Review of Safety Last! (1923) by Michael C — 26 Aug 2009

Silent films are always very difficult for me to review, because I have the problem with silent film comedies that I have with animation; one entity has mastered the form so perfectly everyone else pales in comparison.

For animation, anything non-Pixar, even when it is good, makes me wish I was watching a Pixar film instead the majority of the time. With silent film comedies, after watching Chaplin's brilliance in films like "The Gold Rush" and "City Lights", I have a hard time appreciating most other silent comedy legends.

With that said, "Safety Last" is the first Harold Lloyd film I've seen, and overall I thought it was a pretty amusing hour and a half. Lloyd at a glance doesn't seem to have the comic brilliance of someone like Chaplin or Buster Keaton, as most of the humor is based on him unwittingly getting into awkward and dangerous situations.

But Lloyd has admirable comic timing and his dread at the situation at hand shows he could emote in a comical way effectively. And many of the gags in here are great; the image of Lloyd hanging from the giant clock suspended on the building is classic (and was slightly paid homage to in Back to the Future), but there is also a really funny, witty scene where Lloyd tricks a police officer into getting a "Kick Me" sign placed on his back.

The story is simplistic, with a young man trying to make himself wealthy in the big city and then attempts a death-defying stunt in an attempt to impress his girlfriend, but it is a fun setup for the antics.

If you are wanting to watch the pinnacle of silent film comedy, go with Chaplin, but Lloyd is definitely amusing and skilled at comedy in his own right.