User reviews

This is one of Harold Lloyd's early short comedies, and while it's far from great there are hints here and there of the winning formula he was striving for, and that he would achieve in his masterworks of the '20s. Just Neighbors features a sympathetic protagonist we can relate to, a guy who struggles with the familiar frustrations of middle-class existence. Harold has his faults, but over all we like him and want to see him succeed. The movie gets off to a promising start, drawing us into Harold's world with an introductory title card that is nicely phrased and worth quoting in full: "There are moments in our lives-- especially when we cut it rather fine in catching our train home, after a hard day at the office --that we instinctively feel the Fates deliberately put themselves out, in a mad endeavor to impede our progress." We all have bad days and can relate to those words, right? And just as we're admiring the writer's style, a cheeky postscript adds: "You note that we begin well." They do indeed. Harold is frantically rushing to the bank, trying to reach a teller's window before closing time -- an urgent matter in the days before ATMs -- but when he collides with an old lady he takes the time to help her gather up her parcels, and then he stops not once but twice to give donations to a Red Cross nurse and a Salvation Army lass. In some of his early comedies Harold (like young Chaplin at Keystone) could be aggressive and downright rude, but on this occasion we know from the very outset that he's a nice guy.

At the bank Harold encounters his next door neighbor, played by frequent co-star Snub Pollard, and their friendly relationship is established. After dealing with various frustrations at the bank they return together to their suburban neighborhood, where we meet 1) Snub's baby daughter, 2) Harold's dog, and 3) the guys' wives. Harold is married to cute, dark-eyed Bebe Daniels, while Snub's wife (Margaret Joslin) is hefty and jovial. All seems hunky-dory in suburbia until Harold attempts to help Snub build a chicken coop in his backyard. At first Harold is patronizing, indicating 'Step aside, I'll show you how it's done,' but he proves to be seriously inept at the job. Unfortunate accidents occur, and tensions escalate. Harold's dog goes after Snub's chickens; Bebe inadvertently sprays Snub's wife with the garden hose, windows get broken, and before you know it, it's full-scale war. Harold and Snub wind up face-to-face at their backyard fence, choking each other. But when Snub's baby daughter wanders into a genuinely dangerous situation all hostilities are brushed aside. She's rescued in a surprising fashion, and the warring neighbors reconcile.

The twist at the end involving the baby is a definite indication that Lloyd and his colleagues were trying to introduce stronger elements of "heart" into these little stories. But where Just Neighbors is concerned the twist comes awfully late in the game, only moments before the film is over. Up to that point, most of the running time is taken up with slapstick ineptitude and fighting. Harold is likable enough here, but we wait in vain for his great comic set-pieces. The gags are mildly amusing at best, and eventually comedy gives way to combat. Still, while not terribly memorable in itself, this short points the way towards Lloyd's mature works such as Grandma's Boy and Hot Water, where a fine mix of comedy, heart, and sympathetic characters would result in something really special.

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.

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.

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.

Harold and Snub are next-door neighbors in the suburbs in this-one reel comedy. It's the only time in his career that Lloyd took a directing credit, which he shared with Frank Terry, even though he frequently did uncredited directing on his movies -- he figured, like Buster Keaton, that his staf could use the credit more.

It's a funny movie -- Lloyd's unit was still Roach's only regular money-maker, despite the boss' attempts to start other series; he would spin off Snub into his own series the following year, start releasing Our Gang in 1922, and then the successes would become almost commonplace. However, it's a late one-reel movie, either cut down from what was intended to be a longer piece, or possibly shelved earlier and then released to fill a hole in the schedule. It's fast, it has a goodly number of jokes that are filmed cheaply (a sequence in which Harold and Snub stand on their back porches and throw things at each other is shot in alternating medium close-ups, instead of one medium long shot), and played satisfactorily.

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.

Just Neighbors (1919)

** (out of 4)

Harold Lloyd and 'Snub' Pollard play friends and neighbors who are constantly helping one another but their friendship turns out anger when Pollard's chickens break free and end up ruining the garden of Lloyd's wife (Bebe Daniels). Fans of the two stars will certainly want to see this film but sadly it's not quite as funny as some of the previous films that they made together at Rolin. I think there's just too much going on here and none of it is all that funny. There are some good bits and pieces scattered around but just not enough to make this a complete winner. I think some of the best stuff happens early on when Lloyd is in line for something but keeps getting pushed around and pushed back in line. Another funny bit happens when Lloyd goes to help Pollard with a chicken coop but things don't go as planned. From here on out we get several bits of slapstick but none of it really jumps off the screen or comes to life. There's a long running gag involving a water hose that just doesn't work and there's no question that the two stars are just trying to do anything for a laugh.

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.