Year: 1923
Director: Fred C.New Meyer
Country: U.S
Language: English
When cinephiles discuss the masters of silent comedy, usually only two names come to mind: Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Both were absurd actor directors who mastered the art of physical slapstick comedy. However, there is a third comedic genius of the silent era; Harold Loyd. The actor's films are less well known nowadays than Keaton & Chaplin, but still resonate amongst critics and are preserved well.
The film concerns a country boy (Lloyd,) as he heads to the big city to seek success. While working as a clerk in a department store, he talks the manager into offering $1000 to anyone who can bring more customers to the store. He then arranges for a friend, a "human fly," (Strother) to climb the face of the store building as a publicity stunt. Unfortunatly the "human fly" is a wanted man, and when "The Law" (Young) shows, our hero must make the climb, himself.
Safety Last! is considered Harold Lloyd's signature work, not only is it incredibly funny and full of hilarious gags, but it also is ahead of its time in a technical aspect. Lloyd climbing the store building looks shockingly real, even while watching the film today. Every shot of the climb keeps the street view below, implying that a real drop for both actor and character could be fatal. Of course, film critics have analyzed the camera angles and have suggested that the height was exaggerated.
Though what does "exaggerated" mean? Especially in 1923 when health and safety standards weren't almost non-existent and people really did die due to lack of safety while doing stunts. In some ways this "danger" creates more suspense and utter fascination than comedy, it doesn't seem possible to duplicate the experience of watching this film. It may be an odd fact, but after watching this film I could see how Lloyd was a bigger draw than Chaplin & Keaton in the 20's.
In conclusion, Safety Last! can be seen as a direct criticism of the fast-speeding society which increased during the 1920's.The man's desire for success causes him to take incredibly stupid life threatening risks, but I guess there are no big rewards without big risks. While Lloyd wasn't a perfectionist like Chaplin, he certainly put a lot of effort into preserving his films so they could be seen long after his death. The Criterion Collection should be releasing a special edition of this film pretty soon, I can't wait to see how a new print of this 90yr old film looks!
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