Never Weaken (Lloyd 1921)

My new favourite Harold Lloyd film. Three reels and perhaps the most impressive thing about it is that for a long stretch Lloyd is carrying it on his own. Well, him and a stuntman I guess. But it's his charisma that carries the film through.
Believing he's lost his girl to another man (though the Other Man is her brother, and a vicar to boot), Harold sets about trying to do away with himself. And as is the nature of things, learns how precious life is as a result (though it is never expressed in such a corny fashion on the sreen).
The big scene is Harold clambering atop a partly built skyscraper, a set-piece that presumably isnpired Laurel and Hardy's 'Liberty!', though they added some twists there of their own. I certainly don't see that as being derivative after watching this. What is remarkable though is how genuinely exciting this stuff is- if you've got any sympathy with the character or with the film at all then it's real heart-in-the-mouth stuff. I think the stuntwork in Harold Lloyd films can be taken for granted: that's what he does isn't he? He's the silent comedian with the Big Stunts. But the ten minutes or so of dizzying action here is hugely impressive.
Lloyd is the All-American go-getter, the optimist, the believer in the dream, and that is the character we get early on here as he does everything in his power to keep his girl in a job. And even after he mistakes her intentions and sets his mind on suicide, his heart isn't really in it. His is a character built for Life, and at his best there's no-one like him. Particularly great bits in a film top-heavy with them: the street acrobat scam, the slippery street, the poisoning attempt. Not going to into details- no spoilers needed for stuff I'm sure to watch again. 

Number, Please? (Lloyd 1920)

Searing and powerful indictment of 1920s telephone culture. This is great actually, a really good short, full of novel camerawork (all the merry-go-round suff- that's first-rate) and honest-to-goodness laughs. It starts actually with the biggest laugh of them all- tyrng to forget the lost love of his life, Harold seeks adventure on a rollercoaster- sitting in the last car he finds himself being hit by the flying hats of all the chaps from the cars in front. Well it plays better than it sounds, trust me.
It's another great silent fairgound film, this- they're always fascinating even when they're not funny, because you're being given such a delightful snapshot of the idle pleasures of another age. Glimpsing all the advertisements and the fashions- it's a joy watching this stuff, like a little time capsule. Smplest of plots- a girl, two rivals, and a dog. Who needs anything else? This was from the Mildred Davis era, and she's fine here, though a little under-used. Lloyd had some of the greatest leading ladies of the era, I think that goes without saying, but Mildred here is a cipher and nothing more. There's no character, no subtlety. She really is just The Girl and that's it. Even the otherwise rather anonymous Roy Brooks, the Rival, has the potential for a bit of back-story, a bit of hidden intrigue, but the Girl is... nothing. And, granted, perhaps that's intentional- there is no happy romantic conclusion here, because, after all, there was never any particular spark between them in the first place. The Boy is back on his fairground rides, a 1920s emo, Mildred and Roy and her cute little dog take a balloon-ride off into the sunset.
The central scene, the scene that gives the film its name, has the Boy trying to put a call through to the Girl's mother. It is a long scene with a simple premise, but it doesn't get tiresome, and again you're getting a little glimpse of a world that's long gone now.

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.

I Do (Lloyd 1921)

Harold and Mildred learn something of the perils of parenthood. Married for a year, they are given the task of babysitting a couple of unpleasant little 'uns for a night- tie this in with rumours of a burglar in the neighbourhood and a fun night is on the cards. It's enjoyable and has quite a dark side- the elder of the children isn't just cheeky, he's downright malevolent- but all the way through I was thinking: well, you know, it could be better.
I didn't laugh much, I know that.
And some of the gags I didn't even get. I can kinda fit pieces together now and surmise that most of the early stuff in the film like the young lovers pushing around some kind of cask in a pram, and a whole procession of young men coming out of the same house pushing prams- well I'm guessing that this is about prohibition or something, yeah? Ah, silent comedy. A medium that was specicifically aimed at, let's be frank here, the widest popular culture audience imagineable, ultimately pretty much a lowest common denominator kind of thing, but separate yourself from the source by a few long decades and you may as well be tying to modernize Chaucer. Well, you get my drift. What was dumb fun then can take a little brainpower now.
There's a curious, very brief, animated episode in here- the wedding service of Harold and Mildred, and so unexpected is it that it may just be the highpoint of the film. It isn't funny, but it's quirky and sometimes that's enough. A lot of the business with the children, especially the baby's milk- hell, it's ok, it's just a litlle pedestrian, a little uninspired. You see Harold Lloyd on the screen, that great iconic figure, and pedestrian and uninspired just isn't enough.