Is this the film that first gave us the "football stadium with a college attached" joke? (Unrelatedly, this Criterion 4K transfer is staggeringly clean.)
It’s the irony of The Freshman that when Harold ceases trying to imitate Speedy, he actually becomes Speedy. It’s not simulated strength that wins the game, it’s Harold’s own will and tenacity. What more perfect vision of the American dream could there be? In a country where anyone can become president, Harold Lloyd says that any bespectacled lamb can become Frank Merriwell.
— Stephen Winer (Criterion)
Synopsis: Harold Lamb is so excited about going to college that he has been working to earn spending money, practicing college yells, and learning a special way of introducing himself that he saw in a movie. When he arrives at Tate University, he soon becomes the target of practical jokes and ridicule. With the help of his one real friend Peggy, he resolves to make every possible effort to become popular.