Week Three: The Freshman (1925)

September 05, 2018

Week Three: The Freshman (1925)

Director: Fred C. Newmayer and Sam Taylor

Producer: Harold Lloyd

Writers: John Grey, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan, Ted Wilde

Cinematographer: Walter Lundin

Music: Harold Berg

Starring: Harold Lloyd (Harold Lamb aka “Speedy” aka “The Freshman”), Jobyna Ralston (Peggy), Brooks Benedict (The College Cad), James Anderson (The College Hero), Hazel Keener (The College Belle), Joseph Harrington (The College Tailor), Pat Harmon (The Football Coach)

You can watch The Freshman from completely free on YouTube

Before You Watch the Movie
(First make sure you have read the introduction to this series)

Along with Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd was one of the three most popular and influential comedians to come out of the silent era. Whereas Keaton’s stoicism meshed perfectly with his brand of physical comedy, Lloyd’s more expressive face brought comedy out of the ridiculous situations in a different but not less effective way. Keaton is funny because of his lack of reaction while Lloyd is funny because of the faces he makes be they of shock, embarrassment, or relief. The character that Lloyd portrayed in almost all of his dozens of pictures made from 1917 to the end of his career was his “Glasses” character, also known as The Boy. The Boy was a perfect encapsulation of America in the prosperous twenties: an earnest, happy-go-lucky character setting out looking to make his way in the world. Optimism in America was at an all-time high post-World War I and pre-Great Depression, and The Boy was the sort of go-getter that would thrive in such times; even though Lloyd’s characters are never the coolest, strongest, or toughest but they get by with cheerful determination and the blind luck that always seems to bless both comedy heroes and optimists.

Though Buster Keaton is known as the stunt master, Lloyd himself was no slouch in this area, often inserting dangerous gags in his movies, most famously hanging from a giant clock in the classic Safety Last! (1923) but also with the numerous high speed chases that pepper his films. For The Freshman, however, Lloyd would focus more on the type of social humor that would become very important to comedies from the thirties on to today.

In addition to being a great comedian, Harold Lloyd was also a wise businessman who held on to the rights of his films and made sure they were stored safely. Due to this foresight, a wide majority of Lloyd’s films are widely available and very well preserved. Unlike Keaton, Lloyd also made a successful transition to sound pictures in the thirties, however, it is his silent films that are the pinnacle of his career.

Once again, you can watch The Freshman for absolutely free on YouTube
You can also stream it on Amazon

After You Watch the Movie (Spoilers Below)

Harold Lamb is typical of a Lloyd character in that he isn’t as hip as he thinks but has a big heart and an irrepressible goodnatured spirit.

Throughout the movie, we see the struggle between who Harold is and what he wants to be. Though he longs to be The College Hero aka Speedy (even going so far as seeing the movie six times and taking notes) but the real Harold is the Freshman, a socially awkward young man being thrust into a very social situation at Tate College, where predatory bullies such as the College Cad are ever seeking his humiliation.

The kind of cool Harold as he aspires to be...

...versus Harold as he really is: uncool.

Silent comedies are anything but subtle and naming characters such as the College Cad, Hero, and Belle make their roles completely clear from the jump. The Cad, in particular, is an important archetype that is used often in social comedies, particularly those revolving around the new kid at a high school or college. He is a cruel antagonist that initially appears to the protagonist but is secretly working behind his back and is eventually revealed to be, well, a cad.

The College Cad is an archetypical school villain, appearing friendly at first but actually with bad intentions

Due to the machinations of the Cad, Harold is put in a number of awkward situations, seen early in the story during the scene in which our hero finds himself on stage in front of the entire assembled school. This comedy routine continues to develop, adding in a number of props and physical stunts, in a classic example of comedic escalation. Just when it seems like it can’t get any worse for Harold, something new happens to top the last misfortune. Humor based on awkward situations, a laugh mixed with a cringe, needs to have a balance between the joke and the character at the center. If the character isn’t sympathetic, the laughter becomes bitter; we have to be rooting for him even as we find enjoyment in his comedic misfortune. Harold never loses the audience’s support and sympathy, (even if they laugh at him), and strikes that balance.

The Freshman returns to the escalating socially awkward situation later in the film, outdoing the stage scene with the “Fall Frolic” dance and Harold’s consistently deconstructing tuxedo. The rips and tears start out small but grow steadily until the tuxedo, along with Harold’s dignity, falls apart. The whole sequence is one sustained gag that continues to top itself over and over again, creating a growing swell of humor with each new incident.

We also see jokes based on a misunderstanding, a variety of the informational asymmetry concept. For example, when Harold is standing outside the train, a man tosses a lit match on his sweater. When the man notices, he slaps Harold on the back to put out the fire. Harold misunderstands the situation, thinking that it is, in fact, the humorless Dean of Tate College that has slapped his back. Harold rejoicing that someone has greeted him so vociferously, returns the favor with a smile. However, only when he realizes the truth of the situation does he realize his blunder. The audience knows what has really happened the whole time even when the characters don’t. If either the audience didn’t know about the match or Harold knew about the man on the train, then there would be no joke. Who knows what in a scene is crucial for almost any joke to work.

Another common joke type employed in The Freshman is the fake out. When Harold is the stand-in for the tackling dummy at football practice, he takes a sustained beating and one particularly brutal tackle sends him flying into the remnants of the stuffed tackling dummy. As Harold rights himself, he and the audience see the leg of the dummy sticking out as if it was his own leg bent at a horrible angle. He is in so much pain that for a moment he believes it is his own leg and, though it would seem improbable, the audience believes it for a moment too before the truth is revealed. Fake outs are used quite often in comedy but also in other genres as well, particularly horror. Picture this: a hand slowly reaches out that we are sure is the psycho killer ready to grab our hero, only for it to be revealed as the hand of the main character’s best friend.

The Freshman is without a doubt a brilliant comedy, but that is only half of the Harold Lloyd formula of romantic-comedy. The Boy always has the Girl and their romance is light and sweet. The greatest romantic-comedy director Ernst Lubitsch always paid particular attention how his romantic leads met for the first time. If the way they encounter is memorable, if they “meet-cute”, then the audience will be interested in the romance and on their side from the jump. There can be conflict when they meet or a misunderstanding, but there needs to be something memorable about it. Again, this is something that you can see in almost every single romantic film, comedy or not.

The Freshman goes so far as to give Peggy and Harold two meet-cute moments, marking her importance to the story; indeed she is the only one that sees Harold for the great guy he really is and not just a joke to be mocked behind his back and taken advantage of. She plays a crucial role in Harold’s growth as a character. Only when Peggy excoriates him after his lowest moment at the Fall Frolic does Harold embrace who he really is and become the hero after all.

During the climactic football scene, Harold’s natural spirit and determination (with a dose of luck) saves the day and wins the game for Tate. The real Harold is the hero, not the wannabe “College Hero” Speedy.

After his triumph, Lloyd ends the film striking the note that the whole film prior has: sweet and comedic.

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Week Three: The Freshman (1925)

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