The Kid Brother (1927)

Country: USA

Released: January 22nd, 1927

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Ted Wilde & J.A. Howe

Produced by: Harold Lloyd

Written by: N/A

Fear not my faithful readers. I'm sorry who am I kidding? My faithful reader. Despite what the poster above may imply The Kid Brother is not some kind of old-timey BDSM, fetish flick (as much as I wish it was), but rather is simply the comedic vehicle through which I imagine Lloyd fired his entire marketing team.

I feel kind of dumb for including Safety Last as a special feature a while back under the assumption that the list was devoid of any of Lloyd's work. I suppose I just didn't notice that The Kid Brother was on the list. This does however raise a poignant question as to the criteria the list uses to choose it's films. I've asked this question before but it never ceases to baffle me. Why is a film like Safety Last, arguably Lloyd's most famous piece, omitted while The Kid Brother, a more obscure film, is chosen to represent one of the greatest comedians of the silent era? Is because of it's influence on film? If so then why are recent flicks like Guardians of the Galaxy and The Theory of Everything (which if my memory serves me was regarded as Oscar-baity drivel) featured on the list? Are films chosen solely for their technique and cinematography? Is that really the best method through which to decide The 1001 Movies You MUST See Before You Die? I suppose we'll never learn the great Lord Schnieder's ways. For now all we can do is have faith in his divine brilliance.

The Kid Brother stars Harold Lloyd as down on his luck, scrappy, puppy-eyed dreamer who tries to woo his love interest while avoiding the machinations of a pair of brutish bullies yadda yadda yadda. Look we've all been here before. This is the most formulaic narrative in the history of comedies and was perfected and promptly run into the ground by the likes of Keaton, Chaplin, and of course Lloyd himself. 

But fine, I guess I might as well give a little more detail for the plot. Just because the setup is generic doesn't mean they can't add a fresh twist. 

Lloyd plays a character named Harold, the youngest of a family of manly masculine men who spend every testosterone spewing hour of their lives being manly, which in turn means being dicks to Harold. Honestly his whole family looks like the result of an amorous affair between Dolph Lundgren and the horse-punching ogre from Blazing Saddles. Anyways after a traveling medicine show arrives to town Lloyd falls for one of their employees, the shy and lovely Mary (Jobyna Ralston). Mary also falls for Harold after he saves her from one of her coworker's attempts to rape her, which they naturally play off as nothing more than creepy and uncouth. Oh oldey times, how you make me feel better about the present. After an accident in which the medicine cart is burned to the ground the nefarious rapist robs the town's funds. Harold's father (Walter James) is blamed for the robbery as he was the sherif in charge of protecting the money, and is sentenced to be hung. Thus Harold is in a race against time to find the fiends and retrieve the money to save his father. Which he obviously does, I mean duh, prompting his family to finally accept him.

So the movie is fun. Yup, it's a fun little flick. Like I mentioned in my Safety Last review that was kind of Lloyd's schtick. He wasn't as groundbreaking as Keaton or as iconic as Chaplin. He made competent films that where and are enjoyable if a little safe. That being said The Kid Brother is noticeably a little more, how can I say this... gritty? I don't know it felt like Lloyd was trying to go for something more adventurous than Safety Last and the result is a more ambitious piece. For example the film's last fifteen minutes is an extended fight sequence between Harold and Rapist (who's name I cannot find, sorry). There are very few gags during this time, particularly around the end where Harold gets the shit beat out of him. I was surprised. I was expecting another clever little escape like one of the many he pulls throughout most of the movie, but instead Harold legitimately is hurt and almost killed in a no holds barred fight with his antagonist that comes off as somewhat dark. Hell Harold straight up tries to drown the guy to death, and to quote Jeff Winger from Community, there's nothing "mad, camp, or whacky about it." 

I need to be clear that I don't mean for any of this to sound negative because I actually really liked the darker tilt. It shows a level of maturity both on the part of Lloyd and on the part of Harold, who has to confront his demons to grow as a character (even if it is along traditional norms of masculinity; fight the patriarchy, soul sister!). It works because surprisingly it doesn't feel like a jarring tonal shift but rather a natural escalation. Also I believe this is the first extended fight sequence I've seen on this list so far, and I got to say I'm impressed by its intricacy. It doesn't fall into a lazy trap of having two guys wail on each other and instead uses props and creative choreography to make the whole thing quite thrilling. In fact the only time two guys slug it out is at the end of the film when a newly confident Harold confronts his former bully. The fight is cleverly obscured by dust and is left to the audience's imagination, thus keeping Harold's more innocent appeal while also offering a nice visual gag.

It's not all perfect though. The middle is slow, and there were a few set-pieces that I just didn't "get." One of these is when Harold brings Mary to his home. His brothers freak out and the next five minutes is a comedic chase wherein they try to avoid being spotted by Mary. At first I was utterly baffled as to why they were panicking until I guessed that it was because they were "indecent." This turned out to be right on the money, but they were wearing long, fairly well-covering nightgowns and there was no indication that those were improper or anything. Chalk it up to a difference in values I suppose. Also when Harold's dad is accused of the robbery I didn't really buy the justification. I mean the whole basis for calling him a thieve and readying him for the gallows was that the money disappeared while he was guarding it. Is that really enough to try to kill the guy who's been honourably keeping the peace for years? 

This is obviously a nitpick but it really took me out of the film.

Also not to go off on a tangent but why aren't comedies set in the past anymore? These days if a movie isn't set in the present or very near past it's either a feel-good movie or historical fiction (i.e. biopic or war film). It's clear from movies like The Kid Brother, Our Hospitality, and The General that it was common to set comedies in the past. Why isn't that still done? Perhaps it's easier in a silent film where comedy isn't built on contemporary dialogue. Then again I guess the 70s and 80s are still fodder for jokes. Ah well, just a thought I had.

Overall I can safely say that I preferred The Kid Brother over Safety Last. Even though it felt like a smaller picture in terms of scale and there's less 'jokes per second' it's more mature. Harold's character feels more sympathetic. Lloyd's always imbued his heroes with some Tom Sawyer-esque mischief. Chaplin and Keaton are innocent albeit clumsy schmucks who have misfortune thrust upon them while Harold is often the cause of his hijinks. While that's certainly present in The Kid Brother it feels less emphasized than in Safety Last, where Lloyd sometimes came across as an asshole and totally deserving of all the trouble he suffered. Here though he manages to play it off like he's responding to an unfortunate environment, which makes for a much more sympathetic and likeable protagonist. So yeah, The Kid Brother is an enjoyable little movie that gave me a few chuckles, check it out.