Safety Last!
I have finally watched a Harold Lloyd film. Charlie Chaplin and especially Buster Keaton have been in my cinematic lineup for about two decades now that they are as meaningful to me as films I may have watched as a child. It makes sense that I start out with his best-known film, “Safety Last!”. Even if you haven’t seen it, you’ve no doubt- like me- seen the most famous image of the film, with Lloyd hanging off a clock hand off the side of a building. So foundational this moment is that Martin Scorsese not only shows it in his wonderful “Hugo,” but he also quotes it visually when his hero is being chased by an authority figure. Not the first time Marty has led me to some delicious cinematic food.
The premise is as simple as a Keaton film- Lloyd’s main character is going to the big city to find work, and make a living. Back at home, he has a girl (played by Mildred Davis) he is in love with, and she’s the reason he’s going to be city- he wants to be sure he’s successful enough to be able to marry her. But times are difficult for Harold and his pal and roommate, Bill (Bill Strother), and they get into scrapes while trying to scrape by with rent while Harold tries to get his girl pretty things to show his love. He finds a job at a department store dolling out fabric, and madness entails, as well as misunderstandings that put his job, and his relationship, in danger.
Harold Lloyd did some uncredited writing on “Safety Last!,” but this is a starring vehicle for him by other writers and directors, and they true have cast him in a role in the Keaton vein. The difference is that Lloyd’s character is constantly using words to express himself rather than actions, and the comedy comes less from death-defying stunts and more from situations his character faces. It’s a very good entry point for Lloyd, and he is every bit as enduring as his silent comedy brothers, although I think I’m probably still partial to Keaton and Chaplin, although I will definitely look into more work of his in the future. This is a sweet and engaging love story, but once Harold’s live gets really frenzied in the second half, when his love is in the city, the film moves from entertaining to classic farce. That moment of Lloyd climbing the building, and hanging on the clock, is inspired and wonderful, and has a counterpoint that really puts a lovely bow on the film in a great final moment. I am curious to see what else he did, and how he operates as a comedy persona.
