The little brother (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The little brother or Harold, the unlucky one |
| Original title | The Kid Brother |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1927 |
| length | 84 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Ted Wilde , Lewis Milestone , Harold Lloyd , JA Howe |
| script |
John Gray , Ted Wilde , Thomas J. Crizer , Lex Neal , Howard J. Green |
| production |
Harold Lloyd for The Harold Lloyd Corp. and Paramount Pictures |
| music |
Don Hulette 1974 Carl Davis 1990 |
| camera | Walter Lundin |
| cut | Allen McNeil |
| occupation | |
| |
The Kid Brother (in Germany: Der kleine Bruder or Harold, the unlucky one ) is an American silent film western comedy from 1927 with Harold Lloyd in the lead role. Many critics consider it one of Lloyd's best films.
action
1877 in the rural Wild West: The widowed Sheriff Jim Hickory is the most important person in the town of Hickoryville, which is named after him and his family. Sheriff Hickory and his two eldest sons Leo and Olin are respected far beyond the village, mainly for their great muscle strength and heroism. In contrast, the youngest son Harold Hickory is rather weak and full of fear, so that he is only assigned the tasks of a housewife in the family . Harold can always make do with cunning and intelligence, for example with a self-developed, time-saving method of washing the table or in the chase against the hostile neighbor boy Hank Hooper. Nevertheless, he is not taken seriously by his father and brothers and treated like an immature child.
One day Harold's father and brothers are at a village meeting that is only reserved for the “men” of the place (which excludes him). At the village meeting it is decided that Sheriff Hickory will temporarily keep the money for a planned dam that the village has long been hoping for. In the absence of the father, a traveling medical troupe appears in front of the house, asking for permission to perform. Since Harold had put on his father's clothes and sheriff's badge, wishing to be as strong and important as he was, the members of the show crew mistook him for the right sheriff and urged him to allow the performance. The group includes the oily "Flash" Farrell and the sinister muscle pack Sadoni, but also the beautiful and friendly owner Mary Powers, whose father recently died as the actual owner of the traveling trade.
The next day Harold meets Mary again in the forest and is lucky enough to protect her from the woman lustful Sadoni, making Harold a hero in her eyes. When Sheriff Hickory learns that Harold had given permission to perform in his absence, he orders his son as punishment to break up the show with the sheriff's star. Harold is not taken seriously, however, the event ends in chaos with the destruction of the show car and a disgraced Harold. His two older brothers also want to "punish" Harold with fights for the embarrassment, but he always escapes both. Because Mary now lacks any livelihood because of the burned car, Harold takes more care of her and they both timidly fall in love.
Meanwhile, "Flash" and Sandoni from the showman group - without Mary's knowledge - steal the money entrusted to him for the construction of the dam from the sheriff. Since the sheriff himself is suspected of stealing money by the villagers, the two older sons go in search of the thieves - only Harold should stay at home, since according to his father he is still a "child". When Mary tries to encourage him, Harold is accused of "treason" because he wants to help Mary escape. Put in a wooden barrel by the villagers and thrown into the river, he ends up stranded by an abandoned ship. There "Flash" and Sandoni split up the booty, with "Flash" being eliminated by Sadoni after some quarrels. Harold tries to steal the money from Sandoni, but is discovered and hunted down by Sandoni.
After a long fight, Harold is able to use his cunning to capture the actually physically superior Sandoni with a series of lifebuoys. With the money and Sandoni, Harold returns to Hickoryville. Since his older brothers had found no trace of the actual thieves, the mood in the village is turning against the sheriff, who is mistaken for the thief. The scheming villager Sam Hooper instigates lynching against the sheriff, but Harold barely saves his father's life. Ultimately, Harold can win Mary over as well, both of them taking a walk at the end of the film.
background
The Kid Brother is an homage and at the same time a parody of the successful silent film western Tol'able David (1921) by Henry King , where the young main character - played by Richard Barthelmess - has to take responsibility after the death of his father and the crippling of his brother . Lloyd was known as the then famous and still respected Tol 'able David , who, however, is much more serious in his plot than The Kid Brother . Another common feature of the two films is the involvement of Ralph Yearsley, who appears as an opponent of the main character. In terms of cast, Jobyna Ralston was also the last to star in Lloyd, who had starred as the leading lady in six Lloyd films since 1923 . She continued her career successfully with films such as Wings for a short time before she withdrew from the acting business with the start of talkies. For Lloyd, Ralston was his last steady leading lady after Bebe Daniels and Mildred Davis , and from then on his film partners changed.
The film had four directors: Lewis Milestone started the film, but could not finish it due to contractual difficulties. Subsequently, Ted Wilde - the only one named in the opening credits - took over , who later had to leave the director's post due to an illness and died only two years later at the age of 40. Then Wilde's co-director JA Howe and lead actor and producer Harold Lloyd completed the comedy. The number of screenwriters and gag writers Lloyd employed was even higher. The film was shot in Glendale , Burbank and Altadena , among others , in contrast to today these were still quite rural areas at the time. The ship scenes were created at Catalina Island . With the rural setting of the film, the film stood in contrast to most of the other Lloyd comedies, which mostly took place in the big city.
Originally released without a score, Don Hulette wrote music for The Kid Brother in 1974 and Carl Davis in 1990 . The Davis version is the most widespread and also appears in the restored DVD editions.
Reviews
Harold Lloyd viewed The Kid Brother as his favorite film and screened it on numerous occasions in later years. Although there are other competitors like Safety Last! or The Freshman , many share the view that The Kid Brother is his best film. "Beautifully filmed and professionally directed, The Kid Brother has everything a good silent comedy should have, and is a lasting testament to the brilliance of Harold Lloyd," writes All Movie. Already when it was released, the film received brilliant reviews, the Variety wrote, for example: “Harold Lloyd has again managed to be as gag-rich with The Kid Brother as the gag films he always did. It's just a series of gags, one following the next, some funny, others funnier. "
Web links
- The little brother in the Internet Movie Database (English)