Although it's unlikely that either Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton will ever topple from their well established stations atop the silent comedy world, Harold Lloyd remains waiting in the wings. He is their equal in many areas, and Lloyd actually made more films than Chaplin and Keaton combined and drew more people at the box office than his more famous rivals.

While the horn-rimmed Lloyd compares more closely to Keaton for his unbelievable daredevil stunts and knack for "getting the girl," his facial expressions mirror Chaplin's emoting ability--making him a unique combo of the two. Had he directed more films, his subsequent stature may have equaled his rivals.

As it is, Lloyd made some fine films that are even more amazing when realizing that he did his own stunts with some courageous cameramen that didn't rely on special effects. After a serious explosion that caused him to lose part of his right thumb, a finger, and palm in 1919, Lloyd did fewer features afterwards (only 33 of his 209 films and covered his injured hand with a glove or prosthetic (of his 209 films beginning in 1913 just 33 were produced after 1919).

In a business sense, Lloyd matches Chaplin because he obtained ownership rights to his films; thus, the two business savvy comedians lived a far more comfortable lifestyle than Keaton. The fact that the Lloyd family retained the rights to their patriarch's films was a major reason that so few of Lloyd's films had been seen in recent years. Not content with run of the mill presentations, they demanded state of the art preservation and pristine restoration. Thankfully, through the efforts of the Harold Lloyd Trust, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and Sony Pictures, all of Lloyd's feature-length silent films and most of his shorts received this treatment. And now New Line Cinema offers the most definitive Harold Lloyd collection on DVD, complete with their new orchestral scores by Robert Israel!

Pop culture automatically cues everyone to Lloyd's clock-hanging Safety Last, but among the many gems is Lloyd's "other" 1923 feature, Why Worry?--most notable for giant (8 ft. 9 inch) Johan Aasen's appearance as Colosso. Lloyd stars as millionaire hypochondriac Harold Van Pelham, who sets sail for tropical South American island Paradiso for his health. Accompanying him is his valet (Wallace Howe), who lugs a whole case of lemons aboard to prevent seasickness, and his private nurse (Jobyna Ralston), who is expected to administer medication every few minutes or on demand (whenever another man shows any interest in her).

Rather than rest and relaxation, Van Pelham finds himself inadvertently in the midst of revolution, and Lloyd develops a number of humorous scenarios and gags from his character's innocence. Despite the wimpiness of his hypochondriac character, he never completely loses his well honed persona, as Van Pelham constantly uses his wits to get out of tight spots the same way that Bugs Bunny will later continually foil Elmer Fudd. This time Lloyd befriends Colosso by hilariously extracting his aching tooth after they escape from jail, and the giant effectively acts as Lloyd's straight man and necessary strongman to fend off the revolutionary soldiers.

Lloyd's humor appeals across generations and mentalities once again in Why Worry? Slapstick humor and Marx brothers-like zaniness is present, but so are more subtle digs favored by more intellectual types. Some of the more effective revolve around Van Pelham's hypochondria. Before boarding the ship, a feeble old man on a stretcher is placed right next to him. Sensing a kindred spirit, he tells the old guy not to worry about making him sicker because he already has everything but smallpox. The old man's reply sends Van Pelham running and leaves the audience chuckling. But plenty more are to come. Virtually all of its 63 minutes contain laughs.

One area of Lloyd's silent movies that is rarely equaled by either Chaplin or Keaton are the clever inter-titles that often bring chuckles before seeing the visuals. H.M. Walker does the work here, for consistently coming up with the best dry humor and creative metaphors of the era. One early example here is the card that describes how Pelham's pill taking habits cause him to "rattle" when he walks.

Complete subtlety can't work for silent films that require stereotypical characters and obvious gestures to communicate their simple plots, and once again Harold Lloyd delivers the goods. Why Worry? is easy to follow and highly entertaining, and should now deservedly receiving wider viewing with its pairing on the same DVD as its more famous 1923 cousin.