Harold Lloyd and Criterion
- Michael Kerpan
- Spelling Bee Champeen
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:20 pm
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Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Girl Shy, Why Worry -- and some shorts (like my favorite, Ask Father). That's what I'd like.
- captveg
- Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:28 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Girl Shy is my favorite of his films so I'm hoping for that one next, but The Milky Way would be nice as well.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
And we have a quorum.captveg wrote:Girl Shy
- Shrew
- The Untamed One
- Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:22 am
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Another vote for Girl Shy, but I do wonder how and when they'll handle the sound films, which despite being pretty good aren't nearly as well-known. Certainly far less than Chaplin's.
- Jeff
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
- Location: Denver, CO
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
My money's on a "Harold Lloyd in the Sound Era" Eclipse set.Shrew wrote:Another vote for Girl Shy, but I do wonder how and when they'll handle the sound films, which despite being pretty good aren't nearly as well-known. Certainly far less than Chaplin's.
- sir_luke
- Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:55 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Jeff wrote: My money's on a "Harold Lloyd in the Sound Era" Eclipse set.
You don't think they'd do a mainline boxset? It seems that, even though the films are not individually as popular, together they'd be more than Eclipse material.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
That would be terrible. His sound stuff is his best stuff.Jeff wrote:My money's on a "Harold Lloyd in the Sound Era" Eclipse set.Shrew wrote:Another vote for Girl Shy, but I do wonder how and when they'll handle the sound films, which despite being pretty good aren't nearly as well-known. Certainly far less than Chaplin's.
- Michael Kerpan
- Spelling Bee Champeen
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Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Really? Not based on the stuff I've seen.knives wrote:That would be terrible. His sound stuff is his best stuff.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
I admit it is entirely a personal flourish, but with exception (Never Weaken) I find even his best silent work seems to proceed sound film in many respects. The sound films themselves, to me, tend to be better directed with Lloyd's performances just being delightful in a way that knows the medium as it was at the time. Then again I'm one of those loons that adores The Sins of Harold Diddlebock.
- Jeff
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
- Location: Denver, CO
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
They don't have much name recognition though, do they? The McCarey and Sturges films might do okay on their own, but I can't imagine the others being very marketable. Besides that, they're probably going to blow their supplement wad on the next mainline release (which I expect to be a box of the second-tier silent features).knives wrote:That would be terrible. His sound stuff is his best stuff.Jeff wrote:My money's on a "Harold Lloyd in the Sound Era" Eclipse set.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
The Milky Way still seems fairly popular though that is McCarey. Anyways it seems he has enough surviving shorts for this not to be much a worry.
- Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
I would still expect dual-format/mainline, not Eclipse, releases for all Lloyd films. I can't imagine Suzanne Lloyd licensing these films to Criterion only to have them wind up in a featureless SD collection again.
- Moe Dickstein
- Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:19 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Exactly. Eclipse I think is mostly dead for the rare cases where the elements are truly awful, with the advent of DF releases
- Michael Kerpan
- Spelling Bee Champeen
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Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
> I find even his best silent work seems to proceed sound film in many respects.
Not sure I understand this....
Not sure I understand this....
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
I'm sure I talked about this elsewhere on the forum, but the construction of his jokes many times seem based in a connection to a sound that the characters can hear even if we can not. Also the intertitles are usually very funny especially in dialogue jokes.
- Shrew
- The Untamed One
- Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:22 am
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
I think we've got to be getting at least one more stand alone release before boxes come up. At least the films that have existing commentaries from the New Line set (Speedy and The Kid Brother) will probably get their own releases. In fact Speedy anchors the the 3rd volume of that set, with the first two volumes showcasing Safety Last and The Freshman, so there's a good chance it may come out next.
Though by that logic, Girl Shy may end up boxed, given that it doesn't get a lot of attention in that set. Maybe I overrate its prestige given that its always been a personal favorite of mine and most other Lloyd fans I've met. You'd figure it'd be a first-tier title on the strength of the rush-to-the-wedding sequence alone.
For the sound releases, I wouldn't go as far as knives but there's a lot to be said for them. They suffer from the slack pacing that seems to hurt a lot of pre-screwball sound comedies, and various costars and subplots swallow up far more time than they would in a silent film. But Lloyd himself works far better in sound than say, Keaton. Still I don't think any of them (save maybe The Milky Way) have the cache to be their own releases.
Though by that logic, Girl Shy may end up boxed, given that it doesn't get a lot of attention in that set. Maybe I overrate its prestige given that its always been a personal favorite of mine and most other Lloyd fans I've met. You'd figure it'd be a first-tier title on the strength of the rush-to-the-wedding sequence alone.
