Movies have become
faster paced over the years, but I don’t know if they have gotten any more
intense. Why? Because Safety Last! was released in 1923, and if people
weren’t used to the kind of palm-sweating, butt-clenching stress that comes from
watching Harold Lloyd scale a sixteen story building in loafers and a tie then
I’m sure the Wikipedia page for the film would be littered with stories of
people having heart attacks and dying while watching it. Tom Cruise wishes he
could pull off a stunt as insanely intense as that.
Harold Lloyd may not be quite as well known
as his contemporaries Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, but his physical comedy
in Safety Last! is every bit as effective and charming. His character,
who is as much a clever trickster as he is a bumbling idiot who has silly
things happen to him, was often unpredictable to me, and as surprise is such a
vital part of comedy I found his shenanigans hilarious. Up until the last
thirty minutes, anyway; when he gets onto the side of that building those same
shenanigans instead serve to heighten the tension. Others may find that last
bit funny and maybe it’s just my fear of heights talking, but man I did not
enjoy that stunt (in a good way).
Also Harold Lloyd looked a bit like a girl I
went to high school with. I don't know why that's in this review but it is.
