Harold Lloyd, the master of comedy who was as famous as Chaplin in the 1920s and 1930s. They almost have the same fate, starting from the heartiness of silent film, but losing from the stretched out of sound film. In fact, it is due to the habit of the audience, and the preconceived stereotype is a soft kill to them. In fact, judging from the audio films he later shot, he made the same effort as funny, but the dialogue in it weakened their appeal and explosive power. The audience felt that they were out of date. Picky people are more willing to watch James Cagney's film noir.
It is often said that time is merciless. Nearly a hundred years later, Harold's films have attracted more and more people's interest. Many filmmakers in the world focus on the study of his comedy career in order to discover the extraordinary qualities of this creative master. "Grandma's Grandson" (1920), "Why troubles" (1923), and "For God's sake" (1926), now seems to be the pinnacle of insurmountable comedies. He has participated and performed in more than 150 movies throughout his life.
All the films he starred in were all about adventure. He is using his life as a bet, using his curious creativity and superb performance to make the audience laugh. The little man he plays is always worthless, but he has to fail and fight again and again, and become more and more courageous. This is the most explosive embodiment in "The Last Safety" (1923) starring him. Originally cowardly, he was chased by the police one after another because of climbing up his friend Billy. Harold had to bite the bullet and follow him to the 12-story high-rise buildings. This kind of fearful shock, it seems to this day. It's incredible.
Later, he said that even though the scene was set on the streets of Los Angeles, he never used a stand-in and always challenged the limit of his life. Even after he later became the richest actor in Hollywood, he still loves adventure. In 1970, when he recalled this experience, he said, "I just keep moving forward with uncompromising determination." Later, his finger was blown off during the filming process, and people thought he would never again. Take a risk. A year later, he embarked on an even bigger adventure, and successively filmed "Fast" (1928) and "The Truth Is Difficult to Tell" (1929), both of which were chasing and running. Among them, the protagonist of "The Truth Is Hard to Tell" is rushing to the church where the beloved girl is holding the wedding. This scene reminds us of "The Graduate" 40 years later, Dustin Hoffman's anxiety all the way. It's the same.
In fact, Harold grew up in a superior merchant family in Nebraska. When he was young, he behaved differently from other children. He loves to tease people, refuses to admit defeat, has too many horrible ideas, always likes new things, and has a strong fighting spirit. This is a common feature that a successful person has since childhood. What's interesting is that in 1947, ten years after he stopped filming, he was invited by the famous director Preston, who had always admired him, and starred in the last film. After that, his interest turned to microbiological research and painting.
What's rare is that almost every silent film that Harold starred in is a timeless classic. To this end, he himself edited a documentary "Funny World" for himself in 1962. In his later years, he stayed away from the crowd and lived in a green manor in Colorado. He still occupies a lot of his time, listening to music, painting, reading and walking. In 1971, he was diagnosed with cancer. When he learned that treatment only delayed life, he refused treatment and died more than 20 days later at the age of 77.
When we walked on the rush of people on the streets, all the buildings with Big Ben could not help but look up, as if the desperate Harold was still hanging there in exclamation, whether it was a pigeon, a mouse, or a net rope. Unable to stop him, he has to climb upwards, and he has to give his beloved an eternal stability. This is the courage to make a promise. After all the hardships, he finally reached the top, and he hugged his beloved Mildred tightly. His triumphant smile was a comical joke that British Bean only had more than seventy years later.
2013, 8, 30
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