Safety Last (1923)

Safety Last! (1923)  A young man goes to the city to make a success of himself. It will take all of his ingenuity to survive.
Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor         Starring Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis

Silent movies have been largely ignored by audiences for almost 80 years. Once sound was introduced, only hardcore fans seemed to pay any attention. In doing that, we’ve left a lot of great movies behind.

When a modern movie fan thinks of silent movies, they almost always name Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin’s genius is undeniable but he’s not the only great movie maker of the age. Commonly overlooked, at least in part due to his professional modesty, is Harold Lloyd. Lloyd made more movies than Chaplin and earned more money. Along the way, he established a style of moviemaking that is uniquely his own.

The most famous image of Lloyd comes from “Safety Last!” Hanging from the hands of a clock, high above the city, Lloyd’s “Glasses Character” is willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. And it was this kind of “thrill” movie stunt that brought Lloyd to fame. It would be easy to overlook how carefully he crafted the stories of the movies.

The story here is pretty straightforward. “The Boy” (Lloyd) leaves his home in a small town to make his fortune in the big city. He promises that he will marry “The Girl” (Mildred Davis, who became Lloyd’s wife in real life) as soon as he does. When that turns out to be harder than expected, he sends letters home that exaggerate his career. At the last possible moment, he gets the chance to make all their dreams come true. But only by taking a risk of amazing proportion.

One of the things that is stunning about the “thrills” in a Harold Lloyd movie is that he did most of the stunts himself. The scenes going up the side of the building were done high above the city in real life (though some were carefully staged to look even more dangerous than they were.) When you realize that Lloyd is at a great height with only dubious safety precautions, the final scenes have even greater tension.

Why You Will Like It – “Safety Last!” is a fun movie with some amazing action scenes that take you to the climax.

Rating – **** Recommended