Safety Last

( 1 )

Overview

After Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the silent film era's "third genius" was Harold Lloyd, who stars in this Horatio Alger-style story of an average country boy trying to make good in the big city. The Boy Lloyd leaves his sweetheart, The Girl Mildred Davis, later the real-life Mrs. Lloyd in Great Bend while he pursues his fortune in a teeming metropolis. The Boy lands a job as a clerk at a fabric counter of DeVore's, a huge department store, but he lies in his letters home to his beloved, pretending to be ...
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More About This Product

Overview

After Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the silent film era's "third genius" was Harold Lloyd, who stars in this Horatio Alger-style story of an average country boy trying to make good in the big city. The Boy Lloyd leaves his sweetheart, The Girl Mildred Davis, later the real-life Mrs. Lloyd in Great Bend while he pursues his fortune in a teeming metropolis. The Boy lands a job as a clerk at a fabric counter of DeVore's, a huge department store, but he lies in his letters home to his beloved, pretending to be the store's manager and spending his earnings on lavish gifts. The Boy's roommate, The Pal Bill Strother makes money as a "human fly," performing attention-getting stunts. Promised $1,000 by DeVore's real manager if he can devise a publicity gimmick, The Boy convinces his friend to climb the 12-story establishment and split the winnings with him. On the day of the event, however, The Pal is busy dodging The Law Noah Young, forcing The Boy to make the arduous climb solo. Dodging a variety of obstacles, The Boy climbs higher and higher, eventually dangling from the store's clock tower, in the film's most memorable image.
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Special Features

Disc one: ; New, restored 2K digital film transfer; Musical score by composer Carl Davis from 1989, synchronized and restored under his supervision; Alternate score by organist Gaylord Carter from the 1960s; Audio commentary featuiring film critic Leonard Maltin and director and Harold Lloyd archivist Richard Correll; Introduction by Suzanne Lloyd, Lloyd's granddaughter and the president of Harold Lloyd Entertainment; Three newly restored Lloyd shorts: Take a Chance (1918), Young Mr. Jazz (1919), and His Royal Slyness (1920), with commentary by Correll and film writer John Bengtson; ; Disc two:; Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius, a 108-minute documentary from 1989; Locations and Effects, a new documentary Bengtson and visual-effects expert Craig Barron; New interview with Davis; ; Plus: ; A booklet featuring an essay by critic Ed Park
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola
Safety Last (1923) pokes fun at the lengths that a 1920s man would go to to be a success, and it's also the movie in which Harold Lloyd's trademark "comedy of thrills" produced the timeless image of Lloyd's dangling precariously from a clock above a busy city street. A formidable athlete, Lloyd mined humor from a relentless series of situational and physical gags involving the efforts of his ambitious sales clerk to make it in the big city and impress his girlfriend back home. The famed climax arrives when Lloyd is forced to scale the high rise department store himself after his "human fly" publicity gambit goes awry. As he hangs off the clock 10 floors above the street, he encounters a new difficulty at every story, turning the climb into a hilarious and breathtaking physical feat. Lloyd performed most of the stunts himself (despite having lost his right thumb and forefinger in an accident) and without trick photography. One of a series of Lloyd feature hits, Safety Last helped him surpass fellow comics Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin in box-office popularity and become a 1920s icon.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 6/18/2013
  • UPC: 715515106610
  • Original Release: 1923
  • Source: Criterion
  • Region Code: 1
  • Aspect Ratio: Academy Aperture (1.37:1)
  • Presentation: Black & White
  • Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
  • Language: English
  • Time: 1:13:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 116

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Harold Lloyd The Boy
Mildred Davis The Girl
Bill Strother The Pal
Noah Young The Law
W.B. Clarke The Floorwalker
Mickey Daniels The Kid
Helen Gilmore Customer
Gus Leonard Office worker
Charles E. Stevenson Ambulance attendant
Mrs. Anna Townsend The Grandma
Technical Credits
Fred Newmeyer Director
Sam Taylor Director, Screenwriter
Fred Guiol Art Director, Editor
Walter Lundin Cinematographer
Hal Roach Screenwriter, Producer
Tim Whelan Sr. Screenwriter
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Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Safety Last!
1. The Boy and the Girl [7:50]
2. Running Late [8:10]
3. Payday [3:21]
4. Cops and Climbing [4:03]
5. Lunchtime [3:27]
6. Boy in Trouble [8:53]
7. The General Manager [5:56]
8. Sensational Idea [6:11]
9. Kick the Cop [5:02]
10. The Mystery Man [6:56]
11. Higher and Higher [2:27]
12. The Big Clock [5:47]
13. On the Edge [2:31]
14. Success at Last [3:04]
1. Color Bars [:20]
Disc #2 -- Safety Last!
1. Being a Genius [8:23]
2. Hal Roach [7:55]
3. Lonesome Luke with Glasses [4:40]
4. Leading Ladies [5:30]
5. Perfect Comedy [12:36]
6. The Thrill Pictures [12:42]
1. The Need to Succeed [8:00]
2. New Leading Lady [10:41]
3. A Rural Idyll [8:32]
4. Sound [10:00]
5. Losing Control [9:24]
6. A New Career [9:24]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- Safety Last!
   About the Scores
      Carl Davis
         About
      Gaylord Carter
         About
   Play the Movie
   Chapters
   Commentary
      Commentary: On
      Commentary: Off
      Index
         Culver City
         His Own Boss
         Archetypes
         Setup and Payoff
         Ethnic Humor
         "Gag After Gag"
         The Archive
         Harold's Collaborators
         "The Era of the Stunt"
         Harold's Hands
         "He Took Chances"
         "Here He Goes Again"
         A Great Dancer
         The Last Façade
         Color Bars
   Suzanne Lloyd Introduction
      Play
   Short Films
      Take a Chance
         Play
      Young Mr. Jazz
         Play
      His Royal Slyness
         Play
Disc #2 -- Safety Last!
   Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius
      Play
      Index
         Part One
         Part Two
   Locations and Effects
      Play
   Carl Davis: Scoring for Harold
      Play
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Customer Reviews

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  • Anonymous

    Posted Wed Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    I first saw this film on TCM, then I saw it referenced in the mo

    I first saw this film on TCM, then I saw it referenced in the movie Hugo. Harold Lloyd's glasses character is funny and lovable. It is a very funny film, and it embodies the silent film comedy era perfectly. If you are a fan of Buster Ketene and/or Charlie Chaplin, then you with love this film. Harold Lloyd is one of the greats right along with them.

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Sort by: Showing 1 Customer Reviews