SnoopyStyle Harold Lloyd plays an aimless New York playboy. He's supposed to be studying at the YMCA but instead, he's dancing at the nightclubs. In frustration, his father sends him to his uncle's ranch in the wild, wild west. In the town of Piute Pass, he is taken with a local gal. Her father is being held prisoner by local thug "Tiger Lip" Tompkins. Tompkins owns half the town and leads the Masked Angels.This early Hal Roach short has his best act Lloyd doing his every man. It's not quite a nice innocent guy but he's plenty likeable. The plot is simple. It's a weak easterner trying to make it in the tough old west. There are some simple action stunt sequences. It has good slapstick fun. It is a short which limits any complexity. This is a simple physical comedy.

JoeytheBrit I suppose of the silent comedians Harold Lloyd is my second favourite after Buster Keaton (For me, Chaplin's tramp was too mean-spirited early on to ever be likable, and Chaplin himself never comes across as a particularly likable person). In this two-reel comedy Lloyd plays a frivolous playboy type who is sent out west (and back in time, apparently) when his old man finally tires of his errant ways. Out west, young Harold comes up against all manner of ne'er-do-wells, including the bullying saloon owner who has locked up the father of the young girl Harold has taken a shine to and won't let him out until she, well, lets him in (if you know what I mean).I wonder whether Lloyd was trying to incorporate an element of Keaton's athleticism into his role here. He certainly displays some impressive acrobatics as he tries to elude capture by a band of cut-throats wearing blankets over their heads. This finale is the film's high point, although the level of humour is quite high throughout – and the trick with rolling cigarettes one-handed and producing a lighted match from a cardsharp's waistcoat pocket will probably have you laughing.

Michael_Elliott Eastern Westerner, An (1920) ** (out of 4) A party boy (Harold Lloyd) is sent out west by his parents but once there he encounters a group of masked bandits. I really didn't find this short very entertaining. Not many laughs to be found here.From Hand to Mouth (1920) ** (out of 4) A tramp (Harold Lloyd) meets a young homeless girl and her dog and the three try to get some food. I'm sure this was meant to be a sweet little film but it doesn't come off that way and the lack of laughs make it rather uninteresting.

evanston_dad This charming Harold Lloyd comedy short finds city boy Harold being sent by stern parents to the wild west to work on his uncle's ranch. He never makes it to the ranch -- instead, he gets into all sorts of comedic hijinks in a frontier town, becomes the target of a killer mob of bullies, and wins the hand of a sweet country charmer, all in about 15 minutes! As usual, the visual gags come fast and furious, and the unflappable Harold carries everything off with utmost panache. Highlights include his impressive lasso routine, and his frantic escape from the gang of thugs, in which he employs just about every trick imaginable to outsmart them.Great fun.