DailyView: Day 291, Movie 409

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and at EYG, we celebrate with some DailyView additions. While looking for football movies that I have not seen before, I came across a film that not only worked as a football movie, but also fit into one of the three remaining years without a movie representing it. 1925 was one of three years that had yet to have a movie in the DailyView, however, that is now over as Harold Lloyd’s silent/comedy The Freshman takes that place.

The Freshman is about a naïve young man Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) who has enrolled at Tate University and wants to be popular. He goes about it in some strange ways, making himself the butt of the upper classmen’s jokes, without his understanding or knowledge.

In his continual efforts to become popular, “Speedy” as he has become known, joined the football team (although he was only there in reality as the waterboy).

There is a sweet relationship with Harold and Peggy (Jobyna Ralston), a woman he met on the train coming to Tate University. This relationship keeps the film grounded, allowing the rest of the comedy to be really slapstick fun.

The are a lot of funny moments throughout the silent feature. Harold Lloyd had an excellent look for this style of comedy and fits into the slapstick and visual humor of the period extremely well.

The music, always important in a silent film, works with the movie though never really stands out. The football scenes were the most effective in the use of the background music.

The Freshman is on HBO Max and it is a fine example of the early days of cinema.