Скачать или смотреть The Freshman (1925) | Classic Silent Comedy | Harold Lloyd's Timeless Film

The Freshman is a 1925 American silent comedy film that follows a college freshman's quest for popularity by joining the school's football team. Starring Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Brooks Benedict, and James Anderson, it premiered on September 20 at the B.S. Moss Colony Theater on Broadway. Broderick & Felsen's production of "Campus Capers" served as the opening act for the film's ten-week run. "The Freshman" is one of Lloyd's most successful and enduring films.

Production:
Written by John Grey, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan, and Ted Wilde, the film was directed by Taylor and Fred C. Newmeyer. In 1990, "The Freshman" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance, making it one of the first 50 films to receive this honor.

Plot:
Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd), a naive young man, enrolls at Tate University and meets Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) on the train. Harold believes the best way to gain popularity is to imitate his movie idol, "The College Hero," adopting the nickname "Speedy" and performing a little jig when greeting others. However, the College Cad (Brooks Benedict) makes Harold the butt of an ongoing joke, which he remains unaware of. Despite thinking he is popular, Harold is actually the school's laughingstock. His only true friend is Peggy, his landlady's daughter, described as "the kind of girl your mother must have been."

Harold tries out for the football team, but the unimpressed coach (Pat Harmon) keeps him as the water boy, letting Harold think he made the team. At the annual "Fall Frolic" dance, Harold's poorly stitched suit falls apart, but he impresses everyone by knocking down the College Cad when he is too forward with Peggy. Peggy advises Harold to stop pretending and be himself. Determined to prove himself, Harold eventually gets a chance in the big football game. Despite initial struggles, he scores the winning touchdown, earning the respect and popularity he sought, and Peggy confesses her love for him.

Production Locations:
Train station scenes were filmed on November 12–13, 1924, at the Southern Pacific Railroad depot in Ontario, California. Some scenes were also shot in a park across the street from the depot. Exteriors were filmed near the USC campus in Los Angeles, with the game sequence shot at the Rose Bowl and crowd scenes during halftime at the November 1924 Big Game between UC Berkeley and Stanford at California Memorial Stadium.

Reception:
"The Freshman" is widely considered one of Lloyd's most hilarious and well-constructed films. It was his most successful silent film of the 1920s and sparked a craze for college films that lasted beyond the decade. The football game sequence was reused in Lloyd's last film, "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" (1947). The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in its list of AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs, ranking #79.

Copyright Lawsuits:
In April 1929, American humorist and author H. C. Witwer sued Lloyd for $2,300,000, claiming that "The Freshman" was "pirated" from his short story "The Emancipation of Rodney," first published in 1915. Although Witwer died before the lawsuit was settled, his widow won a judgment against Lloyd in November 1930. However, the ruling was overturned on appeal, and Witwer's widow received nothing.

In 2000, Lloyd's granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd Hayes, sued the Walt Disney Company, alleging that elements of "The Freshman" were copied in the 1998 comedy "The Waterboy." The US District Court in Los Angeles eventually ruled against Hayes.

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