Product Description

This Harold Lloyd classic was his great breakthrough film, placing him in the top rank of screen comedians. Harold is a shy, awkward youth who discovers a magical talisman that brings him strength and confidence... or does it? Grandma teaches him that what he needs has been within him all along, and encourages him to prove himself in a courageous battle that makes for a dazzling comic climax. A rare one-reel Lloyd comedy, Somewhere in Turkey (1918), is also presented on this video, and both films feature original organ scores by Bob Vaughn.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57246 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-09-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, Full length, Silent, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 61 minutes

Amazon.com
Grandma's Boy features silent comedian Harold Lloyd as a timid wallflower who pines for a lovely girl (Mildred Davis), but whose competition is the town bully. When a manhunt for a murderous tramp causes Lloyd to run home in fear, his wise and kindly grandmother concocts a tale about his grandfather, a similarly cowardly Confederate soldier who was given a magic talisman that made him unbeatable in a fight. With this heirloom talisman in hand, Lloyd sets out after the tramp, pursuing him in a classic chase sequence. Lloyd's movies often seem to take a long time setting themselves up, but that's because they're more character-based than those of his contemporaries, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, who had personas that they sustained from movie to movie; Lloyd is less iconic. Though he always has his trademark spectacles and straw hat, his characters vary significantly in temperament and so need time to establish their particular qualities. By the end of each film, the emotional payoff of Lloyd's success is richly gratifying. (Also included on this video is the early short "Somewhere in Turkey," a mildly racist trifle notable for its amusingly cheap production values and live camel.) --Bret Fetzer

Picture Play, May 1922
"There are several comedy bits in it which are screamingly funny-as good as anything of their kind. Lloyd himself is uproariously funny as usual, and he is assisted by that perky and vigorous soul, Anna Townsend, as Grandma."

Customer Reviews

Too few Harold Lloyd Films!!!!!!!!!
Nobody should deny us the privilage of these classic Harold Lloyd Comedies:

-Safety Last -The Freshman -The Kid Brother -Speedy

And much more, PLEASE release them in respectable editions, and if at all possible, CRITERION please take note!

Keaton fan taken in by Lloyd
I was fortunate enough to see the Harold Lloyd short NEVER WEAKEN during a Paragon Ragtime Orchestra production in Pittsburgh. This was my first experience with this electrifying performer. Anyone who has seen this short will understand when I say that I raced home to order ANY of his movies that I could find. GRANDMA'S BOY was the first one I came upon, and I clicked the "Buy" button without hesitation. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was more than a little shocked the first time through this film. Compared to the frantic, hilarious NEVER WEAKEN, well, it's just so different! But it didn't take me long to determine that it was different in a great way. There is much more character development in this feature length film, but it's paced so well that it never drags. Clever gags are placed all through the film to keep anyone's attention. And, unlike most of Chaplin's and Keaton's works, the girl gets her share of portraying the hilarity. Mildred's "I Love You" song is one of the movie's fantastic highlights. Just that big ol' bow in her hair is enough to give me the giggles. Even the title cards are used for a laugh, not just for the words they contain -- although that's funny too -- but for how they're constructed on the screen.

Now, for those of you silent comedy fans who are accustomed to Kino's Keaton releases, or Chaplin's Centennial Collection, you are not going to get that kind of preserved quality print here, or in most any Harold Lloyd VHS available today; which is a grotesque, horrible shame. There are scratches all through the film, not all the words on the title cards fit in the screen, and sometimes the contrast is so bad as to ruin certain gags. (What was it that granny put on Harold's shoes that attracted the cats? First word was "goose", so I'm guessing liver ??) Even with thses flaws in the video print itself, I would've paid twice the amount for this movie. It's as endearing as any of the Little Tramp's melodrama-comedies, without all the syrupy sweetness; and the gags are just as exciting as most any of Keaton's, with a slightly off-kilter ending to boot.

Now, can we get ANY edition of THE FRESHMAN??

Wonderful, Charming, Funny--LLOYD IS INCOMPRABLE!
Grandma's Boy is a gorgeous movie that helps to place Harold Lloyd among the great silent geniuses of our time. Ingeniously entwining entertaining gags with warm character development, Grandma's Boy is truly one of Lloyd's greatest achievments as an actor and innovator.

Unlike Lloyd's previous short subjects and first full-length feature, (1921's A Sailor-Made Man) Grandma's Boy contains a truly moving story and a main character to which we all can relate--a concept that has endeared Harold Lloyd into the hearts of all his fans.

If you enjoy the characterization of Harold in Grandma's Boy, I also strongly recommend my personal favorite Lloyd film Girl Shy, released in 1924. 1925's The Freshman and 1927's The Kid Brother are also wonderful character comedies. However, if you are strictly a lover of hilarious gags, 1923's Saftey Last! is absolutley fantastic.

If there is one downfall to Grandma's Boy, it is related not to the film itself, but to the organ score that accompanies it. Music does so much to create the mood in any movie, silent or talkie, and the ghastly sounds of an organ just don't do the trick.

However, do not let anything discourage you--See the film that Charlie Chaplin christened: " One of the best-constructed screenplays I have ever seen".