Just Neighbors

Neighbors are a common device in comedy. There's rarely a sitcom that doesn't use its neighbors for humor, and there was even the 1981 Belushi-Aykroyd comedy "Neighbors". As it turns out, the person next door was a comedy device 100 years ago in Harold Lloyd's "Just Neighbors". The plot involves an attempt to build things, impeded by all manner of ineptitude. It's only thirteen minutes, but entertaining enough in that short period. It goes to show that a movie doesn't need words, just a good script. Worth seeing.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Harold Lloyd was at the peak of his career in terms of short films. Chaplin only made two films in this year ('A Day's Pleasure' and 'Sunnyside') which could not hold a candle to Lloyd's fast moving short comedies. The quantity and format worked in Lloyd's favour because audiences were still hungry short silent comedies after Chaplin began to branch off into feature films.

There's nothing fancy in "Just Neighbors", but it's still a funny and fast-paced Harold Lloyd comedy that makes good use of the setting and gets quite a bit of material out of it. The trio of Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, and Snub Pollard work well together, with Pollard getting more action than usual.

The setting has Lloyd and Daniels as the neighbors and friends of Pollard and his wife, but the friendship quickly becomes strained through a series of mishaps involving animals and do-it-yourself projects. The gag ideas are pretty good, and most of them are funny even though they are largely familiar. The cast members all have plenty of energy.

Lloyd's character is neither his earlier 'Lonesome Luke' character, nor his familiar persona from the fine 1920s comedies. Instead, this time he adapts his character to the setting, making him a 'typical' homeowner and neighbor. It works rather well, and while it's not especially noteworthy compared to Lloyd's best movies, it provides good light entertainment.

This was another early Harold Lloyd comedy short featuring his "glasses" character that I watched on the Kino DVD "The Harold Lloyd Collection". His character that I previously watched as a con man in Are Crooks Dishonest? is nice enough here that he picks up a lady's belongings after bumping into her, then gives money to both a Red Cross woman and a female Salvation Army worker. He then tries to reach the teller on time but gets distracted enough to have other men fall in line ahead of him. Luckily, neighbor Snub Pollard is also in the line as they go home together to meet their wives. Then the real troubles begin...Besides Pollard, Harold's other frequent co-star Bebe Daniels appears as his wife. Quite funny what happens during many of the backyard mishaps though a thrill sequence at the end seems tacked-on. Still, a highly enjoyable short. So on that note, I recommend Just Neighbors.

Maybe i'm just simple but this one had me in tears from laughter. Its very in style of the traditional short comedy of the 1910s. Quite a bit of slapstick that revolve around situations which beg for slapstick.. Like trying to make your train on time, or helping your neighbor build a chicken coop.

I recommend watching the 13 minute version which can currently be found on YouTube. There's also a 9 minute version on YouTube but there's at least one scene cut and it also seems to be sped up to save time.

If you love Harold or silent comedy from the 1910s, this is for you. My only complaint today is that the family dog is not credited here in the cast.. He did save the day after all.