The Kid Brother (1927)

Directed by Ted Wilde & Lewis Milestone. Starring Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Walter James, Leo Willis, Olin Francis, Eddie Boland, Constantine Romanoff, Ralph Yearsley, Frank Lanning, Mabel Shoulters.

Funnyman Lloyd again essays a runt-of-the-litter hero in this story of a small town sheriff’s weakest progeny falling for a traveling medicine show dancer (Ralston) and coming to his beleaguered father’s rescue after the sheriff is wrongfully accused of theft. A meatier story and more pathos than one expects from a Lloyd comedy, but that comes at a cost—fewer gags (and far fewer stunts). The star’s final pairing with Ralston has the most heart, and the way he deals with his enemies is repeatedly entertaining. Good camerawork and a high ratio of hits-to-misses in the joke department; some pacing issues and a shortage of big laughs keeps it from the peak of Lloyd’s feature-length output, but it’s still a must for silent comedy aficionados. J. A. Howe and Lloyd both assisted with directing duties, but the latter went uncredited, same as Milestone; several different writers worked on the screenplay, but only Howard J. Green was given credit.

76/100