# Grandma's Boy (1922 film)
**Grandma's Boy** is a 1922 American silent feature comedy directed by Fred Newmeyer, produced by [Hal Roach](https://www.edgepedia.org/hal-roach), and starring [Harold Lloyd](https://www.edgepedia.org/harold-lloyd) as a timid young man whose grandmother gives him a supposed lucky charm that turns him into a hero. It was released on 3 September 1922 and was Lloyd's first five-reel (reel = ~10-15 min of film; five reels means feature-length) feature comedy.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Premiered circa 20 May 1922 in Los Angeles; released 3 September 1922[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html) |
| Length | Five reels, 4,841 feet; silent, black and white, 35mm 1.33:1[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) |
| Principal cast | Harold Lloyd (the boy), Mildred Davis (the girl), Anna Townsend (the grandmother), Charles Stevenson (the bully), Noah Young (the sheriff), Dick Sutherland (the rolling stone)[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html) |
| Credits | Scenario by Thomas J. Crizer from a screen story by Hal Roach, Sam Taylor, and Jean Havez; cinematography by Walter Lundin; intertitles by H.M. Walker[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html) |
| Working titles | The White Feather and He Who Hesitates[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) |
| Significance | Lloyd's first five-reel feature comedy; one of the most popular films of 1922[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) |
| Survival | Prints exist at the Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the BFI National Archive; public domain in the USA[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
In the country town of Blossom Bend lives Harold, a meek youth of nineteen who has been pushed around since boyhood. He loves Mildred but is frightened by his romantic rival, a bully who torments him and at one point tosses him down a well.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) When the town is rocked by a series of crimes, Harold joins a citizens' brigade to find the thief, then flees back to his grandmother's house when he realizes he could be in danger. Grandma tells him a story about his grandfather, who fought heroically in the Civil War, and gives him a talisman his grandfather kept in his kit. Believing in the charm's power, Harold rounds up the town thief and routs the bully, wins the girl, and learns that the "talisman" was nothing more than the broken top of an umbrella handle.[4](https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/09/01/modern-matinees-focus-on-grandmas-boy/) A flashback shows Lloyd playing the grandfather as a fearless Civil War soldier.[4](https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/09/01/modern-matinees-focus-on-grandmas-boy/)
## Production
The film went through two working titles. The 19 November 1921 *Motion Picture News* announced that Lloyd's next film would be *The White Feather*, and a month later the same trade paper noted that Lloyd hoped to finish shooting *He Who Hesitates* before Christmas. The 25 March 1922 *Exhibitors Trade Review* announced that Lloyd would be completing *Grandma's Boy* that week.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) Sources disagree on the filming dates: one lists August 26 to October 8, 1921, with retakes October 13 to 15, 1921, while a second lists October 22, 1921 to March 4, 1922.[3](https://www.lordheath.com/menu1_2084.html)
Hal Roach Studios copyrighted the film on 27 April 1922 (LU17796). It was the second full-length feature released by the studio, produced for The Associated Exhibitors and distributed by Pathé Exchange.[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html) • [3](https://www.lordheath.com/menu1_2084.html) Although Lloyd and Mildred Davis are identified in the credits as "Grandma's Boy" and "His Girl," the intertitle cards name them "Harold" and "Mildred."[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY)
## Lloyd's transition to features
*Grandma's Boy* marked a step change in Lloyd's career. His previous film, *A Sailor-Made Man* (1921), had been his first longer than two reels, and a full-page advertisement in the 23 July 1922 *Film Daily* promoted *Grandma's Boy* as his first five-reel feature comedy. A *Film Daily* review of 10 September 1922 wrote that Lloyd "has been developing rapidly during the past few years until it was necessary to put him in features."[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) The extended running time let Lloyd develop his popular Glasses Character, the gentle, myopic "Boy" persona he had introduced in 1917 after abandoning the earlier Lonesome Luke role, and the film balanced slapstick with more serious character development.[5](https://www.criterionchannel.com/films/gEVZqaIs/grandma-s-boy) • [4](https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/09/01/modern-matinees-focus-on-grandmas-boy/)
## Reception and legacy
According to John Bengtson's *Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd*, *Grandma's Boy* was one of the most popular films of 1922, and critics loved it. It was one of Lloyd's first films to use naturalistic humor mixed with dramatic situations.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) The Progressive Silent Film List records that it is reputedly Lloyd's own favorite film.[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html) The film was rereleased in 1923 by The Associated Exhibitors through Pathé Exchange.[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html)
Filming locations included the Palms area of West Los Angeles around Nation Boulevard and Vinton Avenue, the area around Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, and the city of San Fernando in the [San Fernando Valley](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-fernando-valley).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY) Prints survive in the [Museum of Modern Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/museum-of-modern-art), UCLA Film and Television Archive, and British Film Institute National Archive collections, and the film is in the public domain in the United States.[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html) MoMA screened the film in its Modern Matinees series in 2015, and it is available on the Criterion Channel.[4](https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/09/01/modern-matinees-focus-on-grandmas-boy/) • [5](https://www.criterionchannel.com/films/gEVZqaIs/grandma-s-boy)
## References
1. [Grandma's Boy (1922), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/9474-GRANDMA%27S-BOY)
2. [Grandma's Boy (1922), Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/G/GrandmasBoy1922.html)
3. [Grandma's Boy, Lord Heath Harold Lloyd archive](https://www.lordheath.com/menu1_2084.html)
4. [Modern Matinees: Focus on Grandma's Boy, MoMA (2015)](https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/09/01/modern-matinees-focus-on-grandmas-boy/)
5. [Grandma's Boy, Criterion Channel](https://www.criterionchannel.com/films/gEVZqaIs/grandma-s-boy)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Early and silent cinema › Silent feature films › Released 1914 to 1926*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license