This past week, Janus Films got around to posting the trailer for their 2K restoration of the 1925 silent comedy The Freshman on YouTube. Being released in a new DCP, The Freshman has been playing at New York’s Film Forum since November 8, but its run there has recently ended. Forthcoming theatrical engagements, per the Janus Films website, include the Bijou Metro in Eugene, Oregon; the Music Box Theater in Chicago; the AFI Silver in Silver Spring, Maryland; and Film Streams in Omaha, Nebraska.
Alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, the glasses-wearing star of The Freshman, is one of our most iconic silent-film comedians, and his popularity was duly recognized in his time: The Freshman was one of the highest-grossing films of the silent era. Keaton’s maintained a spot in the cultural conversation in recent years as well: in 2005, The Freshman (along with much of Keaton’s other work) was first released on DVD as part of New Line’s “Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection” box set; rights to Keaton’s films have since been attained by the Criterion Collection, who began that shifting process with the release of their Blu-ray upgrade of Safety Last! in June.
Humorously, The Freshman also made headlines in 2000, when Lloyd’s granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd Hayes, acting on behalf of the Harold Lloyd Trust, sued Disney for $50 million, claiming that Disney’s 1998 Adam Sandler film The Waterboy and The Freshman have no less than “56 common characteristics.” (The courts ruled against Hayes.) Thankfully, Janus Films’ restoration of The Freshman need not come packaged with such disruptive baggage: what matters most is simply that the film is once again being shown to large numbers of people.
Below, you’ll find the trailer, the poster, and a paragraph-length synopsis, all courtesy of Janus Films:
Synopsis:
“Harold heads off to college and quickly discovers that making friends involves more than aping the antics he’s seen in the movies. To further his search for popularity, he manages to join the football team, but only as a combination water boy/tackling dummy. Finally, Harold gets his chance when the coach runs out of substitutes during the big game and reluctantly puts him on the field. Will our bespectacled hero reach the goal line, or will he be fodder for the leatherheads on the opposing team? What follows is more of the action/comedy that only Lloyd could devise. Janus Films is pleased to bring another Lloyd classic back to theaters, newly restored in 2K.”
Are you planning to catch the restoration of The Freshman during its theatrical run?