The Freshman. 1925. Directed by Sam Taylor and Fred Newmeyer.

(2/22/00)

This is an innocent and thoroughly delightful comedy. Harold Lloyd is a starry-eyed young fellow who goes off to college, dreaming of popularity. He suffers humiliation but prevails in the end. It is interesting that we never see or hear anything about classes, papers, tests, anything to do with education or studying. College is for playing football and making friends and living it up.

Lloyd has such innocence and enthusiasm that it is impossible not to like him. He gets some of his ideas from movies and practices a little dance that precedes a handshake and borrows a line about being a regular fellow and to call him Speedy.

He gets to college and is not accepted. In fact, he is taken advantage of and humiliated. But he rebounds and turns into a football hero and actually earns the respect and popularity that he wanted. And at the end everybody else is practicing the little dance that goes before the handshake.

It's interesting how pathos is handled in this film. The practical jokers put Lloyd upon a stage where the dean (or president) is expected to appear. After being embarrassed they tell him that he is expected to make a speech or nobody will like him. I did not feel any sadness watching this scene--it was just funny. But later when, after rescuing his girl from another guy who is getting aggressive with her, he is shown what everybody thinks of him. He falls on his knees and sobs. That scene made me feel pain. And it was all carefully controlled.

Lloyd grows up and takes charge of his destiny during the football game. He had been made the water-boy and led to believe that he was a substute because coach who admired his spirit didn't want to hurt his feelings. When he keeps trying to get into the game the coach finally has to tell him that they were just kidding about him being on the team. Lloyd really comes to life here. He tells the coach that he (Lloyd) wasn't kidding--he had worked and practiced for the chance to play and he wanted it. He demands the right to be in the game and it is a really wonderful moment.

But the coach only lets him in the game when he has no other alternative. Lloyd's fighting spirit comes into play and he really wins the game--not through some silly fluke but through sheer force of will. And that's really what should happen.

One could question whether winning the approval of these classmates is really worth it, but that isn't what this film is about. It is about growing up and not accepting defeat. And on those levels it works.

The comedy is wonderful. The best sequence is when Lloyd attends the party he hosts with a suit that isn't quite ready to be worn and which falls apart. The tailor is hiding in the wings, ready to fix it. But then he has a dizzy spell and needs a drink and Lloyd has to go and attempt to pick a flask from someone's pocket. What's so remarkable is how long Lloyd is able to sustain this scene.

Harold Lloyd and The Freshman are both a joy from start to finish.