A Sammy in Siberia (1919) User Reviews

An interesting little transition film from Harold Lloyd

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 27 April 2007]

This film came out right before Harold Lloyd's career accelerated to super-stardom. While his persona is closer to the nice "everyman" he played throughout the twenties (looking like him and acting like him at times), the style of humor is still grounded very much in the slapstick past as Lloyd ultimately resorts to standard punching, kicking and acrobatics to defeat an evil band of Cossacks--later, he might have done SOME of this but would have used him brains more to gain the upper hand.

Historically speaking, the film is also very important. Most people have forgotten about an interesting part of Russian and Western history. After WWI, Allied and Central Power armies briefly occupied parts of Russia during the Revolution and this appears to be the setting for the film. As far as I know, this is the only comedy set in this time and place--something very unusual for the era.

Soldier in Siberia, Lloyd is clumsy, brave, skilled as a fighter, and shy with Bebe Daniels

[Cristi_Ciopron · 7/10 · 4 September 2009]

Harold Lloyd is an American soldier in A SAMMY IN SIBERIA, a (very) short made more than 90 yrs ago (or, in fact, as IMDb will _doctorally inform you, in 1918—hey, 1918, Siberia, does it ring some bells in those history—avid minds of the readers?--) and where he's joined by Bebe Daniels; he proves helpful in rescuing a damsel in distress, and then rather shy of getting his due reward from the said beauty. As you perhaps agree, Lloyd was a loony comic, perhaps the looniest in the hexagon of slapstick forces (--who else than Linder, Langdon, Lloyd, Keaton, Chaplin, Laurel& Hardy—all, Étaix' masters—here, I provided you with a brief method for a slapstick's who's who …--). Lloyd has here his moment of bravado in fighting and defeating the wild ruthless Cossacks, thereby winning the hearts of several Siberian women.

In nowadays jargon, this tiny would be termed an action comedy—like, say, BH COP or THE LAST BOYSCOUT—with Lloyd instead of Murphy or Willis ….

A Lukewarm Comedy in Siberia

[atlasmb · 5/10 · 21 January 2020]

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.

Nice Harold Lloyd Short

[Michael_Elliott · 14 March 2011]

Sammy in Siberia, A (1919)

*** (out of 4)

Set during the Russian Revolution, this film has Harold Lloyd playing an American soldier who gets taken to a cabin where a Russian beauty (Bebe Daniels) expects him to defeat the Red Coats trying to break in. Having a film set during this period of Western history isn't normal and as many other reviews have pointed out, I'm not certainly how many others even attempted. This short was released by Unknown Video and there's even an intro talking about the strange circumstances to set the picture. With that said, fans of Lloyd will certainly want to check this out. Why he doesn't give the type of Lloyd performance that he's best known for, I thought the energy given was still enough to make this worth viewing. The film runs just around 7-minutes so you really shouldn't be expecting any type of major plot. What we've got are a few cute jokes including one where Lloyd gets separated from the other troops and ends up getting chased by a tree by a dog. Another funny gag has him taking a nip of alcohol and it nearly turning him made. The film was obviously shot on a set but I thought the exteriors of the cabin were quite good. Lloyd and Daniels have some nice chemistry together and at such a short running time there's enough laughs to make it worth viewing.

A most unorthodox way

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 7 June 2015]

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.

Pretty average stuff

[gbill-74877 · 5/10 · 30 January 2020]

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.

Harold Lloyd like an early James Bond

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 9 September 2013]

Shortly after the end of World War 1 Harold Lloyd is a soldier on enemy territory in this short film by centenarian director legend Hal Roach. The action starts away from Lloyd' troop though when we see a group of looting Bolsheviks approaching the house of a young girl and her family. Despite heavy resistance, the group succeed in entering and continue their destructive ways inside. As they quarrel about a bottle of vodka, the girl can take advantage of the chaos and manage to flee.

Desperately alone in the snow masses of Siberia, she runs into American soldier Harold Lloyd, who carelessly lost contact to his people. Lloyd, scared by a dog, but not by the roaming Bolsheviks manages to get the girl to safety. But it's not over yet as they manage to find the place where Lloyd, the girl and a couple other women are hiding. The final big fight sequence was nice to watch, mainly because it was more slapstick than violent encounters. And our hero proves that he's not as clumsy as he initially seemed.

Reds, part one.

[st-shot · 3/10 · 28 April 2023]

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.