A Sammy in Siberia

Here we have Harold Lloyd as an American soldier (Sammy) stationed in Russia during their revolution. The Bolsheviks take over the home of a Russian family and like all villains, they threaten the beautiful girl living there (Bebe Daniels as Olga). Sammy plays the hero, singlehandedly driving the Bolsheviks, who are really cowards, from the premises with some clever fighting and trickery.

Though Sammy is the hero, he is rather buffoonish.

Overall, this short has little to recommend it, compared to Lloyd's best work Still, it offers an unusual setting and premise.

The American intervention in the newly formed Soviet Union is a topic little discussed today. I'll bet that 99 people today out of 100 don't even know that in the waning hours of World War I Woodrow Wilson ordered a limited intervention there. A bunch of powers chiefly the USA, the UK and Japan intervened in the Russian Revolution hoping to counteract what Winston Churchill called the 'tubercular bacillus'of Bolshevism. Of course it didn't work, but in 1919 we had troops there and it provided the setting for this short Harold Lloyd comedy Sammy In Siberia.

Lloyd is his usual shy everyman self who happens to be around when the Bolsheviks come calling on a farm house and luckily Bebe Daniels was not violated by them.

In rescue situations you take what you can get and things don't look promising when she finds Lloyd up a tree chased by her Siberian husky dog. Still Lloyd comes through in a most unorthodox way.

As for the title American soldiers in that era were called doughboys. But also they were called Sammys in deference to Uncle Sam.

Fans of Harold Lloyd will like this.

Harold Lloyd takes a break from his Lonesome Luke 2 reelers to find himself out in the cold in what may well be the first film to depict Bolshevism (albeit with slapstick comedy) to the world given their fresh takeover of Russia as vodka swilling brutes with cowardly leaders. If this was the viewpoint of the public of the day then world communism was off to a poor start.

Sammy from Chicago (Lloyd) has little difficulty with the cold weather of the USSR, just problems with directions, soon finding himself isolated from the rest of his troop. He comes upon a home under siege by dreaded Bolshis and rushes to defend while falling for his favorite co-star Bebe Daniels.

The slapstick is heavy handed, the pratfalls poorly choreographed with characters constantly bumping into themselves. Daniels is adorable, Lloyd abrasive, his stunts uninspired. Less then tepid Harold.

During the Allied invasion of Russia (1918-1922), Harold Lloyd is a hapless American soldier out where east meets far east, to deal with snow, wolves, Bolsheviks, and of course, Bebe Daniels.

This was produced just before Lloyd switched from making one-reel comedies to focus on two reels, and it was clearly time: the pace of gags was too fast to permit more than the barest of plot points, and Lloyd's Glasses character (whom he always called "the boy") needed a bit of time to appear to be normal; this would allow his comic gags to be seen as sharper. Once he had done so, he quickly moved up the ladder.

A Harold Lloyd short that's harmless enough but not all that sophisticated. Brr it's cold in Siberia, especially for the guy from California. Haha, look at how silly those (highly stereotypical) Bolsheviks are. Oh, be careful of that dog named Fidovitch. Maybe the best bit is when Harold lays down behind a log and kicks the Russians one by one so that they all tumble down the snowy embankment. And here I was hoping for a Samoyed doggo based on the title.