Over the Fence (1917) User Reviews

A real oddity from Harold Lloyd

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 8 February 2007]

This is a really strange movie because it was made before his be-speckled "everyman" character was formalized. Up until this movie, he didn't wear the prop glasses and OVER THE FENCE features this for the first time according to IMDb. However, just because he had the glasses DIDN'T mean he acted like the Harold Lloyd familiar to old movie fans. Instead of being sweet and pretty nerdy, this incarnation of Lloyd was a pretty macho guy. He loses out on taking his girl to the pro baseball game to Snub Pollard, BUT he is able to attend the game because he is accidentally mistaken to be the team's new star pitcher. In this role, he was amazing!!! Even though he should have stunk, he pitched a great game AND made some amazing plays! However, just as he's making the home run to win the game in the bottom of the 9th, he sees Pollard in the audience with the girl and he runs from 3rd base to Pollard!! Then, he throttles not only Pollard but all his teammates--who charged him because he never finished running the bases. And, naturally, his machismo is enough in the end to win the girl's heart.

This is a fairly good comedy and is quite watchable. However, just don't expect it to be like any of the films he made in the 1920s. These films had a totally different tempo.

FYI--The GREAT catch Harold makes in the outfield, coincidentally, is very similar to a real play that occurred in the Japanese league back about 20 or more years ago. To see the REAL play, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tuERhv24DQ

Lloyd's First Movie With Horn-Rimmed Glasses

[springfieldrental · 9/10 · 7 August 2021]

Both Harold Lloyd and his producer, Hal Roach, agreed that his Lonesome Luke character, whom the comedian had been playing for nearly two years, needed a bit of a makeover. Roach suggested the change required something to disguise himself since he was too handsome to do comedy. After careful deliberation, Lloyd chose a distinguishing trademark feature that would identify himself for the remainder of his long career: black horn-rimmed glasses. With those specs (without the glass lens), Lloyd's new character reflected a more mature, normal, quiet, clean and sympathetic boy. His first movie with these glasses appeared in the September 1917 film "Over The Fence."

"He was a kid that you would meet next door, across the street, but at the same time I could still do all the crazy things that we did before, but you believed them," said Lloyd in an interview years after. "They were natural and the romance could be believable."

Lloyd's new character wouldn't be pigeonholed in one particular social and economic class. He was the striving young man always seeking recognition. And he was always looking for romance. In his first "Glass" movie, Harold stumbles upon a pair of baseball tickets and asks Bebe Daniels to go to the game with him. However, an arch rival, Snub Pollard, pickpockets his tickets, who eventually has Bebe go with him. A determined Harold seeks a way into the stadium, only to be mixed up as a new pitcher, sparking an unusual set of events.