Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius

Starting with Hollywood in 1980 (which was produced in the late 1970s)Kenneth Brownlow had gathered material on the great silent film period that led to four documentary series. Hollywood was followed by THE UNKNOWN CHAPLIN, then one on Buster Keaton, and then (in 1989) HAROLD LLOYD; THE THIRD GENIUS. As an introduction to Lloyd's series of comic gems (like SAFETY LAST, THE FRESHMAN, SPEEDY, and THE KID BROTHER) it was delightful. It showed how Lloyd had spent years, watching the success of Chaplin, in trying to find a proper personae to make his own mark with. His initial character, "Lonesome Luke", was basically Chaplin's tramp with a reversal of characteristics (a mustache with two halves, not one, clothing that was to tight and short rather than too big, etc.). Gradually he began to consider how his character should be normal in appearance and in usual situations. But this normal character, through mishap or chance, would get into dangerous situations (like hanging from a clock on a building when trying to safely climb the side of the building as an advertising stunt). It turned out to be a good choice, and made Lloyd's reputation as a great comic actor. The series also looked into the curious late sound films, and how Lloyd's carefully built film personae could not survive in the sound period. But the best part of the series was the careful discussion of how Lloyd did some of those dangerous stunts. There were always small tricks to lessen the apparent dangers, but he did do his own stunts (and he did them with one hand that was badly disfigured in an accidental explosion that cost him three fingers). Altogether a remarkable story, superbly told.

In addition to BUSTER KEATON--A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW, this is about the best bio of silent comedians I have ever seen. While not as long and involved as the Keaton series, it was a top-notch production with wonderful information and facts throughout. In particular, they presented never before seen photos that showed HOW they did the seemingly dangerous stunts in SAFETY LAST and several other Lloyd movies. Now that he has been dead for many years, we find out that these incredibly dangerous movies weren't quite as dangerous as they looked--and this was all achieved thanks to the genius of Lloyd. The pictures actually show EXACTLY how these optical illusions were created--as for me, this made me admire the films even more--to achieve such spectacular results with the special effects of the 1920s is amazing. A wonderful documentary for all lovers of cinema and those in particular who love this great but forgotten comic.

FYI--Fortunately, while this is a nearly perfect film about Lloyd, there are also two wonderful similar documentaries about Charlie Chaplin (Unknown Chaplin) and Buster Keaton (Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow)--both written by the same two writers who made this wonderful film. See them all if you get a chance!!

This documentary is highly entertaining for lovers of cinema. Harold Lloyd was the first character actor to draw an audience's reaction through the use of situational comedy. He was mimicked and even outright plagiarized by those who followed him in the genre, namely Chaplin and Keaton. Lloyd was also one of the first actors to completely control his product, from inception to release, as he pioneered the use of movie previews to gauge audience reception. Lloyd is not to be overlooked as a tour-de-force of cinema.

No pun intended - and I know it actually is called the fifth wheel, but we're counting Chaplin and Keaton here - so there is only two others. Of course there are or rather were many more. But we are talking about the greats. And the title of the documentary (or episode of the docu series to be more exact) suggests exactly that.

And it has a lot of interviews and clips to back all that up. If you want to learn about Harold Lloyd and how he was thinking ... hear and watch it here. Many of the people who are either related to him or worked with him speak about him and his work. Some experts round the picture - I think that is how you say it ... well you know what I mean. Well done and made as a two parter, which together is then a feature length documentary ... which is richly deserved to say the least. Safety Last was one of the funniest comedies - hands and down ... and climb up (and pun intended)

On a personal note, I've had a fascination with Harold Lloyd since seeing a collection of his movies on PBS when I was in high school in the 1970s. When his collection came out on dvd I was quick to add them to my library.

To be honest, Chaplin was always a little too highbrow for me. Keaton is hilarious. So, in his limited way, was baby-faced Harry Langdon. But I always found Lloyd the most accessible of the the bunch.

And while I enjoy many of Lloyd's glasses-shorts and feature-length movies, I'm a particular fan of his thrill comedies like "Safety Last" and "Never Weaken" (which are pulse pumping even when you see the so-called "tricks" of hisctrade that still could have easily gotten him killed).

Though I hate the title, this revealing examination of Lloyd's career, despite the short shrift given to his sometimes quite worthy (and, in a case or two, lucrative) sound comedies, is informative and enjoyable. If you listen to old radio shows like Jack Benny's you realize, though some of his sound movies stank on ice, Lloyd was a star well into the 1930s.