Series: Harold Lloyd feature
Director: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Producer: Hal Roach
Titles: H.M. Walker Story: Hal Roach, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan
Photography: Walter Lundin
Editor: Thomas J. Crizer
Stars: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, Westcott B. Clarke
Company: Pathé Exchange
Released: 01 April 1923
Length: 7 reels
Production No.: L-17
Filming dates: July 15 - October 18, 1922;retakes October 23, November 29, December 1, 1922
Rating: -/10
Safety Last!
 |
Available on BLU-RAY & DVD:
|
 |
Harold is at Grand Bend train station about to leave his fiancé (MILDRED DAVIS) and mother behind on the platform, hoping to make good in the city so that he can return to marry his girl. After a series of errors in which Harold first picks up a black child by mistake and then jumping onto the back of a passing cart, he finally makes the train. Fast forward a few months and Harold is living in the city, sharing accomodation with his pal, "Limpy Bill" (BILL STOTHER). Harold proudly shows Bill some jewelry (a la vallier) he has bought for Mildred, but in order to afford it he had to pawn one of his phonograph records, for twelve dollars. It's at this point his pal shows him an overdue rent notice for $14. Just then, the landlady knocks on their door. In what is surely one of the best gags of the film, the two guys quickly put on their coats, climb up onto a footing on the wall and hide from the landlady, who enters the room and doesn't spot them up against the wall hiding under their coats. Harold sends his girl the present along with a long love letter, which he intends to buy himself some time in order to make it big before he can join him. Harold is sitting outside his work place and writing another letter to Mildred when he inadvertently gets himself locked in the back of a laundry truck and driven away. When the truck stops in town Harold berates the driver and tells him to drive back or else Harold will lose his job. Harold then tries to board a ridiculously overcrowded streetcar but gets off when a kind motorist pulls up and offers him a ride. This leads to the driver receiving a parking ticket for parking next to a fire hydrant when he goes to check on Harold who has fallen from the streetcar. Harold feigns an injury when he sees an ambulance parked outside a store and is put on a stretcher and driven away by the attendants. |
|
When Harold realises what is happening he calls to be dropped off at the next stop, which is next to where he works. After he sees an employee being reprimanded for being late, Harold disguises himself as a mannequin and is carried into the office, where he quickly adjusts the clock to make him appear on time. Harold sneaks into the store on all-fours, which is observed by the floorwalker before getting to work as a salesperson.
REVIEW COMPLETE TO 15 MINS |
 |
| Trivia • Copyrighted January 25, 1923. • Premiered March 17, 1923. • Lead actress Mildred Davis married Harold Lloyd two months prior to this film's release. This was the last time she sppeared in one of his films. • Added to the National Film Registry on November 14, 1994. • The opening shot of Harold Lloyd behind bars is very clever, as the screen then reveals a hanging noose behind him. It turns out to be a double-fool because it is in fact a train station. Quite the co-incidence the film was released on April Fool's Day? • There is a continuity error in the next shot as the group, whilst standing next to the bars, turn their backs and begin walking away from the camera, so that in the very next shot the group are seen walking towards the camera. The problem is, they had already taken several steps forward in the previous shot yet when the camera cuts to them walking towards the camera (the platform), they seemingly begin their walk from the bars again. This could not have been possible in theory. • When the black lady brings her child into the train station at the beginning, as she sets the child down it begins to cry. As the shot cuts to a close up of the two, the child appears to be completely normal. • The train that Harold Lloyd catches at the beginning of the film is number 1229 and has the letters A.T. & S.F. (which was Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) on the side of it. I do find it odd, even in 1923 that a train would allow passengers to alight into the middle of a road! • There is an intertitle card which reads "one pocketbook between them, usually empty". A variation of this card was later used in Laurel & Hardy's Laughing Gravy. • The pawn ticket is dated May 5th, 1922. Just in case anyone is interested - that was a Friday. It was pawned at Uncle Ike's Pawn Shop, 1110 Hester Street, ticket number 37462, and was for $12. • Here's an interesting observation: the pawn ticket says 1922, yet the intertitle card which refers to Harold writing several letters to his girl has a calendar in the top-left corner which clearly says 1923. |
