfilmen, wie dem hier zum ersten Mal erhältlichen Welcome danger (1929). Weitere Tonfilme im englischen Original sind Movie crazy (1932), The cats paw (1934) und The milky way (1936).Folgende kurzen Stummfilme runden die Zusammenstellung ab: From hand to mouth (1919), Billy Blazes, Esq. (1919), Ask father (1919), Bumping into Broadway (1919), An eastern westerner (1920), Get out and get under (1920), Haunted spooks (1920), Number please? (1920), Among those present (1921), I do (1921) und Now or never (1921).Diese 29 Filme, davon also 16 der 18 abendfüllenden Filme Lloyds (bis auf die beiden letzten weniger erfolgreichen Tonfilme), werden ergänzt durch viele Special Features (Programmzugaben) wie z.B. Audiokommentar während fünf Stummfilmen (Safety Last!, The kid brother, The freshman, Speedy, Haunted spooks), Kurzfilme aus Lloyds Privat- und Familienleben, ausführliche Biographie Lloyds, Kurzbiographien von Schauspielkollegen, Regisseuren etc. und vieles, vieles mehr.Alles in allem handelt es sich bei diesen mehr als 1700 Minuten (über 29 Stunden) um eine Wahnsinns-Zusammenstellung und zu Recht um DIE Definitive Collection in exzellenter Ton- und Bildqualität bei allerbestem Preis/Leistungsverhältnis!! Man kann, einmal durchgeschaut, gerade wieder von vorne anfangen. Besser und in spannenderer Erwartung habe ich DVDs noch nicht gekauft!!! - Danke und Respekt den Machern und Herausgebern, Danke Harold Lloyd.

Dies ist wirklich die definitive H.Lloyd Sammlung! Wie ich es immer tue, möchte ich mich zur DVD-Produktion äussern: Der optische Zustand der Filme,das ganze Material ist absolut Top.Der Schuber ist etwas zu eng, man bekommt die Hüllen nur sehr schwer heraus.Aber sehr unschön: Warum muss auf JEDER Scheibe, vor JEDEM Film der Studio-Canal Hinweis laufen (jedesmal 25 sek. Warten) OHNE Skip-Möglichkeit!Das ist Gängelung und Respektlosigkeit vor dem zahlenden Kunden.Genauso "lustig" wäre es, wenn mein VW-Golf mich VOR Antritt JEDER Fahrt mit einem 25 Sek. dauernden Präsentations-Text aus dem Radio begrüsst, und erst NACH Anhören funktioniert der Anlasser.