Safety Last! (1923)

When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.

Directors:

Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor

Writers:

Hal Roach (story), Sam Taylor (story),

Stars:

Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Harold Lloyd	...	The Boy / Harold Lloyd
Mildred Davis	...	The Girl
Bill Strother	...	The Pal
Noah Young	...	The Law
Westcott Clarke	...	The Floorwalker (as Westcott B. Clarke)

Storyline

In 1922, the country boy Harold says goodbye to his mother and his girlfriend Mildred in the train station and leaves Great Bend expecting to be successful in the big city. Harold promises to Mildred to get married with her as soon as he "make good". Harold shares a room with his friend "Limpy" Bill and he finally gets a job as salesman in the De Vore Department Store. However, he pawns Bill's phonograph, buys a lavaliere and writes to Mildred telling that he is a manager of De Vore. One day, Harold sees an old friend from Great Bend that is a policeman and when he meets his friend Bill, he asks Bill to push the policeman over him and make him fall down. However Bill pushes the wrong policeman that chases him, but he escapes climbing up a building. Out of the blue, Mildred is convinced by her mother to visit Harold without previous notice and he pretends to be the manager of De Vore. When Harold overhears the general manager telling that he would give one thousand dollars to to anyone...

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Plot Keywords:

department store | human fly | ledge | publicity stunt | clock | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 April 1923 (USA)

Also Known As:

Monte là-dessus!

Filming Locations:

Atlantic Hotel, Broadway, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hal Roach Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min 70 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Premiere ranked this movie as number one on its "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" list in 2006. (It should be noted that this list was ranked chronologically, so this movie's number one ranking only reflects that it is the oldest movie on the list.)

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Goofs

The Boy knows the Cop is behind him from the position of long shadows, but the cop is too far behind the boy for the shadow to be seen. In other shots where shadows from people are seen, including Boy and Cop, the shadows are short.

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Connections

Spoofed in Shanghai Knights (2003)

User Reviews

Hanging Around With Harold Lloyd

The "human fly" antics which ends this movie is undoubtly the most famous sequence in all of silent cinema. It is also the most hilarious. Breathtaking, heart-stopping & very funny, it is the element that you remember the longest. While THE KID BROTHER was Harold Lloyd's masterpiece, SAFETY LAST was & is his most famous movie.

But don't overlook the rest of the film in which he plays a lowly store clerk (dealing with frantic female shoppers and an imperious floorwalker) who tries to convince his rather gullible girlfriend - played by real-life wife Mildred Davis - that he's actually the store manager.

Throughout, Harold Lloyd is beyond praise. His comic genius makes it all look so easy. And his athletic daredeviltry is even more amazing when you realize that 2 of the fingers on his right hand are fake - he lost the real digits in a freak studio accident.