The Freshman

Released Sep 20, 1925

1h 10m

Comedy

List

95%

Tomatometer

19 Reviews

78%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

In hopes of making some friends, Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) attends college at Tate University. But when the students notice his eccentric personality, he becomes the joke of the school. His fellow students convince Harold that he is popular but laugh at him behind his back, telling him that he is a player on the football team when he is actually the waterboy. Only his friend Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) knows that, to be happy, Harold must accept himself for who he really is.

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Keith Phipps

The Dissolve

Flawlessly executed and edited for maximum impact, the gags have timepiece precision, but Lloyd always sells his mishaps as things that just kind of happen to his character [The Freshman] works because it keeps viewers rooting for its hero.

Rated: 5/5

Apr 1, 2014

Full Review

Edmund Wilson

The New Republic

Lloyd has never been a very good actor; he has been a dummy for comic devices. And we are not much moved by the scene in The Freshman in which he learns at last that he has been the butt of his fellow students, instead of, as he has believed, their hero.

Jan 23, 2013

Full Review

TIME Magazine

Mr. Lloyd could be funny playing an undisturbed mummy. Simply this: The Freshman is not so funny as earlier of the comedian's adventures.

Sep 8, 2010

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

His mix of spunky resilience and wide-eyed obliviousness makes him both admirable and pathetic, at least until the energetic naïf proves himself in the big football game.

May 6, 2023

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

The predicaments aren’t too severe, depicted in a cartoonish manner, allowing for worthwhile skits with a dizzy tailor, a small baby, and an important dance - each providing mirth but failing to land major laughs.

Rated: 6/10

Jul 11, 2022

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A comic masterpiece.

Rated: 4/4

Feb 12, 2022

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Audience Member

Harold Lloyd stars in The Freshman which tells the story of relatable freshman who simply wants to be accepted by his peers in school. There were moments in the film that had clever usage of sound even by silent film standards. The film was not only humorous, it was also clever. Aside from the fact that this is obviously a comedy, Harold Lloyd had an important moral in this film about the importance of just simply being yourself. Harold Lloyd's at the top of his game with The Freshman as the film benefited from his wonderful performance, clever premise, and comical humor.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

william d

I usually find Lloyd's movies pretty funny, but I only got a chuckle or two out of this one. Not one of his best.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Alongside Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd was another influential comedian of the early 20th century and his film The Freshman remains one of his best and delightfully charming films. It follows a young freshman college student continuously and naively seeking popularity (and the attention of a girl) by joining the football team. I would say it is one of the funniest films of the 1920s and the football gags remain some of the best in the history of sports comedy films.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

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Audience Member

The best, GREATEST comedy movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

Harold Lloyd is his awkward, lovable self in â~The Freshmanâ(TM), where he goes off to college seeking popularity. Heâ(TM)s mostly mocked without realizing it, and after trying out for the football team, is used as a tackling dummy in practice and then as a water boy during the game, though of course thinks he may go in at any time. He hosts a big dance, the â~Fall Frolicâ(TM), but has his ill-tailored suit falls apart as he tries to move around. There are few laugh out loud moments, even if the filmâ(TM)s heart is in the right place, and some of the scenes go on for just a little too long. Seeing football played so long ago, even comically, with those thin leather helmets and that puffier ball, and finding out the crowd scenes were shot at halftime during the 1924 â~Big Gameâ(TM) between Cal and Stanford, was also personally interesting. That move where he unlaces the ball is pretty cool too. Lastly, and this is kind of a quirky thing of mine, but I like how Lloyd gives us shots of objects or things in print in his films, in this case various books from the period, newspaper articles, and a crossword puzzle he notices Jobyna Ralston doing on a train and tries to help her with. Even her final message to him is a handwritten note, and very sweet. Not quite as good as â~Safety Lastâ(TM) or â~Girl Shyâ(TM) from the previous two years, but solid entertainment.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great fun in this silent college comedy. I have yet to see Buster Keaton's entry in this subgenre, College. I have seen Clara Bow's 1920's college set The Wild Party. Harold Lloyd is at his peak in this type of nerdy role. It is quite enjoyable to time travel to American college life in the Jazz age. Lloyd is nearly as great as Keaton and Chaplin with the physicality of slapstick. The football practice and big game are the central showcases of slapstick here of course. Right up to the 90's with Adam Sandler's The Waterboy many of the same character types have been repeated over and over again in Hollywood college set comedies.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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Sam Taylor

Director

Fred Newmeyer

Director

Harold Lloyd

The Freshman

Jobyna Ralston

Peggy

James Anderson

The College Hero

Joe Harrington

The College Tailor

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Synopsis

In hopes of making some friends, Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) attends college at Tate University. But when the students notice his eccentric personality, he becomes the joke of the school. His fellow students convince Harold that he is popular but laugh at him behind his back, telling him that he is a player on the football team when he is actually the waterboy. Only his friend Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) knows that, to be happy, Harold must accept himself for who he really is.

Director: Sam Taylor, Fred Newmeyer
Producer: Suzanne Lloyd Hayes
Screenwriter: Sam Taylor, John Grey
Production Co: The Harold Lloyd Corporation
Genre: Comedy
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 20, 1925, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 10m

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