The Freshman (1925)

Disappointment for a huge fan!

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Nerdy college student (Harold Lloyd) will do anything to become popular on campus.As far as Lloyd comedies go, this film is more plot and character-driven than the constant physical punchlines of his other films (including, of course, "Safety Last"). That takes nothing away from it, but in fact possibly adds something -- proof that this is a man who can do both gags and a straight story.The Criterion release is incredible, not only for its commentary with Leonard Maltin and friends, but for its inclusion of plenty of Lloyd bonus material -- among other things, it has three short films.Hopefully through Criterion's efforts the name of Harold Lloyd grows in importance. The silent comedy era always seems to be Charlie Chaplin first, Buster Keaton second... and then Lloyd either a distant third or forgotten completely. He should never be forgotten.

Harold Lloyd was a master of action driven silent comedies,but he is also one of the most underrated actors in cinema history,and probably should have at least been considered for an Oscar or two,but as we all know,comedy is the most ignored and neglected genre of film in cinema history when it comes to awards.The thing that stands out about The Freshman is that the beginning of the film relies a little less on Lloyd's talent for sight gags and focuses more on the development of his character.He does a great job of getting us to like his character and care about what happens to him.When you see him get emotional over learning that he has,in fact,been made a fool of by those who made him feel as though he were the most popular man on campus,you want to get emotional with him.The sight gags are still there,though to a lesser degree,and they are as hysterical as ever.

For years, it has been parroted that this is his Best Film. Allow me to disagree. What don't i like about it? First, the student's cruelty to Harold is, at first, annoying. As the story goes on, it becomes painful to watch; even HAROLD cries! Many of the gags just aren't that funny; the "unravelling suit", for example. Much too much time is spent on it, but it's just not that good for the time allotted to it.The most redeeming thing about the film is the romance that develops between them; it's quite heart-warming & tender. (And, of course, i LOVE the jig he does when he introduces himself!).Imho, "Safety Last" was his best film, followed closely by "Movie Crazy", "Girl Shy", "Dr.Jack" and others.

035: The Freshman (1925) - released 9/20/1925, viewed 2/7/06.BIRTHS: Peter Sellers, Boris Tchaikovski.DOUG: Our Harold Lloyd festival powers on with another silent comedy classic, The Freshman, not to be confused with the 1990 Matthew Broderick/Marlon Brando comedy of the same name. Lloyd brings his all-star team with him, including director Fred C. Newmeyer and leading lady Jobyna Ralston. Lloyd plays a college freshman on a mission to be the coolest cad on campus, which he goes about by emulating his movie heroes and the other popular students. His flashy antics are not as welcome as he thinks. He soon finds that real popularity doesn't come from the approval of others, and goes on to become the most popular student anyway by winning the Big Football Game. In one hilarious scene, Harold's tailor has gotten drunk and left his suit with flimsy stitching, causing the suit to fall apart in every conceivable way during the course of the party. There's a very tender scene where Peggy (Ralston) comforts Harold after he has been humiliated at said party by the other students, and Ralston shows herself to be Lloyd's best leading lady. If this film has any root in reality, then I must say I was surprised that there was a time when college students really dressed like that, with those sweatshirts and striped hats that no college student today would be caught dead in. The trademark stunt-filled finale is a frenetic sequence where Harold must rescue his football team at the Big Game, resorting to any trick he can think of to give his opponents the slip, and finally clenching hilarious victory with the closest call imaginable.KEVIN: Our third Harold Lloyd flick would have fallen between The Phantom of the Opera and Eisenstein's Potemkin. This time Lloyd plays a dork trying to be cool when he heads off to college. There are some painfully funny beats in this film, such as when he tries out for the football team and they make him the charging dummy. There is also the most inspired piece of comedy where he has to go to a party with a haplessly stitched suit, which comes apart at every seam in every way, until everything comes off in nightmarish fashion. My favorite scene in this film is an emotional scene for a change. When Harold finds out what everyone really thinks of him, he tries to shrug it off and pretend he doesn't care, until he breaks down into the arms of his only real fan, the lovely Peggy (Jobyna Ralston), who encourages him to show everyone what he's really made of. I liked that because at that point he's not doing stupid things to impress the girl anymore. She becomes his inspiration rather than his objective. The fast-paced and gag-filled finale is one of Lloyd's best.Last film viewed: Girl Shy (1924). Last film chronologically: The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Next film viewed: For Heaven's Sake (1926). Next film chronologically: The Big Parade (1925).The Movie Odyssey is an exhaustive, chronological project where we watch as many milestone films as possible, starting with D.W. Griffith's Intolerance in 1916 and working our way through, year by year, one film at a time. We also write a short review for each film before we watch the next, never reading the other's review before we finish our own. In this project, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the time period, the films of the era, and each film in context, while at the same time just watching a lot of great movies, most of which we never would have watched otherwise.