Harold Lloyd -- the actor. A look at MOVIE CRAZY (1932)

I have always said that of the Big Three among silent movie comedians --- Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd – that Lloyd was the best actor. Chaplin’s contribution to cinema is enormous, he is a true pioneer of the medium. Buster Keaton advanced the language of film, and his technical achievement and understanding of cinema’s forms is amazing.

But Harold Lloyd was the best actor.

I watched MOVIE CRAZY again -- TCM was showing it during a festival of classic comedy (which is being saluted this month). There are scenes where Lloyd, while being funny, also conveys emotion within the context of the scene that goes beyond being funny and bleeds into a more layered performance.

In MOVIE CRAZY, Harold goes to Hollywood to try his luck in pictures. The conflict has him attracted to two different women, not realizing they are the same woman (at some times she is wearing a wig and using an accent – she is a movie actress, y’see). So he flirts with one persona and is called on it by the other. He becomes a bit paranoid that he is being watched by one while with the other.

Much of Lloyd’s work is physical, so it is difficult to describe with any real accuracy. But in every scene, Lloyd’s performance is very subtle and nuanced while also being outrageous and funny. He balances the character while adding more depth and substance to the role. And he does this very naturally. His small town boy character is forever bewildered by the world he has chosen to investigate, but he somehow is also able to maintain a certain control over his situation. When he believes he has lost “both” women, he is understanding and engages in self-healing. He does not lapse into pathos or sentiment like Chaplin, nor does he offer Keaton’s cynicism. He is Harold Lloyd, the greater actor, playing a role. When he realizes the women are one and the same, his reaction is priceless.

MOVIE CRAZY is noted for a scene in which Harold, at a fancy party, accidentally dons a magician’s coat, and, on a crowded dance floor, the various tricks come flying out. Birds, rabbits, mice, and other such thing emerge from the pockets. This scene is particularly notable, not only because it is so funny and well staged, but because it was lifted by the film’s director, Clyde Bruckman, and given to The Three Stooges around ten years later (Lloyd sued in court and won). Curly performs the same scene in LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD (1942). Curly’s approach is entirely different than Lloyd’s, and also very funny. While Curly is more bombastic, Lloyd is instead maintaining the bewildered innocence of his character. He remains as much an actor as he is a comedian, which is especially evident when comparing his approach to the same scene with Curly’s.

Harold Lloyd was a master at playing a character who maintained the serious portion of a film’s narrative while also continuing to be consistently funny throughout. And because comedians are so rarely lauded for their acting, to state that Harold Lloyd is the greatest actor of all the main comedians is offering a level of respect that is well deserved and too rarely bestowed.