A classic

I always felt bad that discovered Buster Keaton so late. Well, it took me even longer to see my first movie starring Harold Lloyd but, at least, it was definitely worth the wait, that’s for sure. First of all, I saw a restored version on YouTube and I must say I was amazed by its pristine quality which you wouldn’t expect from a silent movie already almost 100 years old. Concerning the movie itself, it was apparently Harold Lloyd’s favorite among all his films so I got lucky to discover his work with, allegedly, one of his best movies. Sure, like most silent comedies, the whole thing was rather random but I thought the story was actually fairly well developed. Above all, the damned thing was just so entertaining. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I saw such a hilarious silent movie. Basically, the whole thing is an endless succession of very clever gags and I was amazed that so many of them worked so well. In fact, there were so many, I don’t think I could pick up any of them as a favorite and, maybe, that’s a downside, but I think it was more a luxury problem. It’s also interesting that the 3 biggest stars of the silent comedies (Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd) were all rather small and all played some mild-mannered men who were all miles away from you average tall handsome athletic male movie star. At least, back in those days, you could actually identify with the characters in your average motion picture. Or, maybe, I’m actually mistaken, in comedies, you still have nowadays such seemingly average looking guys, it’s just that comedies are not the biggest draw at the box-office anymore and it has been so for a very long time. Anyway, to conclude, I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.