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Safety Last (1923)
I only saw Safety Last (1923) recently but I've seen this photo eons ago. Harold Lloyd barely hanging from a giant clock. Perhaps everyone who's remotely interested in cinema saw it as well. An iconic image of the old silent Hollywood, and a giant of a reminder of what they achieved in that early stage.
With the film comes another iconic name, the film's star, Harold Lloyd. Not unlike Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton—Harold Lloyd too acted with his body gestures, creating visual comedy. He did stunts as well. Of course he's not that famous as Chaplin or Keaton, rightfully so, no matter what the criers say, Lloyd wasn't a filmmaker, whereas the other two were, and great ones no less. Even then, Lloyd will shine with his own light, with his merit as an actor and he's great enough to be remembered as one of the master comedians of that time.
The film is made by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, both of them made movies with Lloyd in those days, but their names are almost forgotten, overshadowed by the performer.
In Safety Last, A young hopeful boy named Harold Lloyd (just like the actor who plays the character) goes to the city, in search for fortunes and prosperity, so that he can marry his sweetheart, Mildred, waiting at home. Unless he makes it, that hope is a lost cause.
But the city proves to be too much for Lloyd to handle. The modern life hands out one too many complexities to our young hero. Yet his promise to the bride-to-be is not dwindled. He wants to assure her that he's doing great, even if it means borrowing money, mortgaging or starving to send her jewelries.
There's actually a sequence I adore a lot. Lloyd just got his meager payment from the day job, and he proceeds to buy a chain for his sweetheart with the entire chunk of his pay. There's a poster outside, a tasty meal is advertised at $0.50 and that was the last of Lloyd's possession. Comically, he's still owed to the chain seller exactly the same amount. Lloyd puts down the 10 cents coins one after another and the food items on the meal vanishes one by one!
Seeing the scene, I remembered I saw the film on TV partially as a kid and such a powerful scene it was, it stayed with me over the years. It bore the marks of poverty, desperation and devotion. The willingness to go so far as to starve. To lie through his teeth and bear the harshness so the woman he cares about remains in the dark about his true condition.
Of course, this concept of the man bearing all the burdens of financial freedom to take care of his wife or partner is illaudable now, but it was the early 20th century. Homosexuality, Black People, Atheism everything was bad and punishable then. There's a scene with housewives storming the clothing store, and they go all berserk on the Lloyd who was working as a seller. It's hard to discern now whether the film is mocking the bourgeoise, or women.
Safety last is insanely hilarious nonetheless. The Boy or Lloyd goes through a series of importunate events that have the potentiality to ruin him and his dreams, yet he improvises and tries his best to find a way out of it. These are the prime source of comedy and they sure work.
And yes, people have wondered and still wonder how did they do that clock hanging scene because it is so real and there wasn't exactly VFX back then. Well, it is a case of illusion, visual trickery. A game of perspective. Here, you can see how it was done —
You can read more of my film and literature related articles on my hive blog page.
Awesome! I've never even heard of this movie, but I'd love to see it. Do you know of anywhere to stream these types of #films? I'll check a bit later myself too, but are there many older classics on things like Netflix and Amazon Prime? Thanks for this review... so unique! :)
Oh, this one is in public domain. You can see it on youtube. There are many classic films on youtube. If the film is before 1940, your chance of finding it on YT is significant.
Thanks, although I was a bit groggy writing this review. Crypto market is taking a toll it seems.
I didn't see this movie yet... but I agree, I come across this poster at least twice a day while I look for movies to watch... one more time
You're making my list longerIm not surprised, it is quite popular among silent films after all.
Oh and Im not sorry at all. My pleasure.
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I haven't seen this movie before, I really liked the review, I'm going to take some time to watch it, thx!
Sorry for the late reply, and Thanks!
Happy watching. :)
Those effects are amazing. So creative, considering it was all new technology at the time!
Indeed and they look quite convincing as well.
Excellent review, I think Loyd was ahead of his time. Incredible gags that are still relevant today. Excellent movie and yes it's on youtube!!!!!
Thanks mate! And I do agree, they don't make it like that anymore.
That clock scene reminds me of a very similar scene in the Back to the Future movie series. I do not know in which part (I watched the movies a long time ago), but there is a similar scene in it.
Could be, this scene influenced so many films later on. I only saw the first part of Back to the future. Not sure if I remember any such scene from it.
There were lightning in that clock tower scene, and some cables, which helped the DeLorean to do the time travel. The lightning struck the cables. I currently do not remember much more from that scene.
Optical illusions, despite the simple possibilities, show us that the origin of cinema was old and that they were creative from a long time ago
That is why I love black and white films and consider them artistic masterpieces that cannot be repeated
Of course, the art of cinema was created around 1910 to 1930, all that came later improved some aspects and so.
Safety Last is a pretty, old movie. 1923? Never been a fan of old movie but I like the plot of this one.
Lloyd must really love his lady to give up his first pay to either buy jewelry for her or get a decent meal. How tempting!
That clock image is fascinating. Now I see how these scenes and stunts are done from the video. It's all perspective! 😀
Times were like that to be honest. :)
And I believe the special effects are always more believable and enjoyable than VFX. And I'm saying this as a 3D artist.
I think a lot of efforts goes into all the effects in old movies. With VFX, everything is now techified!
Oh, and I don't like new movies much. 😛
Lol, seriously?
Yep. I read pretty regularly as well, and also don't like new books. :P Well, by new I mean books published during and after the popularization of internet. In last 30 years.
😳 Whaaat? Why not? Hehehe, I respect your reading choice. Means you must like a lot of classics and books written way back.
I love to read too and don't mind old books. 😄
People these days lack fine prose. Too colloquial and time wasting for my taste. I don't like easy books and modern publications are dominant in those.
I do read latest non-fictions though, those are different. Updated knowledge is a priority in that case.