I have only seen a few movies starring Gaylord Lloyd, the brother of the super-famous silent comedy star Harold Lloyd. Gaylord made about 50 films but he never caught on like Harold. This, combined with the volatility of nitrate film stock (the majority of silent films have long since disintegrated), it's not surprising that it's hard to find one of his films today. However, in the recently released DVD collection "American Slapstick", two of Gaylord's films are included. Apart from them, I can only recall having see him two other times on film--so this is a rare opportunity to catch him. He only looks a bit like Harold and his style is quite different.
The film features Gaylord as a bill collector who has to collect from a nasty thug who seems a lot like a human version of Bluto from Popeye cartoons! Since Gaylord cannot possibly outfight this muscular ox, he uses his wit to defeat the guy. The clever way he does this is pretty funny and the film is better than the average silent comedy. Things I particularly liked were seeing Snub Pollard doing a spectacular back-flip (was that really him?!), seeing Gaylord in drag as well as the awfully funny but sick scene where the police were working over a little kid with their billy clubs! Regardless of who starred in this film, it has aged well and should interest any fan of silent comedy.
