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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