Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews
Among Those Present (1921) - Harold Lloyd
metaldams:
AMONG THOSE PRESENT, like the previous short we discussed, is a three reeler, the second and final one Harold would make. After this there are two two reelers to go before Harold takes a permanent dive into feature length comedy. AMONG THOSE PRESENT has always been one of my favorite Harold shorts, mainly for the extended gag sequence towards the end - but the whole short is quite good. The story of the film involves two people trying to get a socialite to a party as a way in so they can steal some money from the hosts. When the socialite refuses, the man, played by William Gillespie (between Lloyd and Chaplin he’s in a ton of what we’ve been reviewing lately), convinces Harold to pose as the socialite. Comedy ensues.
The reason Harold is asked to pose as the socialite is because Gillespie happens to see Harold do another pose as one. Harold’s introduction starts with him all dressed up, doing these high society poses in a mirror. Harold then starts hitting on a middle aged socialite lady and he seems to be getting far - until a man walks up to Harold and notices Harold is wearing his clothes. When Harold gives back the clothes, it is revealed underneath Harold is wearing a bell boy’s uniform. So yeah a good comic gag leading up to the reveal, sort of like the intro to SAFETY LAST - and COPS, with the bars making it appear the comic is in jail when he’s actually not.
Harold then is at this swanky party, having to tell stories about all these phony hunting expeditions he’s been on. This brings to mind IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE, even down to a title card about a “lyon fight.” Also a great excuse, being a silent, to visualize the stories Harold is telling, leading to some funny nature scenes. Harold wrestling the lion always cracks me up and all the stories are even funnier as Harold is unknowingly being fed shots of alcohol between each one, getting drunker and drunker each time.
The coup de grace begins when Harold has to ride the wild horse to impress Mildred. This leads him into nature, leading to great gags with ducks, skunks, snakes and bulls. Eventually while running away from a bull, Harold’s pants get caught in a barb wire, revealing his boxer shorts. Now anybody who watches enough old comedy shorts know the sight of a comic in boxer shorts make women panic the way a serial killer would today. A sign of changing morals for sure. This extended gag sequence puts the panicking women to a peak as there are several of them as Harold finds all manners of ways to run around and try his best to cover up. Levitating in the air, going behind closed doors that open and he needs to recline again. Ducking and walking like a crab while covering up. The sequence is hysterical and one of my favorites from Harold ever. Never fails to make me laugh.
So Harold does a lot of pretending here, like he would in SAFETY LAST! He wins over Mildred anyway. Some class commentary, an ethnic Irish ending, and a lot of funny comedy in between. Not that there is such a thing as a bad Lloyd two or three reeler, but AMONG THOSE PRESENT is among the best. Again, the boxer short scene seals it for me. Your mileage may vary.
Paul Pain:
I'm going to vote in favor of AMONG THOSE PRESENT, although it is fatally flawed in that the plot is never actually resolved. In this context a "fatal flaw" means something that prevents all-time great status. We never get a resolution to both of the fiendish servants, and we never get an explanation as to why this obviously yoo-hoo family is suddenly rich and in a mansion.
That opening scene perfectly personifies Harold Lloyd. The way it begins with the mirror shot and leads into the reveal of him as a bell boy is for me possibly the funniest moment of the film even though I wouldn't call it the highlight. Everything is done just in a certain way so as to mildly surprise you when you see it's not true.
Harold's tall tales are hilarious indeed and again do a perfect job of slowly building up to a climax with him wrestling the lion. Everything leads to this moment. His first story is fanciful; the second is goofy; and the third is just plain ludicrous, especially when he reads the useless guidebook. That sequence of scenes inside a scene is classic example of Harold Lloyd's ability to extract the best out of a joke.
The highlight has to be when Harold is getting into trouble with all the various animals. That section is so fun of bullish creatures; Harold really dove and snaked his way through, but his boxer's skunked him for sure. Not quite the goat of animal scenes in a comedy, as this one just ducks shy of the mark. Bad puns aside, the humor here really does carry through and mark an appropriate climax in the film.
HomokHarcos:
The mirror scene took me by surprise, the way the mirror showed Harold Lloyd's reflection was pretty cool. I noticed that with his outfit he is also wearing gloves, I know it's supposed to look like a high class outfit he's wearing, but I think in actuality the gloves were to hide his injured hand.
The funniest part of the movie for me was when Harold Lloyd was telling his fake stories about what he captured. Somehow getting a bear in a log, and even funnier, wrestling a lion. It looks so silly I couldn't help but laugh, he was also crawling around like Solid Snake trying to get to that lion, and then there's the guidebook, which makes you wonder why he decided to go to those lengths when telling this story.
Of course, it's always funny and even feels deserves when Harold is put up to the task and has to tame a horse, which should be easy considering his boasts. Instead, his true self is revealed and he makes a complete fool of himself, getting his head smacked on a tree branch and losing his pants. I also thought it was funny how terrified people were by seeing him in his boxers. Him hanging the guy with the rope should seem to be scarier than that. There are also more Solid Snake-like moments here, from hiding inside and under objects, to try to spare the people the terrifying view of seeing his legs.
Umbrella Sam:
Hoping to get to this tonight, but I just had to comment on this:
--- Quote from: HomokHarcos on May 13, 2022, 07:57:07 AM ---It looks so silly I couldn't help but laugh, he was also crawling around like Solid Snake trying to get to that lion, and then there's the guidebook, which makes you wonder why he decided to go to those lengths when telling this story.
--- End quote ---
Now all I can think of is why isn’t Harold Lloyd a Super Smash Bros. character? [pie]
Umbrella Sam:
Really not a lot to add here, as everything was already said and said very well. I agree with Paul about the non-resolved servants plot; it feels like they tried to do something with Harold tying the hook to the guy, but the whole plan to apparently take out the rest of the family never was really addressed, so I guess we’re led to assume the woman failed too? I don’t know; it kind of bothered me, but it’s not as big of a deal in a three-reeler as in a feature. My favorite gag is actually near the beginning, when Harold is pretending to be a high society person only for his real outfit to slowly show itself when he has to give the coat back to its rightful owner. The ridiculous nature of Harold’s stories was fun too, especially when he goes after the fox and starts treating the bear as a hunting dog. I also really liked the gags with the animals during the hunt. There’s some fun acrobatics with Harold trying to get on the horse; I actually kind of wished they would have focused on that a bit more, as I felt they could have gotten some more out of it. The supporting cast is good; Mildred does well as always and I especially like James T. Kelley as the father; you see a nice little progression with him as he standing up for himself at the end, and also builds a nice friendship with Harold’s character throughout. Overall, another fun short despite its admittedly loose plot.
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