Sony Pictures Plans Major Harold Lloyd Retrospective This Spring

Sony Pictures Plans Major Harold Lloyd Retrospective This Spring Studio Will Distribute Classic Comedies Starting April 20 at New York's Film Forum CULVER CITY, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- For the delight of a new generation of filmgoers, Sony Pictures Releasing is reissuing the classic films of Harold Lloyd. Jeff Blake, vice-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and President of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group announced today that Lloyd's classic films, including Safety Last! and The Freshman, will be released beginning April 20, the 112th anniversary of Lloyd's birth. The films, made available by the Harold Lloyd Trust, will premiere at the Film Forum in New York. Additional cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago will follow. Many of the silent titles will feature newly recorded scores. "Lloyd was a genius on a par with Chaplin and Keaton," said Blake. "Sony is proud to be distributing restored prints of several of his greatest comedies." "My grandfather holds an historic place in cinema history," said Suzanne Lloyd, President of Harold Lloyd Entertainment, Inc. and Lloyd's granddaughter. "I'm pleased and proud that Sony has stepped forward to release these films so that a new generation can experience the sheer entertainment of Harold Lloyd on the big screen. The movies have been restored in a way that they deserve to be seen and in a manner that preserves the essence of the way they were originally created." Like Chaplin and Keaton, Lloyd had a unique cinematic persona. But unlike them, he typically played an "everyman" figure who through sheer optimism and will power (and sometimes a little luck), overcomes great odds to achieve his objectives. His films have often been called the blueprint for the romantic comedy genre, and he was among the first to preview his pictures prior to release. Lloyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska, on April 20, 1893 and was acting at an early age with theatrical repertory companies. He made his film debut as an extra in a 1913 one-reel film for the Edison Film Company. He became friends with another extra, Hal Roach, and when Roach formed his own film company, he invited Lloyd to join him. In 1917, Lloyd found the comic character that would become his trademark, an optimistic, bespectacled go-getter. He retained the "Glass Character" (as Lloyd called his comic persona) throughout the rest of his motion picture career, which spanned 34 years and more than 200 comedies. Among his most famous films are Grandma's Boy (1922), Safety Last! (1923), Girl Shy (1924) The Freshman (1925), The Kid Brother (1927), Speedy (1928) and Movie Crazy (1932). Lloyd married his leading lady, Mildred Davis, in 1923, and they remained together until her death in 1969. The Lloyds built a magnificent Beverly Hills estate, called Greenacres, and raised three children: Gloria, Peggy and Harold, Jr. Prior to his death in 1971, Lloyd produced two compilation films of his earlier work, Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy (1962) and Harold Lloyd's Funny Side of Life (1963). About Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America (SCA), a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; digital content creation and distribution; worldwide channel investments; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of filmed entertainment in 67 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com/. For further information contact: Natalie Johnson Publicist Columbia Pictures Motion Picture Group (310) 244-3236 Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment CONTACT: Natalie Johnson, Publicist of Columbia Pictures Motion Picture Group, +1-310-244-3236 Web site: http://www.sonypictures.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment