Harold Lloyd

A look at the life and work of Charlie Chaplin in his own words featuring an in-depth interview he gave to Life magazine in 1966.

The story of Swedish silent film actress Sigrid Holmquist's life (1899-1970), by using the silent film medium. It consists of already existing film clips from the 1910s and 20s. Sigrid is played by eight different stars from her era, and she also plays herself. Sigrid Holmquist was born in Borås, Sweden and her stubborn spirit led her to become a movie star in Scandinavia and Hollywood before retiring from the movies in 1926. An experimental film project.

Harold Lloyd was one of the great comic stars of the cinema, a genius on a par with Chaplin and Keaton. Born in Burchard, Nebraska, on April 20, 1893 Lloyd was acting at an early age with theatrical repertory companies. He made his film debut as an extra in a 1913 one-reel film for the Edison Film Company. He became friends with another extra, Hal Roach, and when Roach formed his own film company, he invited Lloyd to join him. Lloyd found the idea that was to become his trademark, and change him from a good comedian to a major star: the glasses. Lloyd persuaded Roach and his distributor to abandon Lonesome Luke and in 1917 Lloyd shed grotesque comedy clothes and characterizations for a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. In doing so, Lloyd created an American archetype, an optimistic and determined go-getter sporting spectacles and a toothy smile.

Annette Lloyd shows us various locations of Harold Lloyd's movies as they are today, and how they were during the time of filming.

Harold Lloyd (Safety Last) demonstrates why he is ranked alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as slapstick cinema's preeminent funnymen. Lloyd is most famous for his aerial acrobatics, dangling from skyscrapers in High and Dizzy and Never Weaken. But his legendary status was earned mostly on the ground, where he crafted the persona of an endearing Everyman, whose pluck and determination rescue him from life's ordinary (and often extraordinary) pitfalls. Whether portraying a pampered socialite (Captain Kidd's Kids), a lowly bellhop (Ring Up the Curtain), Lloyd pursues romance and prosperity at a dizzying pace. His unwavering confidence and optimism - combined with his remarkable speed, agility and impeccable comic timing - made him one of the most beloved figures of the silent era.

Leonard Maltin interviews Harold Lloyd's relatives.

Legendary slapstick comedian Harold Lloyd made audiences roar as a bespectacled everyman who managed to wriggle himself out of many a perilous situation, all the while trying to get the girl. Lloyd's fearless acrobatic skills and agility put him on par with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Watch a true master of physical comedy in this collection of seven Lloyd silent films (many co-starring his wife, Mildred Davis) from the Hal Roach Studios.

The story of the short film from the beginning of the movies in the 1890s, when all movies were shorts, through the 1950s when short subjects virtually disappeared from theaters.

A film about the career and methods of the master silent comedy filmmaker.

Glenn Ford narrates this hilarious look back at the greatest comedians in movie history.