Harold Lloyd's 'The Boy' is the sort of silent comedy character we can all sympathise with young, ambitious, enthusiastic. Parting with the girl he loves (Mildred Davis), with the promise of marrying her once he has "made good", our hero departs for the big city to make his fortune. He shares accommodation with a pal of his (Bill Strother), but their collective savings are always dwindling, and often nonexistent. To make ends meet, Lloyd works as a clerk at a prominent department store, but just about everything he earns is used to buy gifts for his girl. Writing to her seven days a week, his letters and presents are usually accompanied by a false commentary of the success he is currently enjoying, and hopeless assurances that marriage is right around the corner.
Paying the rent has become a problem. Lloyd, unbeknown to his roommate, had managed to pawn the record player for twelve dollars, but this money went towards yet another gift to be sent home. Lloyd's friend is sympathetic to his friend's situation, and isn't bitter about the missing record player, though he certainly keeps a closer eye on the potentially-sell-able records scattered across the table. They are good friends, occasionally getting into bouts of mischief together.
The first half of the film relates to Lloyd's desperate attempts to simply stay afloat. If he loses his job, he knows that his life is ruined. And so, when Lloyd is unwittingly driven away from the doorstep of his workplace by the deaf driver of a van with automatically-locking doors, he has ten minutes to get back to his job, or else he risks getting inharmoniously fired. We find many a laugh in this scenario Lloyd is unable to find a place on a ludicrously-overcrowded tram, and the offer of an automobile driver to give him a ride turns out to be more trouble than it's worth (for both driver and passenger). An ambulance eventually offers Lloyd the salvation he was looking for, and his inspired ploy to get to work on time nearly gives the paramedic a heart attack of his own!
Having finally made it to work (his lateness relatively unnoticed), we discover that Lloyd's job presents him with more troubles than he encountered trying to get there. The women customers about him are absolutely ravenous, clutching violently at lengths of fabric, and shouting deafeningly to be served next. His disheveled appearance gets him into trouble with Mr. Stubbs, the snobbish and self-important floorwalker. Things get much, much worse when Lloyd's girlfriend, mistakenly believing that he is now successful enough to support a family, takes a train to the city to be with him. Surprised and embarrassed to see her, Lloyd promptly pretends to be the general manager of the department store, loudly reprimanding his co-workers and even his superiors to maintain the deception.
Accidentally overhearing the real general manager of the store, Lloyd strikes upon a grand solution to his monetary troubles. If he is able to bring hundreds of potential customers to the building, he asks, will the manager reward him with one thousand dollars? Yes, he will. Lloyd then rushes off to enlist his Pal to spectacularly climb the 12-storey department store building, having seen him do something similar earlier whilst escaping from a police officer. Finally, everything is arranged, and Lloyd needs only to sit back and wait for the extraordinary bonus to come his way.
Things, as we might have expected, do not quite go to plan. It truly is a wonder that I have come this far into my review without even a mention of Lloyd's famous building climb, the spectacular extended sequence towards which everything in the film had been leading. That iconic image of a panic-stricken Lloyd, the street traffic leering ominously below him, dangling precariously from the hands of a clock-face has become permanently imprinted in the minds of millions, many of whom have never even had the pleasure of seeing 'Safety Last!' Even more than eighty years later, the illusion of height remains incredibly convincing, practically flawless, in fact. Though various theories have floated around over the years about how the deception was achieved, a likely theory is that the building Lloyd climbs was actually a fake wall constructed on the roof of a skyscraper. Through clever photography and camera angles, we are wholly duped into believing that, below Lloyd, lies a 12-storey fall and certain death. All the more remarkably, Lloyd achieved these complex stunts using only 8 fingers, having lost a right thumb and index finger in 1919 when a prop bomb exploded in his hands.
His Pal being temporarily engaged in other matters, Lloyd is inevitably forced to climb the building himself, and he is besieged by just about every obstacle imaginable: a pesky flock of pigeons, an entangled tennis net, a plank of wood, a swinging window, the celebrated giant clock, a loose rope, a ferocious dog, a flimsy flagpole, a mouse that climbs into his trousers, a revolving weather vane (watch how the film delightfully keeps us in suspense, as Lloyd's head comes within centimetres of the spinning object on several occasions) and a second rope which gets entangled around Lloyd's ankle.
