As Good As It Gets

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Blistering performances.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Mary took over the Prof. Powers Original Mammoth Medicine Show after her father Prof. Powers' death. She arrives in Hickoryville with her con-man workers Farrell and Sandoni. Sheriff Jim Hickorys has two tough manly sons Leo and Olin. Then there is the youngest son Harold (Harold Lloyd) who was born on April Fool's Day. Hank Hooper hates the weakling Harold. Mary mistakes Harold for the Sheriff. The town places money for the dam with the real Sheriff. Harold tries to shut down the medicine show but ends up burning it down. Farrell and Sandoni decide to steal the dam money.This is compelling story with romance and slapstick comedy and drama. There are no building climbing or any big stunts from Harold Lloyd. He's doing smaller stunts with a focus on the slapstick comedy. This is interesting from start to finish. And who doesn't love a monkey?

Lloyd is the kid brother of three tough older men. He's the wimp who washes dishes and does other household chores until fate places him in a position to save a large stash of the community's money that was stolen by itinerant goniffs.It's not a classic but it's amusing. Lloyd seems always to be pursued by others and many of the gags revolve around his various hiding places being uncovered -- sometimes by a very well-trained primate in the hands of a monkey wrangler.Jobyna Ralston is winsome and pretty. The final confrontation between Lloyd and the gargantuan Romanoff is successfully rendered. Lloyd winds up with the girl.It must take a different kind of skill -- an improved sense of the kinetic, overactive Golgi bodies, or something -- to make an effective silent comedy. Imagine -- none of the gags can depend on dialog.

Just watched this on disc 1 of The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection: Vol. 2 which I ordered from Netflix. In summary, it's such a funny but also suspenseful and thrilling movie to watch that I not only laughed loudly at several places but also gasped in others when it looked like Harold might get hurt really bad. He's the youngest in his family which also includes his sheriff father and his two older burly brothers. When a medicine show arrives, a couple of the men in charge there take advantage of Harold's personality to get a license while his father is elsewhere. It's also in that show that a girl named Mary (Jobyna Ralston, her last as his leading lady) resides and he falls for her hard. I'll stop there and just say that I not only highly enjoyed the movie but also the commentary on it afterwards by his grandkids Suzanne and Annette and Rich Correll. And the music by Carl Davis was also perfectly scored for this version. So on that note, The Kid Brother comes highly recommended.

I kept thinking how he deserves recognition as one of the great silent comedians alongside Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin--especially with his wonderful work in the well-crafted THE KID BROTHER.The simple plot has him as the youngest and rather nerdy kid brother with his two strapping brothers towering over him as the apple of their father's eyes. Whenver something has to be done, he's left out of the picture while his father assigns his brothers to the task.But the funniest scenes have to do with him trying to outwit and pull fast tricks on his brothers in a series of sight gags. They're perfectly willing to bully him whenever a show of muscle is involved--particularly when impressing a girl they all have a yen for.There are too many sight gags to enumerate here and they all involve physical dexterity and timing of the highest order. A particularly demanding set of stunts are performed in the latter half of the story when our hero must board a ghost ship to retrieve money his father has been accused of stealing. The scenes involve a monkey in a sailor suit and a vicious villain out for the kill in keeping hold on stolen money.All of it is photographed with great style and there's an emotional attachment to the romantic angle involving the girl (JOBYNA RALSTON) so that the hectic comedy is anchored by a story that keeps the comedy on firm ground.Summing up: A delightful physical comedy, wonderfully photographed and played by an excellent cast, with Lloyd at his all-time best. In my opinion, this one tops SAFETY FIRST.