Tthe identifying image of silent film star Harold Lloyd is from Safety Last, of the actor dangling high above the street from the hands of a giant clock. It is a fitting image for a comedian whose films relied on the timing and execution of gags more than on outrageous personality. While contemporaries like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton could make the audience laugh with a glance, Lloyd's everyman man was more of a blank slate. The beauty of his films (and they were his, with directors of his choosing whose role was merely to sustain his vision) is the complex set-up and execution of the joke. It's even been suggested his films were so well constructed anyone could have played the lead and they'd be just as funny; imagine such a comment about City Lights, or Sherlock, Jr!
Experience his mastery firsthand in August and September when Cornell Cinema will show two of Lloyd's best films, each with live music. On August 25, see The Freshman (1925), with an improvised score by renowned piano accompanist Dr. Philip Carli. "In The Freshman, Harold is a nerd who wants more than anything else to be popular. That's all. He eventually succeeds by winning the school's big football game. This he does in a series of gags so beautifully timed and choreographed, and so disconnected from character, that the comedy appears to be surreal, if only because there is absolutely no subtext."(Vincent Canby, NY Times)
Then on September 11, catch The Kid Brother (1927), where Lloyd plays a weakling who has always lived in the shadow of his father the sheriff and his two strapping older brothers, housekeeping for them with hilarious ingenuity. He can only dream of heroism until he must find the strength to save his family after they are accused of theft. Lloyd considered this his best film.
A newly restored and tinted 35mm print of The Kid Brother will be screened, accompanied by the Colorado-based Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra (mont-alto.com), a five-piece ensemble headed by Rodney Sauer. "Mr. Sauer specializes in compiling scores from the authentic photoplay music of the period, drawing on the work of neglected composers like Gaston Borch and J. S. Zamecnik; the results are often breathtakingly beautiful and always in the strict service of the film on the screen." (Dave Kehr, NY Times) This same program was a highlight of the recent San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
The screenings are cosponsored with the Dept. of Music and the Ithaca Motion Picture Project.