The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection (DVD, 2005)

As a fan of silent comedies, I applaud the addition of the The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection to the list of movies available of DVD. It includes all of Lloyd's works during the 1920's, when feature films began to dominate the medium, and silent comedy reached its zenith of popularity. Also included are a few of the shorts he made from the late teens and early twenties, in all of which Lloyd appears as the "glass character," wearing his iconic lenseless glasses. Regrettably, none of the earlier films--the Lonesome Luke films--appear in this collection.

The set incorporates several nice features. The optional commentaries by Leonard Maltin and others make several of the films more enjoyable by providing interesting background information. The bonus disc is filled with extra material such as a timeline, photo galleries, and numerous video anecdotes by critics, film historians, and directors. The musical scores are all new compositions and arrangements. In particular, I like the work arrangements by
Robert Israel, who proved his ability to write background accompaniment for silent comedy in the Kino Video edition of Buster Keaton's work covering the very same period. The atmosphere of the music enhances the moods of the films and seems appropriate to the era in which the films were made.

I had already been a keen Buster Keaton fan before I ever heard of Harold Lloyd. I considered Keaton's work to be funnier and more artistic than the work of any of the other comedians of the 1920's (my apologies to Chaplin fans). After watching most of the films in the Harold Lloyd collection, I am beginning to doubt this assessment. Although Lloyd may mot be, in my opinion, funnier and more enjoyable to watch than Keaton, I put them in the same league.

this was a gift for my husband, of 'odd' taste. apparently these movies are hard to find and when he located them on e-bay, i HAD to purchase them for him. i wish i could tell you how great they are, but they're getting wrapped for christmas. it was an unusual item, affordable price, and he can't wait to get his hands on them. nice to have such a 'weird' collection to select from. i'd never find them in the stores.