SAFETY LAST
starring Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis
NEW YORK TIMES
April 2, 1923
Harold Lloyd's latest effort is filled with laughs and gasps. When people are not rocking in their seats at the Strand, they will be holding on to the chair arms to keep them down. Although laughter follows quickly on the heels of each thrill, the thrill lasts long enough for a man to feel that dizzy feeling when looking down from a height of twelve stories.
And not only is the acting mirth-provoking and the situations likely to set one's heart aflutter, but the titles are witty. For instance, there is the floorwalker, Harold Lloyd's persistent boss, who "is muscle-bound from patting himself on the back."
Lloyd leaves home and girl, and gets a job at $15 a week, but writes to his sweetheart that he is so successful that he is able to send her a platinum chain. Actually he owes his room rent, and his labors are behind the counter in a department store catering to the whims of bargain hunters. When the landlady wishes to collect the rent, she knocks on the door, and Lloyd and his room mate hang themselves on the coat rack concealed by their overcoats; therefore, when she bursts into the room, it is apparently empty.
Our comedian, rival of Charlie Chaplin if laughs were accurately counted, is caught by his fair young lady in the store, and he thereupon deludes her into the belief that he is the general manager of the place. Plenty of humorous situations arise. But the real laughter and thrills come when Lloyd, who knows that there is one thing his room mate can do - and that is climb up the facades of office buildings - hears the real general manager offering $1,000 for an idea that will bring a big throng around the store. There happens, though, to be a policeman who doesn't like Lloyd's friend, and the friend cannot get a chance to start on the climb because the policeman is waiting for him. Hence, Lloyd is told by his pal to climb the first story, and he, the pal, will quickly jump into his place and finish the other twelve.
The first story finds the policeman upstairs behind the pal, and Lloyd receives the signal to climb up another floor. So it continues with hair-breadth escapes until Lloyd has accomplished the whole climb himself.
The original "business" in this picture has every one on the alert, and where there have been tears for two weeks, there will be roars of rollicking laughter.
Video source: HBO Video
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