The Kid Brother

I kept thinking how he deserves recognition as one of the great silent comedians alongside Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin--especially with his wonderful work in the well-crafted THE KID BROTHER.

The simple plot has him as the youngest and rather nerdy kid brother with his two strapping brothers towering over him as the apple of their father's eyes. Whenver something has to be done, he's left out of the picture while his father assigns his brothers to the task.

But the funniest scenes have to do with him trying to outwit and pull fast tricks on his brothers in a series of sight gags. They're perfectly willing to bully him whenever a show of muscle is involved--particularly when impressing a girl they all have a yen for.

There are too many sight gags to enumerate here and they all involve physical dexterity and timing of the highest order. A particularly demanding set of stunts are performed in the latter half of the story when our hero must board a ghost ship to retrieve money his father has been accused of stealing. The scenes involve a monkey in a sailor suit and a vicious villain out for the kill in keeping hold on stolen money.

All of it is photographed with great style and there's an emotional attachment to the romantic angle involving the girl (JOBYNA RALSTON) so that the hectic comedy is anchored by a story that keeps the comedy on firm ground.

Summing up: A delightful physical comedy, wonderfully photographed and played by an excellent cast, with Lloyd at his all-time best. In my opinion, this one tops SAFETY FIRST.