Saturday, 24 March 2012

An Eastern Westerner (Lloyd 1920)

A more rogueish Boy than we have become used to- rich and spoilt, he is sent West by his exasperated father to build character and prove himself a man. And out West he meets Mildred and her own ailing father, and character is built and the man is proven.
It's a strong Western this, though short on outright hilarity. The opening scene with Harold shimmying the night away at a 'shimmie dancing prohibited' nightclub is a quick glimpse of decadent civilization before the Boy heads off to horses, dust and gunfire. Here, Noah Young rules the town- big, burly and bullying, and with his own eye on Mildred Davis. Well, as if...
But the Boy not only lets down his father and shimmies when shimmying aint on, he's also not averse to cheating at cards, and while we're happy he gets his girl, it's hard to particularly care about this character. There was still some streamlining to be done I think before Lloyd completely nailed him.
The best moment is probably Harold practising his lassooing skills for the Girl's amusement- even here though the smile you'll have is a wry one rather than a carefree one. It's a neat film, well done, but it's not the one that's going to make you a Harold Lloyd fan.

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