Billy Blazes, Esq.

When Harold Lloyd switched from his Lonesome Luke character to his "Glasses" character in 1917, it was so he could appear in a wider variety of stories. Luke's ill-fitting assortment of clothes -- visually an anti-Charie-Chaplin type-cast in lower-class and bum characters. By adopting his more normal -looking garb, he could offer more situations.

For a while, he did not. He continued offering the same old gags-in-a-setting film; gags at the beach in BY THE SAD SEA WAVES; gags in a park in TAKE A CHANCE. However, by 1919, he was actually doing stories, and with this one, we see a fine integration of high-speed gag construction and story. Oh, true enough, it's a pure burlesque of western stories, with Harold as the gunslinger, Bebe Daniels as the pretty barmaid who is menaced and Snub Pollard as the sheriff. However, he was ready, and in a few months, he would switch from two-reelers to three-reelers and full stories and take the take the industry by storm.

I thought this film might have been made at the same time as Lloyd's The Eastern Westerner, but apparently the films were made a few years apart. This film is ultra-short, lasting a little over twelve minutes (although perhaps a section is missing). The sets for both films certainly look very similar. Lloyd also performs the same cigarette-rolling trick here (twice) that he used in the later film.

This is pretty frantic stuff. Bebe Daniels plays the daughter of an old boy threatened with eviction by his bullying landlord (although an intertitle suggests he owes eleven years in back rent which suggests he's actually one of the most patient landlords you're ever likely to meet). Daniels is a pretty girl with a saucy smile and sturdy knees, and it's no wonder Lloyd goes out of his way to rescue her. Compared to Lloyd's later output this is pretty primitive stuff, but it still manages to pack a good number of laughs into its brief running time.

Harold Lloyd parodies the William S. Hart stoic Western hero prototype, resulting in an interesting one-reeler rather than an uproarious one; the later and somewhat similar AN EASTERN WESTERNER (1920) is, however, a superior effort because it was fitted to the star's typical formula. Bebe Daniels is once again the heroine/damsel in distress (she made a staggering 146 shorts with Lloyd according to the IMDb - apparently, only a handful of these have survived to make it into New Line's DVD collection devoted to the comic genius!).

Incidentally, I had first come across BILLY BLAZES, ESQ. while in Hollywood late last year on TCM, as part of an all-night Harold Lloyd marathon shown in conjunction with the release of the 7-Disc Set (compiling 28 of his films made between 1919 and 1936). In the end, it easily emerges as the least among 7 of the star's Silent comedy shorts that I've watched up to this point.

Unusual for a Harold Lloyd movie in his July 1919's "Billy Blazes, Esq." The comedian doesn't make his appearance until five minutes into the film. Prior to his marvelous introduction where he adroitly hand wraps a cigarette in one palm in the windy plains, "Billy Blazes, Esq" first introduces the town's cast of characters, establishing the villains as well as the proverbial beauty in distress, Bebe Daniels.

Lloyd's initial roles in cinema when he first arrived in Hollywood was playing extras in Tom Mix westerns. His movements in "Billy Blazes Esq," both on the horse and handling his sidearms, are fluid and natural because of his experiences on the western sets. In Lloyd films, no one ever gets seriously injured or killed. Here, despite thousands of bullets flying and some hitting the keisters of the bad guys, the potentially fatal objects appear to cause a sting rather than a bleeding wound. That was the secret to Lloyd's oeuvre: physicality and danger are to be laughed at, and the greater the potential for injuries, the louder the laughs. And "Billy Blazes Esq." delivers that and more.

It's the mining town of the ironically named Peaceful Vale. Sheriff 'Gun Shy' Gallagher is not that helpful. Crooked Charley is the true ruler of the town. He demands payment from the father and daughter who own the local saloon. He kidnaps the daughter Nell. Billy Blazes (Harold Lloyd) arrives in time to save the day.

It's a 12 minute short. I don't really buy Harold Lloyd for this character. He should be a bumbling peacenik who lucks into winning the fight. He still does some high stunts walking on the roofs. I can't tell if he's doing his own stunt riding. It's fine, but not what I want from Lloyd.