SnoopyStyle Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) has always dreamed of going to college. He is excited to be a freshman at Tate University. Upon arrival, the upper classmen led by The College Cad prank Harold. He is humiliated until he start imitating his movie hero gaining the nickname Speedy. Unbeknownst to him, The College Cad continues his campaign to make Harold a joke. Everybody starts laughing at him behind his back except Peggy. He tries out for football but is relegated to replace the tackling dummy. Despite that, he is thrilled to be on the team and his never-quit attitude ends up winning the big game.This is Harold Lloyd's on-screen persona at its purest goodness. It is Rudy and Forrest rolled into one. He is wide-eyed and optimistic. He is the underdog and the good guy. He is the movie hero that everybody roots for. I certainly understand why this is his breakout role and his big movie hit. My only concern is the football game. I know rules have changed over the years but there are a lot of things wrong with that game.

Robert J. Maxwell Harold Lloyd, he of the thick round glasses, is a college freshman in 1925, the days of Prohibition, beanies, flappers, the fox trot, and college sweaters with big letters on the chest. It's one of his funnier movies.He's the butt of everyone's jokes from beginning to end, except for the maid of simple taste who loves him. He's mad to be on the varsity football team and the others kid him into believing he's one of them instead of the humble water boy he actually is.Two scenes are especially amusing. The first has Lloyd attending a gala party with newly made evening clothes held together only with basting. This affords him a chance to pull off two hoary but still funny shticks. One is the costume that falls apart piece by piece in public. He pulls it off with a good deal of imagination. His tailor must follow him around at the dance, trying to sew the pieces back on, but the tailor is subject to disabling dizzy spells, forcing Lloyd to search all the men's pockets for a hip flask. I won't describe the rest of the to-do.Another gag at the party involves the hidden hand of someone else extending from the curtain behind Lloyd. I can't even count the number of times this vaudeville bit has been shown on the screen. "I Love Lucy," of course, and "Young Frankenstein." But this is as good as any other example. Lloyd is standing against the curtain, chatting to a co ed, with his right arm slipped back through the separation so the tailor can re-attach a fugitive sleeve. A man comes up and asks to borrow ten dollars. The tailor's hand emerges from the curtain and scratches Lloyd's head while he thinks this over then assents. The fake hand extracts the money from Lloyd's pocket and hands it to the other. The man thanks Lloyd profusely and the fake hand rests on his shoulder while Lloyd's REAL hand extracts the bill from the other guy's pocket and returns it to his own.The second amusing moment comes at the climactic football game with all sorts of shenanigans going on. Does Lloyd the water boy get called in to play? Does he make a lot of foolish errors? Does he finally win the game? No power on earth could get me to tell.Well, I'll mention one example of the silliness. Yes, he's finally called in, and he gallops out onto the field, delivers a furious, uncharacteristic, hapax legomenon of a pep talk, much to the awe of the other players. They assemble. Hike. Lloyd takes the ball and plunges ahead. The other pile on him. As they slowly disperse we see Lloyd flat on his back, his arms outspread, completely unconscious, no football in sight.Lloyd was no Charlie Chaplin. He was probably as good a physical actor but he didn't have Chaplin's genius for either outrageously funny situations, the set ups for them, or Chaplin's sometimes excessive penchant for sentiment. At his most humiliated, Lloyd doesn't look quite as pathetic as Chaplin did.Not to knock Lloyd. He's a fine comedian in his own right, and he put out several riotously funny movies -- this one among them.

MartinHafer I was fortunate enough to have seen this film in the theater many years ago and I can owe it to this film for sparking my life-long love of the old comedies. I only recently saw it again but this time on DVD and found the film to be even better than I remembered.For those used to seeing slapstick shorts (including those of Lloyd), this film is quite different. Instead of the focus of this film being comedy, the humor seems incidental to the story and the character development. Because of this, the first 1/4 of the movie does not have tons of laughs--because it's building and developing the story and not trying to elicit cheap laughs. However, as you watch, the humor increases and because this came as the character developed, you really find yourself hooked into caring for Harold and you are emotionally in-tune with him. So, as the movie continues, you find your heart breaking for the guy (yes, Chaplin was not the only silent comedian to use pathos). And, when the end of the picture arrives, you feel his triumph. An exquisite and highly artistic treasure.PS--I watched the DVD with the optional commentary from Leonard Maltin et al. This REALLY improved my understanding and appreciation for the film. I rarely ever use this option, but as I was re-watching the film and since it was a silent, this option is a major plus.Interestingly enough, Buster Keaton came out with a similar movie just a few years later (COLLEGE). However, it isn't even close to being as good as THE FRESHMAN. I love Keaton, but not this film. If you must seem one silent college picture, see THE FRESHMAN--and maybe the Marx Brothers' HORSE FEATHERS for a much stupider but terribly funny sound take on college life.

pakitosh Perhaps one of the best comedies by Mr. Lloyd. The final football game is just a perfect and unique moment in the silent movies history. I was a child when saw The Freshman for first time. It was my first Lloydian "experience". It was enough to fall in love his comedian style. TRIVIA: In Spain this is one of the most popular Lloyd movie. The Spanish title was "El estudiante novato" (The new student). With this film Mister Lloyd showed he could keep the high level showed on his previous long movies. Without doubt he was on the top. His character in this film, Harold Diddlebock, was used again in 1947 in the last Lloyd's film "The sin of Harold Diddlebock", by Preston Sturgues. In this film, the young student is now a medium age clerk tired of his so boring life...An interesting imagination exercise about the future of The Freshman's main character