NR | Drama | 1 Hour 14 Minutes | $6.00 General Admission/ Members
In 1919, Harold Lloyd lost the thumb and index finger of his right hand when a prop bomb exploded during a publicity photo shoot. His career was salvaged by a prosthetic glove. In light of this, it seems inconceivable that just 2 years later, he made Safety Last! the grand finale of his “thrill comedies”.
Even if you think you don’t know Harold Lloyd, you do. It’s from Safety Last!’s iconic image: a bespectacled man hanging from the hand of a clock attached to a skyscraper, the city far below. It is one of the most celebrated (and recreated) images in cinema and the sequence remains one of the most effective and thrilling moments in film comedy.
Lloyd knew this idea was a winner and constructed the film around this sequence and built the plot around it. Harold, a small-town bumpkin leaves home to make it in the big city – a common trope in the go-go 1920’s. Unfortunately, he can only find work as a lowly department-store clerk. His girl, Mildred, back home is led to believe from his letters that he’s a big wig at the store, making a wonderful salary. The lovely, expensive gifts he sends home to her help to cement this idea. All goes reasonably well until Mildred shows up unexpectedly. Harold is desperate for a lot of money to support all his claims in his letters. He finds an answer to his problems when the store manager announces he will pay $1000 to anyone who can help increase the store’s business.
With the help of his roommate Bill, who, conveniently, has a talent as a “human fly”, Harold comes up with a wild publicity stunt to draw attention – and people – to the store. However, nothing goes as planned, of course, resulting in an incredible feat of derring-do by Harold (not Bill) that finally gets him started on the climb to success – and the girl too, of course.
During Safety Last!’s thrilling finale, it was not uncommon for 1920s spectators to hide their eyes or even faint. Many cinemas reportedly hired a nurse or kept ambulances on call outside the theater.
While ambulances and fainting are a thing of the past, Safety Last! remains a film that is laugh-out-loud funny and jaw-dropping in equal measure; a movie experience par excellence, anchored by a genuine legend.
“Sunday Silents” is made possible by the generous support of Jim DeMaio, State Farm, New Paltz
Live piano accompaniment by Marta Waterman