For the sound releases, I wouldn't go as far as knives but there's a lot to be said for them. They suffer from the slack pacing that seems to hurt a lot of pre-screwball sound comedies, and various costars and subplots swallow up far more time than they would in a silent film. But Lloyd himself works far better in sound than say, Keaton. Still I don't think any of them (save maybe The Milky Way) have the cache to be their own releases.
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- Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2013 12:27 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
They can pair the 6 "shorter" features into three double-features: A Sailor-Made Man, Grandma's Boy, Dr. Jack, Why Worry, Hot Water, and For Heaven's Sake. There's also six talkies they could probably split into two triple features (One with Welcome Danger, Feet First, and Movie Crazy; the other with The Cat's Paw, The Milky Way, and Professor Beware [from Universal]). Perhaps the two talkie volumes could also contain one of each of Lloyd's compilation films. This would at least make sure each volume is worth it since Welcome Danger and Feet First are fairly awful (Movie Crazy is fantastic, though).
- FrauBlucher
- Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
- Location: Greenwich Village
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- Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:01 am
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
I wonder if they're going to release "Movie Crazy" - Harold Lloyd's most successful talkie. Saw it the other day and I was laughing throughout the feature
- captveg
- Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2009 7:28 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Just watched Movie Crazy myself for the first time (had yet to get around to it though I've owned it in the New Line box set for years now).
It's a Lloyd Estate film, so Criterion should be releasing it eventually.
It's a Lloyd Estate film, so Criterion should be releasing it eventually.
- Minkin
- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Sorry, I don't have any news or scoops!
But I've caught this TCM tribute to LLoyd several times - and it makes for a great + short primer to Lloyd and silent comedy. Plus it helped a few friends actually get interested in watching a Lloyd film!
That and the video always makes me really anxious for the next announcement - bring on the Talkies set!
But I've caught this TCM tribute to LLoyd several times - and it makes for a great + short primer to Lloyd and silent comedy. Plus it helped a few friends actually get interested in watching a Lloyd film!
That and the video always makes me really anxious for the next announcement - bring on the Talkies set!
- Roger Ryan
- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
- Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
Note sure if this has been noted before, but TCM's copy of Movie Crazy which aired last Wednesday was preceded by the Criterion logo and was in true HD. It was sourced from a UCLA restoration which appeared to use a somewhat worn 35mm print with a handful of shots which I suspect came from a secondary 16mm print.
I can't share any enthusiasm for this title which I found lethargic and with too few new ideas. Gags are telegraphed twenty-to-thirty seconds ahead of time and poor direction and/or editing kill the few bits that could have succeeded. A party sequence late in the film where Lloyd mistakenly puts on a magician's coat prepped for a magic act manages to get enough momentum going to be amusing, but way too much time is spent on Lloyd's contrived romance with Constance Cummings, subjecting the viewer to numerous scenes which have no energy whatsoever.
I'm sorry to say that the magnificent Girl Shy, which aired last Tuesday night, was just the old SD version (no Criterion logo at the beginning), so it looks like Movie Crazy may have been prepped for release first.
- Close The Door, Raymond
- Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 11:33 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
So far, there has been 4 titles released.
SAFETY LAST! - #662 - June 2013
THE FRESHMAN #703 - March 2014
SPEEDY - #788 - December 2015
THE KID BROTHER #964- March 2019
Feature-length possibilities
"Silents"
A SAILOR-MADE MAN
GRANDMA'S BOY
DR. JACK
WHY WORRY?
GIRL SHY
HOT WATER
FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE
"Talkies"
WELCOME DANGER
FEET FIRST
MOVIE CRAZY
THE CAT'S-PAW
THE MILKY WAY
PROFESSOR BEWARE
THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK
SAFETY LAST! - #662 - June 2013
THE FRESHMAN #703 - March 2014
SPEEDY - #788 - December 2015
THE KID BROTHER #964- March 2019
Feature-length possibilities
"Silents"
A SAILOR-MADE MAN
GRANDMA'S BOY
DR. JACK
WHY WORRY?
GIRL SHY
HOT WATER
FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE
"Talkies"
WELCOME DANGER
FEET FIRST
MOVIE CRAZY
THE CAT'S-PAW
THE MILKY WAY
PROFESSOR BEWARE
THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK
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- Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:20 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
I think the Lloyd estate a few years ago stated that Criterion would put the "talkies" in a boxset but that hasn't happened. (yet)
- schellenbergk
- Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2018 12:03 pm
Re: Harold Lloyd and Criterion
I'm hoping for a nice edition of "Why Worry?" - the best of the not yet released silents IMO