 |
Harold Lloyd The boy |
 |
Mildred Davis Mildred |
 |
Bill Strother Limpy Bill |
 |
Noah Young The law |
 |
Westcott Clarke Mr. Stubbs, head floorwalker |
Roy Brooks Man laughing at window |
 |
Mickey Daniels Newsboy with freckles |
Richard Daniels Worker with Acetylene torch |
Ray Erlenborn Newsboy with cap |
 |
William Gillespie General manager's assistant |
Helen Gilmore Department store customer |
Wallace Howe Man with flowers/ Studio photographer |
James T. Kelley Old driver of delivery truck |
Gus Leonard Office worker |
Sam Lufkin Pawnshop owner |
 |
Earl Mohan Drunk exiting Acme Drug Co. |
Marie Mosquini Salesgirl |
 |
Lyle Tayo [?] |
 |
Fred C. Newmeyer Car driver who receives parking ticket |
 |
Charles Stevenson Ambulance attendant |
Anna Townsend Grandma during sale sequence |
Patrick Youch Clock sequence onlooker |
 |
Villie Latimer Woman in background |
 |
George Jeske Noose man at station |
 |
Charles Lloyd Man at station/Painter |
 |
Oscar Morgan Store employee moving mannequins |
 |
Katherine Grant Blonde woman looking out of window |
 |
Charley Chase Bystander as Harold climbs the building |
Jack O'Brien Man in strawboater hat |
Ed Brandenburg Man clapping |
Chris Lynton Man in crowd |
 |
Ham Kinsey Store employee |
 |
Monte Collins Sr. Laundry truck driver |
 |
Dorothea Wolbert Picky fabric customer |
Chester Bachman Friendly cop |
 |
Patsy O'Byrne Bespectacled woman in office |
Molly Thompson Woman with nerve tonic |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Harold's mother |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Harold's father |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Woman at station |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Man at station |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED People at station |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Train conductor |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Lady and child |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Postman |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Laundry customer |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Elderly man who talks with Harold |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Streetcar passenger Harold jumps on |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Streetcar passenger |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Streetcar passenger |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Policeman |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Cop giving parking ticket |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Late employee/Timekeeper |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Customers... I think? |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Man on girder |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Pedestrians with nothing better to do Angle 1 |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Pedestrians with nothing better to do Angle 2 |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Half decent looking store employee |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Store employee |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Woman in elevator |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Customer with outrageous hat |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Store employee |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Health & Safety daredevils |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Saleslady |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Ambulance driver |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Customer/Saleslady |
 |
UNIDENTIFIED Customer |
| CREDITS (click image to enlarge) | INTERTITLES (FIRST 18 MINUTES) (click image to enlarge) |
 |
 |
| POSTER (click any image to enlarge) 
|
| LOBBY CARD (click any image to enlarge) 
|
| SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge) 
 
 
|
| Acknowledgements: The Harold Lloyd Encyclopedia by Annette D'Agostino Lloyd (book) A History Of The Hal Roach Studios by Richard Lewis Ward (book) https://silentlocations.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/how-harold-lloyd-filmed-safety-last/ (John Bengtson) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_Last! (Wikipedia) Jim Clewer (screenshots: Charles Stevenson, William Gillespie, Villie Latimer) Tom Schober (help and assistance) Steve Wright (identification and screenshot of Lyle Tayo) Jesse Brisson (identification of George Jeske, Charles Lloyd, Oscar Morgan, Katherine Grant, Charley Chase, Jack O'Brien, Ed Brandenburg, Molly Thompson, Chris Lynton, Chester Bachman, Dorothea Wolbert, Patsy O'Byrne, Monte Collins Sr) This page was last updated on: 13 May 2023 |