Sunday, March 9, 2014

Silent Sundays: Kid Brother (1927)


The Kid Brother begins with a young girl named Mary Powers (Jobyna Ralston) working for a medicine show. She works with two guys one named Flash and the other Sandoni. The show pulls into the town of Hickoryville Someone tells the troupe that they or any other traveling show cannot perform in town. They now need a  permit per the sheriff’s new rule.
            Harold (Harold Lloyd) lives on a farm with his father and two older brothers. The older men do not let Harold do anything they say every job can only be done by a man and push him to the side and make him do menial house work. One night the father makes Harold stay home alone. To pass the time he puts on his father’s sheriff’s outfit. His “enemy”- a fellow school boy- comes to throw a rock at Harold. The gun on the sheriff’s holster accidentally goes off from Harold’s nervousness and scares the kids away.
            Mary and her show need a permit. They are riding in a carriage outside of Harold’s house and see him in the sheriff’s jacket with the badge on it. Flash manages to get Harold to sign the permit.
            Later on Harold comes across Mary in the woods being chased by Sandoni. Harold tries to be the hero and fight off Sandoni. He does not even realize he fights off the bigger man with a stick that a snake was wrapped around. Harold likes Mary. She talks to him as if he were the sheriff. As she walks away back to the wagon Harold climbs the tree to watch her leave him.
            The father hears about the show. Since Harold signed the permit he makes him go out and stop the show. Of course no one listens to him. Flash gives him a hard time and makes him part of the show and humiliates him. The father and brothers come to the show and see Harold on stage. He is handcuffed and cannot move. The stage catches fire and burns down. The father says to one of the brothers that Harold is as much to blame. Now Mary has nowhere to go. Harold brings her back to the house. The brothers try to hide when Mary brings back to the house because they do not want to be seen in their night clothes. The following morning the brothers think Harold slept out in the barn and Mary slept in a bed downstairs behind a curtain. They do not know that the night before two townsfolk came by to take her because it was not decent for her to stay with all men. The brothers try to be sweet with Mary by bring breakfast until they realize that Harold is the one behind the curtain. Then they chase him around the property.
            The father had been keeping money for a dam that had been raised by the townspeople in a safe at the house. He finds the money is gone and realize that it must have been Flash and Sandoni. The townspeople go after Mary since she was part of the show. Harold tries to defend her and take her away but he gets knocked out and pushed away in a rowboat by his enemy. When he comes to he is by an old abandoned ship down a river. A small monkey that had been with the show throws a paper down to Harold. The paper happens to be the one for the dam with all the signatures of the townspeople. He goes on board the ship and finds Flash and Sandoni with the money. Sandoni kills Flash in a rage of jealousy. The monkey points out Harold. Harold runs all around the ship with Sandoni on his trail.
            Harold eventually outsmarts Sandoni and brings him back into town just in time to tell the townspeople where the money is.

            The Kid Brother was alright. It had its cute and funny moments. I felt the story was dragged out a little bit especially the part where Harold is on the old ship. That did not need to be as long as it was. Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston were adorable together they made a great pair. The Kid Brother, like all of Harold Lloyd’s films, is definitely worth seeing because he was so enjoyable. 

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