The Kid Brother (1927)

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Timid and always in the shadow of his older brothers, the youngest son of a sheriff gets a chance to prove his worth when thieves come to town in this Harold Lloyd comedy. As has been noted by others, the basic plot is hardly original, in many ways a rerun of what we have seen before with Lloyd in 'Grandma's Boy'. This is a far funnier motion picture though and the gags always feel like an organic part of the tale and character progression, whereas the earlier Lloyd film is more a series of skits. At 'The Kid Brother''s most amusing, Lloyd's two nightgown-clad brothers try unsuccessfully to hide when he brings a girl home unannounced at night. This subplot becomes even funnier when morning comes round and they keep trying to romance Lloyd's new girlfriend, unaware that she has already left and it is just Lloyd left behind the bed sheets hanging in his quarters. The film is also blessed with some excellent camera-work for the era (a crane shot that travels up a tree), but if there is one aspect that lets the film down, it is an over-reliance on dialogue with the title cards breaking up the intimacy of the action on more than one occasion. Most of 'The Kid Brother' is very good news though, spinning a tight and cohesive narrative a la 'The Freshman'. Lloyd is also as great as one would expect, though a monkey in the final quarter pretty much steals the show.

Chaplin had City Lights. Buster Keaton had The General. Though Safety Last may be more iconic (indeed one of the most iconic movies of all time), I think The Kid Brother (1927) is the best expression of Harold Lloyd's brand of silent comedy: warm, peppy, and breathless in pace.This has to be one of the most tightly constructed movies ever. Other commenters have brought up how every shot, gag, and character is woven into the plot. There is not an extraneous shot in TKB. The gags are also uniformly excellent, not a dud in the bunch. More than his other features, Lloyd and his collaborators balance comedy and drama with seemingly effortless grace. Even when the story has brushes with dark material (ex. lynchings, stalking), it does not feel jarring.The character types who appear again and again in Lloyd's comic universe are here perhaps in their purest form: Jobyna Ralston as the love interest is at her most sweet and charming (in her last appearance opposite Lloyd), Walter James (who appeared as the intimidating father of Buster Keaton's love interest in Battling Butler the year before) is gruff but noble as Lloyd's estranged father, and the villains-- by God, the villains are terrifying here! The climactic chase/fight in the sunken ship succeeds not only due to the great choreography and Lloyd's physicality, but also Constantine Romanoff as the brutish Sardoni. When he throws Harold across the room, you can practically feel the bruises forming before he even lands!TKB also showcases Lloyd not only as a comedian, but as a performer in general. As an actor, he is the polar opposite of the reserved Buster Keaton; not to say Keaton is inexpressive (he was anything but), but Lloyd plays far more extroverted types, go-getters. Some say he mugs, but I think his expressions are among his best traits, a little exaggerated but hilarious. He oozes screen charm, all jaunty youthful energy so perfect for the optimism of the 1920s. Despite being in his thirties when this movie was made, Lloyd could still play eighteen and does it so well, channeling the insecurities that come from feeling you don't measure up to everyone else, trying to find yourself. He plays the emotional scenes well; nothing as powerful as the weeping scene in The Freshman, but still impressive.Overall, this is a masterpiece. Tight, funny, and with a happy ending which may or may not have you crying a little. What else could you want from a comedy?

I'd only seen bits of The Milky Way and The Sin of Harold Diddlebock prior to this, and those don't really count, so it's safe to say that this is the first all-caps HAROLD LLOYD movie I've ever seen. I thought it was interesting how the whole movie felt like it could have been conceived by a slapstick loving version of Joseph Campbell with a daddy complex. It's such a naive and fun take on the hero's journey. I guess today's lovable goof would need to have some vaguely creepy or sexual element a la The 40 Year Old Virgin or something. I say this because I just don't see audiences these days going in for something as innocent and big-hearted as the conceit of trying endlessly to please one's father. It's a weird thing to be sure, especially when tied intrinsically to a romance angle wherein he can only become a man by winning the admiration of a (very gorgeous) lass at the same time as his dad, but that's what kept me invested, I guess. It's almost too personal to just be comedic. It's also got a surprising number of good looking shots. I don't know why gags like tears turning into rain or a pig wearing a bowler hat on its back are so freaking funny and bizarre, either. I also don't know if it is just a century's remove that made the last third a bit tedious, but it didn't ruin the overall film for me and I quite liked getting to see the twerp becoming a dude!

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.