A solid silent comedy, with one of the most engaging final sequences in any film ever made, Harold Lloyd's 'Safety Last!' is a marvel of 1920s comedy film-making. Sometimes called "the third genius," Lloyd (though actually the most commercially-successful of the three in his day) has often stood in the shadows of the incredible Charlie Chaplin and the inimitable Buster Keaton. My first foray into Lloyd's films has proved an exciting one, and I will continue to look on with interest!
Paying the rent has become a problem. Lloyd, unbeknown to his roommate, had managed to pawn the record player for twelve dollars, but this money went towards yet another gift to be sent home. Lloyd's friend is sympathetic to his friend's situation, and isn't bitter about the missing record player, though he certainly keeps a closer eye on the potentially-sell-able records scattered across the table. They are good friends, occasionally getting into bouts of mischief together.
The first half of the film relates to Lloyd's desperate attempts to simply stay afloat. If he loses his job, he knows that his life is ruined. And so, when Lloyd is unwittingly driven away from the doorstep of his workplace by the deaf driver of a van with automatically-locking doors, he has ten minutes to get back to his job, or else he risks getting inharmoniously fired. We find many a laugh in this scenario Lloyd is unable to find a place on a ludicrously-overcrowded tram, and the offer of an automobile driver to give him a ride turns out to be more trouble than it's worth (for both driver and passenger). An ambulance eventually offers Lloyd the salvation he was looking for, and his inspired ploy to get to work on time nearly gives the paramedic a heart attack of his own!
Having finally made it to work (his lateness relatively unnoticed), we discover that Lloyd's job presents him with more troubles than he encountered trying to get there. The women customers about him are absolutely ravenous, clutching violently at lengths of fabric, and shouting deafeningly to be served next. His disheveled appearance gets him into trouble with Mr. Stubbs, the snobbish and self-important floorwalker. Things get much, much worse when Lloyd's girlfriend, mistakenly believing that he is now successful enough to support a family, takes a train to the city to be with him. Surprised and embarrassed to see her, Lloyd promptly pretends to be the general manager of the department store, loudly reprimanding his co-workers and even his superiors to maintain the deception.
Accidentally overhearing the real general manager of the store, Lloyd strikes upon a grand solution to his monetary troubles. If he is able to bring hundreds of potential customers to the building, he asks, will the manager reward him with one thousand dollars? Yes, he will. Lloyd then rushes off to enlist his Pal to spectacularly climb the 12-storey department store building, having seen him do something similar earlier whilst escaping from a police officer. Finally, everything is arranged, and Lloyd needs only to sit back and wait for the extraordinary bonus to come his way.
Things, as we might have expected, do not quite go to plan. It truly is a wonder that I have come this far into my review without even a mention of Lloyd's famous building climb, the spectacular extended sequence towards which everything in the film had been leading. That iconic image of a panic-stricken Lloyd, the street traffic leering ominously below him, dangling precariously from the hands of a clock-face has become permanently imprinted in the minds of millions, many of whom have never even had the pleasure of seeing 'Safety Last!' Even more than eighty years later, the illusion of height remains incredibly convincing, practically flawless, in fact. Though various theories have floated around over the years about how the deception was achieved, a likely theory is that the building Lloyd climbs was actually a fake wall constructed on the roof of a skyscraper. Through clever photography and camera angles, we are wholly duped into believing that, below Lloyd, lies a 12-storey fall and certain death. All the more remarkably, Lloyd achieved these complex stunts using only 8 fingers, having lost a right thumb and index finger in 1919 when a prop bomb exploded in his hands.
His Pal being temporarily engaged in other matters, Lloyd is inevitably forced to climb the building himself, and he is besieged by just about every obstacle imaginable: a pesky flock of pigeons, an entangled tennis net, a plank of wood, a swinging window, the celebrated giant clock, a loose rope, a ferocious dog, a flimsy flagpole, a mouse that climbs into his trousers, a revolving weather vane (watch how the film delightfully keeps us in suspense, as Lloyd's head comes within centimetres of the spinning object on several occasions) and a second rope which gets entangled around Lloyd's ankle.
A solid silent comedy, with one of the most engaging final sequences in any film ever made, Harold Lloyd's 'Safety Last!' is a marvel of 1920s comedy film-making. Sometimes called "the third genius," Lloyd (though actually the most commercially-successful of the three in his day) has often stood in the shadows of the incredible Charlie Chaplin and the inimitable Buster Keaton. My first foray into Lloyd's films has proved an exciting one, and I will continue to look on with interest!