Excellent film with a gripping story!

Admirable film.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Lloyd is the neglected younger brother of a rough country family. His foolish antics result in a suspect medicine show staying in town, who are then believed to have stolen money. To impress a girl, Lloyd must save the day.'The Kid Brother' follows the exact same story template as his earlier film 'Grandma's Boy'. It is also his most Keaton like effort. There are Western family feud elements that recall 'Our Hospitality' (1923) (including the famous shot of an animal disguised as a lady in a dress), haunted ship elements that recall 'The Navigator' (1924), as well as inventive mechanical humour, which recalls much of Keaton's work. So it is entertaining enough with a few chuckles, but not very original, and none of it matches the work of the master he is imitating. I would seek that out instead.

Monday May 21, 7:00pm, The Paramount TheaterProduced in what collectively became the greatest year of the silent era, Harold Lloyd considered The Kid Brother (1927) to be lacking sufficient action and humor. In reality, his tenth of eleven silent features was the synthesis of all his acquired talents. It was Lloyd's greatest success in blending his trademark gags with well-developed characters, and a thoughtful, engaging story. The story of an introspective and bullied younger son who surprises everyone with his true strength, suggests numerous popular sources, including, Hal Roach produced The White Sheep (1924), Henry King's Tol'able David (1921), and to some degree even Cinderella. Young Harold Hickory lives in a motherless home with his father, the town sheriff, and two terrorizing older brothers. The bucolic country setting recalls Grandma's Boy (1922), but is far more beautifully realized. To survive the dominance of his larger and stronger brothers, a multitude of gags cleverly demonstrate Harold's mental superiority over them as the films greatest source of humor. When a travelling medicine show rolls into town, Harold and Mary (Jobyna Ralston in her final appearance with Lloyd), the pretty daughter of the deceased owner, share an instant attraction, and a fear of the two thugs who have taken over the show. Constantine Romanoff as the murderous strong man is nearly as frightening in this comedy as the villain of Tolerable David, Ernest Torrance. Harold's hometown rival Hank Hooper (Ralph Yearsley, who also starred in Tol'able David) is larger, stronger, appropriately oafish, and the perfect foil for several amusing confrontations. Hiding aboard an abandoned ship in the final reel, Harold puts a pair of shoes on the medicine show monkey to draw the strong man away. The monkey waddles up the stairs and on deck, with the strong man in pursuit. The Kid Brother is a seamless, well-balanced combination of humor, romance and peril. It is atypically coordinated Lloyd. The pleasantly sentimental story is complimented by excellent casting and production design. What Lloyd saw as insufficient humor was actually a lighter treatment, increasingly reliant and more fully demonstrating his acting abilities (something many comics lacked) in what is without question his best work.

037: The Kid Brother (1927) - released 1/22/1927, viewed 2/16/06 BIRTHS: Eartha Kitt.DOUG: I was quite surprised that I hadn't already heard of The Kid Brother, since it turned out to be my favorite Lloyd film. Turns out it was also Lloyd's favorite, not to mention the last with the lovely Jobyna Ralston, who would go on to star in Wings (which still isn't out on DVD! Grrr!). I'm going to miss her in Speedy. I noticed that between The Circus and The Cameraman, this film completes a kind of Silent Film Masters Monkey Trilogy, pairing Lloyd with a bothersome but resourceful capuchin in the climax. Lloyd's trademark go-getter attitude is never more evident than in this film, where his character really does have something to prove. It's quite heartbreaking when his father refuses to let him help find the bandits, telling him, "It could be dangerous," not realizing that the resourceful Harold will probably be more helpful than both Leo and Olin combined. Harold's journey to prove himself becomes quite compelling, and his relationship with Mary (Ralston) is that much more romantic for it. In several scenes, he manages to outsmart his gigantic stupid brothers by using his wits and ingenuity, while also warming up to Mary while the brothers run and hide. Those scenes show just a few of the film's many lengthy gag-filled set pieces, as the film is loaded to the brim with spectacular gags. The climactic ship sequence must be at least 20 minutes long, as Harold and the villain (who has already murdered his own partner) battle each other over every inch of the ship.KEVIN: Many silent comedies include some sort of mistaken identity. From Keaton's The General to Lloyd's own Safety Last, there is often some variation of a nobody being mistaken for a somebody. And so it is here with our penultimate Harold Lloyd silent comedy, where Lloyd plays the black sheep in a family of prominent lawmen, until Mary (Ms. Ralston one last time) mistakes him for the real sheriff. Similar to The Freshman, Mary becomes supportive of Harold midway through the film, and it's through her support that he finds the courage to get back the stolen money when the town arrests his father for losing it. The extended scene on the boat is an effective mix of comedy and suspense, as the bag of stolen cash changes hands from Harold, the malicious robber, and a monkey. (So now Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd have all done comedy scenes featuring monkeys.) I laughed every time Harold outwits the robber, and at the same time I was scared for him because we just saw the robber murder his partner over the money, which makes Harold seem even more heroic when he finally wins out.Last film viewed: For Heaven's Sake (1926). Last film chronologically: Metropolis (1927). Next film viewed: Speedy (1928). Next film chronologically: The General (1927).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 and every film. 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.

What a disappointment! Compared with SAFETY LAST or the witty and charming GIRL SHY, this is a retreat to the crude slapstick of the one-reelers.The last episode of GIRL SHY was so good it was copied decades later in the GRADUATE, but there is nothing worth copying here. The old gag about hiding behind the body of a horse is recycled, and the washing up routines are lifted from Keaton's THE NAVIGATOR. Neither are there any magic moments here such as the Shakespearean bust of Lloyd in GIRL SHY.Most reviewers give this 4 stars - just goes to show they don't know their job.