Safety Last!

With its iconic image of Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock above the streets of Los Angeles, Safety Last! is one of the most recognizable silent comedies of all time and the first of actor/producer/director Lloyd's “thrill pictures.” Often overshadowed by Chaplin and Keaton, in his day Lloyd was just as popular and even more financially successful, possibly because he was easy to relate to: the most modern of the big three, Lloyd came across as a bright young man of the Jazz Age who was trying to carve out his piece of the American Dream. Daring stunts aside (and the climb up the side of a building is mind-boggling, thanks to a mix of ingenious filmmaking and impressive physical comedy), this funny urban farce finds Lloyd playing “The Boy” from the sticks who poses as a savvy big shot while toiling away in a department store. He's both the hard-working Horatio Alger and the smart-aleck guy whose shortcuts and sneaky moves make him something of a blowhard. Some of Lloyd's clever ideas are truly magical, turning cultural clichés into witty visual gags, but he also occasionally falls back on tired racial stereotypes (thankfully, those instances are few and far between). Mostly, this is a hilarious tale of an ambitious young man stumbling over his own hubris. Beautifully restored and remastered for DVD and Blu-ray, extras include a choice of two musical scores, audio commentary by critic Leonard Maltin and Lloyd archivist Richard Correll, the superb 1989 documentary Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius, three Lloyd shorts, a retrospective featurette, an interview with composer Carl Davis, and more. A landmark film, this is highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)