Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
ThedevilChoose
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Griff Lees
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
JoeytheBrit
I thought this film might have been made at the same time as Lloyd's The Eastern Westerner, but apparently the films were made a few years apart. This film is ultra-short, lasting a little over twelve minutes (although perhaps a section is missing). The sets for both films certainly look very similar. Lloyd also performs the same cigarette-rolling trick here (twice) that he used in the later film.This is pretty frantic stuff. Bebe Daniels plays the daughter of an old boy threatened with eviction by his bullying landlord (although an intertitle suggests he owes eleven years in back rent which suggests he's actually one of the most patient landlords you're ever likely to meet). Daniels is a pretty girl with a saucy smile and sturdy knees, and it's no wonder Lloyd goes out of his way to rescue her. Compared to Lloyd's later output this is pretty primitive stuff, but it still manages to pack a good number of laughs into its brief running time.
MARIO GAUCI
Harold Lloyd parodies the William S. Hart stoic Western hero prototype, resulting in an interesting one-reeler rather than an uproarious one; the later and somewhat similar AN EASTERN WESTERNER (1920) is, however, a superior effort because it was fitted to the star's typical formula. Bebe Daniels is once again the heroine/damsel in distress (she made a staggering 146 shorts with Lloyd according to the IMDb - apparently, only a handful of these have survived to make it into New Line's DVD collection devoted to the comic genius!).Incidentally, I had first come across BILLY BLAZES, ESQ. while in Hollywood late last year on TCM, as part of an all-night Harold Lloyd marathon shown in conjunction with the release of the 7-Disc Set (compiling 28 of his films made between 1919 and 1936). In the end, it easily emerges as the least among 7 of the star's Silent comedy shorts that I've watched up to this point.
MartinHafer
This is perhaps the oddest Harold Lloyd short I have ever seen. That's because in all the other full-length and short Lloyd films I've watched, he plays a wimpy guy who, at the end of the film, finds his courage and rises to the occasion. However, at the outset, Lloyd is seemingly with no fear and is invincible! The town is chock full of rogues, but when Harold comes into town, they are no match for him. His guns never seem to need re-loading, bullets somehow miss him and he can beat up even the biggest baddie! I was VERY relieved when the end of the film came that they did NOT take the cop-out approach and have it all end up being a dream. No, Harold was, perhaps, the prototype for the Terminator in this film! An odd but entertaining film to say the least!
Snow Leopard
This one reel comedy is a pretty good parody of the westerns of its time. It's nothing fancy, but it takes a light, upbeat approach and has some funny gag ideas. Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels always seem to work together well, and Snub Pollard is also here, in a smaller role.Lloyd plays the title character, who is a parody of the kinds of western heroes common both at the time and in many other eras. The character is probably based more than anything on the kinds of characters played by William S. Hart, but you wouldn't have to be familiar with Hart's movies to be able to enjoy most of "Billy Blazes".The story squeezes quite an assortment of familiar western elements and themes into 13 minutes or so of film, and it does a good job with most of them. The big showdown between Billy and the villain is played strictly for laughs, and it features some clever turns.
