Breezing Along (1927) User Reviews

Enjoy if the breeze blows it your way

[hte-trasme · 6/10 · 5 September 2011]

This Lloyd Hamilton short is a decently amusing piece, but it doesn't really scale the heights to being memorable. Lloyd Hamilton did have a good comedy character whom he played very well and often subtly, but that advantage doesn't come into play as much as it might here. The comedy is primarily gag-based rather than being rooted in character or situation. The story is the "Ham" has been hired at an employment agency as a driver/butler, and the gags proceed from there.

They in sequence to a greater or lesser degree, with probably the best business involving a sandwich in the agency at the beginning, and misunderstandings involving a crab's misattributed pinching of a maid later. For a gag comedy it doesn't have the precision and inspiration of a Buster Keaton short or the over-the-top extravagance of Larry Semon, and as Lloyd Hamilton it doesn't use his character to its fullest potential, but that said the gags generally do work, making it amusing enough to be worth the time.

It heats up thanks to the bratty kid

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 9 November 2008]

Lloyd Hamilton is an all but forgotten comedian from silent films who made quite a few films during his relatively short life. Today, only a handful of his 250+ films exist, as the ravages of time on nitrate film stock have certainly taken their toll. It's interesting to see that this comedy short is now available in two different DVD sets--Ham: The Lost Magic of Lloyd Hamilton as well as in Volume 2 of American Slapstick.

This is a better than average Hamilton film thanks to the presence of a bratty kid who makes Lloyd's life miserable. It seems that Lloyd was hired as a combination chauffeur, butler, cook, etc. and isn't particularly adept at any of these tasks. however, to make things worse, there is a bratty kid in the home who does his best to ruin everything. It's a bit cruel but also very funny watching the kid do his nasty pranks. Unfortunately, the beginning of the film and portions where the kid isn't running amok aren't quite as interesting--but the film is still good for a few laughs.

Watch out for flying crabs

[JohnSeal · 6/10 · 13 October 2008]

Lloyd Hamilton and his trademark cloth cap star as a job-seeking bumpkin who engages in a series of misadventures at the local unemployment agency. Thanks to his encounter with an unfeasibly large sausage, he comes to the attention of Mrs. De Spout, a moneyed woman who hires him on the spot as chauffeur, butler, and baby-sitter for her addled family. It will come as little surprise that the results are disastrous. Once again, the newly paved streets of Hollywood serve as the primary location for the shoot, but there's a crude attempt at utilizing traveling mattes that is unintentionally hilarious: count how many times you see Earl's Cafe pass in the background!

Breezing Along was another funny Lloyd "Ham" Hamilton comedy

[tavm · 7/10 · 31 January 2019]

This is the second of the Lloyd "Ham" Hamilton comedy shorts I watched on the "American Slapstick 2" DVD set, the first being Jonah Jones. In this one, Ham is at an employment agency where he gets hired by a haughty rich lady to drive her family and be a butler at their mansion. Plenty of slapstick scenes abound so on that note, I recommend Breezing Along. P.S. The director is Norman Taurog who'd end his career with some Elvis Presley vehicles in the late '60s. Also, he was a native of my birthtown of Chicago, Ill.