The Kid Brother (1927)

Harold Hickory (Harold Lloyd) is the youngest son of the Hickory clan, the most influential family in Hickoryville. They don't include him in their manly dealings and he has to prove himself to them and this girl ... wait, are all silent comedies the same?

Pretty much. OSHA unapproved stunts, "believing in yourself" mantra, and pancake makeup. Only difference between this and a Buster Keaton film is Lloyd's glasses and expressive face. The details of the story don't matter. We root for Harold and laugh at some of the bits. And some of the bits are pretty funny.

Seven of Lloyd's eighteen feature films were talkies. This was his second to last (or penultimate in fancy-talk) silent picture. He did a million shorts. Usually listed third behind Chaplin and Keaton for silent comedians, I was unaware he did as many features as he did.

Heavier on story and lighter on stunts as his other films (or so I am told), this was Lloyd's personal favorite. I mentioned in my last post about Clark Kent being modeled after Cary Grant, but apparently the comic modeled him directly on Lloyd's Glasses character.

Interesting if unoriginal story, funny bits, and well filmed, if a bit tedious, Lloyd is second to Keaton for silent comedians as far as I am concerned. For now, at least. AMRU 3. Way past time I got onto horror, don't you think?

"I do not believe the public will want spoken comedy. Motion pictures and the spoken arts are two distinct arts."