The Freshman To Be Criterion’s Next Harold Lloyd Release

With Criterion’s masterful release of Harold Lloyd’s masterpiece Safety Last now firmly in the public’s grasp, it’s time we turn to the future and what we should expect from The Criterion Collection going forward with regards to the Lloyd canon.

For a while now, Speedy has been considered the likeliest contender for the next solo Lloyd release, what with it being their first Lloyd addition to their Hulu Plus page and it being yet another fantastic comedy in the legend’s filmography, but that’s apparently missed the mark.

In an interview with Dick Dinman (and hat tip to a reader/listener for the details), close friend to Lloyd and an equally close influencer on this release of Safety Last (he’s featured on commentaries for the feature and three shorts found within the release) Richard Correll revealed that the next Lloyd/Criterion matchup will in fact be The Freshman.

A 1925 comedy finding the directing team of Newmeyer/Taylor back with their Safety Last star, the film itself is one of Lloyd’s most successful and beloved films, which follows Lloyd, a college freshman, hell bent on becoming popular, so much so that he tries out for the school football team. One of the greatest sports films of all time, this is an intriguing choice for the next Lloyd release. A relatively easy film to find (at least with regards to Lloyd films overall), the film is along the lines of Girl Shy and Grandma’s Boy as some of Lloyd’s very best. There is a commentary from Leonard Maltin and Correll on a previous release of the film (similar to the commentary found on Criterion’s Safety Last release, which itself is a previously used commentary from this same box set) so one has to assume that we’ll be hearing that team up once again. Toss in a few other supplements, and this is something to really keep a look out for. “They are restoring it now,” is how Correll puts it, so expect something to come in early-mid 2014.

Hear parts one and two of the interview. It’s actually a really interesting conversation, news worthy or not.