Anyone else hear of this movie while playing the game Beyond Balderdash? In the game there are five categories; words, movies, dates, initials and people, none of which the average, and even the most ecclectic, person has ever heard of. this is one of the movies in the game. just thought itd be interesting to see if anyone else heard of this one via balderdash
Me too, for the second time. I have a fairly good copy of it on DVD, so was surprised when the Turner Classics version turned out to be muddy, smudgy and all the things you don't want in an "old" movie (and this one wasn't really old!).
That aside, I was interested in how "talky" this movie is, and how Harold does his level best to keep up with it. Snappy patter was never his forte, and you could almost see him chafing at the bit to do his usual "business" (comic bits of which he was the unrivalled master).
It's depressing, and not funny, that Harold Lamb (Diddlebock - they even took his name away!) ended up having such a dreary, depressing life: it took all the glory out of The Freshman. I'm surprised Lloyd allowed this, but maybe it shows the desperation of his last-ditch effort. The description of him as wrinkled and grey is not true, however. He's 50, and looks very good indeed, with that matinee-idol jawline that makes for lasting looks. He even convincingly splices together the final scene from The Freshman with a scene shot some twenty years later! Not many guys could accomplish that.
A lot of the dialogue in this curiosity is really lame, too glib, not very funny. The sounds Harold makes in the bar are excruciating, as if someone has stepped on his testicles. He never did have a great voice for movies, but in this one it has dropped half a shade, and the Nebraskan twang (as in the infamous line in Movie Crazy, "The stock market CRAYYYYYSHED!") is less in evidence. In fact, this time I felt like he'd studied his speech somewhat, maybe going back to his early training as an actor, in order to survive the fast and not-very-funny dialogue. It seemed the less funny the lines were, the faster everyone spoke.
Can't blame him for wanting to go back to OHHHHHH-ma-hawwwww.
... they even rehash the window ledge scene from Safety Last...that bit goes on waaaaay too long. should have given M Hamilton & F Pangborn bigger parts. i'll have to see the other version to see how it stacks up. /ksf-2
Actually Lloyd had gone into retirement by then and didn't want to do the movie. It took lots of convincing by writer/director Preston Sturges to bring him back to the world of movies.
Then the original version was heavily edited by Howard Hughes. Sturges claimed the best parts were omitted.
I'm not at all sure which version is on the DVD, or how to tell. Anyone know?
i got to watch most of this movie,, turns out i got a defective disc at wal mart and the movie wouldn't play all the way through , i got to 16 mins. left, when they were up on the roof with the lion,, can u tell me how it ends. are you going to bark all day little doggie,, or are you going to bite