THE FRESHMAN
starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
PICTURE PLAY
October, 1925
There isn't much use saying anything about this new picture of Harold Lloyd's, "The Freshman." Almost every one of his pictures is ushered in with the comment, "better than the last," and it is almost always true.
This time he is a poor but ambitious football player and a hero by accident. If football could be made as funny as he makes it, it would be the world's favorite sport, and they would play it on a stage. The football game, which is the climax of the picture, made a preview audience of New Jersey exhibitors cheer themselves hoarse.
Not having that sort of mind, I won't tell the jokes and spoil them for every one. It won't hurt much to say that the picture is just over the line, and the line is firmly embedded on Harold Lloyd's face. He gets the job.
Even if you play indoor tennis, you will like this picture. What more can I say?
THE FRESHMAN
Starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
PHOTOPLAY
September, 1925
It's the finest picture that Harold Lloyd has made because, like "Grandma's Boy," it is more than just a series of gags. The gags are there, of course, and some of them are the funniest that Lloyd has ever presented; but there is a spirit back of the picture that makes it something greater than just an extraordinarily funny comedy.
As you know, it is the story of a boy who goes to college. He's the greenest freshman of them all and got all his ideas of college life from the movies. He wants to be the most popular man in college and so he gets so collegiate that he is the joke of the place. The institution is just one of those "big stadiums with a college attached," so he goes in for football. In the scenes of the football practice and in the game itself, Lloyd surpasses himself. The climax of the picture -- the big game of the year -- is an achievement in picture making. Not only is it overwhelmingly funny, but it has all the excitement of a real game.
The scene in which Harold is thrown out of the line and lands just at the moment to catch a twenty-yard forward pass will always remain one of the Big Moments of this reviewer's life.
The comedy gains a lot by having its quiet moments; some of
them border on pathos. All of them are human. Nevertheless, Lloyd
has never done better farce comedy than the incident of the dress
suit that has been only hurriedly basted together in time for
the party. Countless other comedians have lost their clothes,
but none of them has been so subtly and insidiously shorn of his
covering. Lloyd can do this sort of thing in such a way as to
make even a censor laugh. And what greater praise can
THE FRESHMAN
Starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
September 1925
This seems to me to be Harold Lloyd's best effort. It is not so hilarious as "Why Worry" or so excitingly funny as "Safety last." Of the more leisurely character comedy type of "Grandma's Boy" is this study of the country boy who goes to college with collegiate ideas acquired at the movies. His brash efforts fall flat - and he becomes the goat of the campus. Harold Lamb goes blythely along being the college boob until he finally comes face to face with the truth. But Harold, who has attached himself to the football squad with the idea that he may make the team, finally gets a chance in the big game - and wins it for his alma mater.
The football game is the funniest episode that Lloyd has ever given the screen. It touches a high-water mark of film farce. There are other splendid comedy sequences: of Harold's first appearance at college and of his dire difficulties at a dance in a new tuxedo which hasn't been completely sewed by his overworked tailor.
Lloyd is superb in "The Freshman." Here he isn't just a comedian. there is a depth of characterization and even pathos. Again Jobyna Ralston is a splendid foil. Miss Ralston is a young player with unusual dramatic possibilities.
THE FRESHMAN
Starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE
October 1925
Carrying human interest, sentiment, sympathy and unbounded humor, Harold Lloyd's newest comedy is without question his most successful effort to date. We've never seen a funnier picture than this take-off of college life. It proceeds by building up its plot, and then it swings into its humor. Some of the gags are old, but Harold treats them in a new way. He makes the football do everything but talk. Everyone is going to have a good time when this comedy gem comes to town. The party scene where Harold wears a basted tuxedo is the highlight.