Continue with Google
>
Safety Last Reviews
Safety Last! is a hilarious and visually stunning slapstick comedy that will leave you in stitches!
This one will always have a special place for me as it's the first silent movie I ever watched. The clock scene is incredible even for todays standards. A true classic for any silent film lover
I had seen the famous scene of Harold Lloyd hanging from a clock many times before, but I wanted to understand the full context of it, so I gave Safety Last! a shot. That climbing part is very impressive, and stands as a monument of how stunt work, visual effects, acting & editing can create a highly memorable movie moment. However, the story does take its time getting to that scene, and the laughs, while there, weren't as plentiful as I anticipated during this comedy. I don't regret watching Safety Last at all, and I would recommend others watch it, but it's just not one of my favorite silent films.
Harold Lloyd gives audiences an eye catcher with Safety Last. From the way Safety Last was executed, the film was witty and clever. It should also be noted that the film's sound was clever as well. But what made the film really special, was the film's special effects that were both special and effective. Especially during the climbing sequence where Harold Lloyd's character is dangling from a clock at high altitude. Safety Last is such an iconic film in terms of visual effects and slapstick comedy. The film is highly artistic. Safety last but comical first.
Being a big fan of both Chaplin and Keaton, this was my first experience with Harold Lloyd (thanks to The Criterion Collection's beautifully remastered Blu-ray version) and man was I impressed. The film was amazingly staged and was hilarious from start to finish as well as unnerving in the amazing stunts performed by Lloyd. I rarely laugh out loud during films but I was dying laughing throughout the film. The building climbing finale is both expertly staged and terrifying to watch as Lloyd teeters on the edge and dangles from multiple places on his long journey upwards. Watch a great comedy of the everyman Glasses character and one that most people then and now could relate to in some way or another. Highly recommended!
Famous in the silent-era for the sequence of Lloyd clutching the hands of clock, dangling from the side of a skyscraper over city traffic, Safety Last! is one of the great silent comedies of all, cementing Lloyd as one of the eminent comic actors of the 1920s which includes Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
There are lots of laughs here. Harold Lloyd isn't as well remembered as Chaplin and Keaton and that's a shame.
This is one of the funniest films I've every seen, as well as the best stunts! Can only imagine what Harold Lloyd could have done with more technology. What a genius.
Anyone who thinks silent film can't be entertaining should watch this. The slapstick comedy is excellent, imaginative and so well executed. The climbing scenes are about as nerve wracking as free solo. Great fun to watch.
A very simple story about an everyday man who's trying to make ends meet while making his woman happy. The way they setup some of the comedic jokes are pretty brilliant. The stunts are quite impressive as well. The way Bill climbed the building without any harness was crazy. The comedy, like Lloyd's other movies, are very clever. Even though I felt like it wasn't as good as Speedy, I thought it was pretty entertaining and funny. Idk I thought Speedy was a lot more exciting, thrilling and entertaining.
Not as funny as Chaplin or Keaton. On the other hand because of the early time it can't be considered (at least by me) as a good drama, so it falls in between chairs. There's a reason why Lloyd is the 3rd between them
The climbing sequence is what really makes this otherwise fairly rote slapstick comedy. I got a touch of vertigo on some of the ledge scenes myself!
No need for words in this silent comedy classic!
Pretty standard silent comedy from Harold Lloyd, with a timeless, unforgettable third act. The setup is basic enough; it's the well-worn yarn of an ambitious young go-getter who moves to the city and finds that getting rich quick isn't quite as easy as he'd expected. He puts on an act for correspondence, boasting of a high-dollar lifestyle and shipping gifts to his girl while rent on his meager apartment goes unpaid; unwittingly spinning himself a flimsy web that tangles when the aforementioned love interest pops in for an unannounced visit. That leads to a few good bits of physical comedy, some crafty sleight of hand, several near-misses, but the premise drags after a while and the action is too often interrupted by unnecessary title cards. It's only when he stumbles into a chance to actually make that long-sought bank, climbing the face of a twelve-story building as a promotional stunt, that the picture really hits its stride and jumps to a new level. Lloyd is incredible in these scenes, expertly toying with our anticipation and tempting fate with every step. He teeters on the brink (and even tumbles over the edge) countless times, always with a new gimmick or snare to up the ante, while the spectacular camera angles ensure that a crucial, cringing sense of risk is never lost. I'd say the special effects hold up astonishingly for a century-old picture, but these weren't really effects at all. Though a misstep may not have led to *certain* death (a flimsy scaffold, just out of frame, allegedly provided some peace of mind), Lloyd was really gripping that skyscraper a hundred feet in the air, with an expansive view of 1920s Los Angeles spread out behind him. The gamble pays off; thanks to the seamless view, our subconscious worry makes for more nail-biting peril and quicker laughs when that tension is, momentarily, diffused. As a package, Safety Last is entertaining and well-made, but maybe not a top-notch example of the era. That last act, though, earns every last one of the callbacks and tributes it's been paid over the years.
Innovative and unpredictable
Harold Lloyd slips between the cracks as a master of physical comedy in the silent era when compared to the modern status of Chaplin and Keaton, but he was just as capable as either, and it shows here. (4.5/5)
This day could not get any worse for this guy!
Think it takes a modern film to truly thrill you? I dare you to watch the climbing sequence of this movie without gasping, shrieking, and straight up screaming. I certainly did. And I enjoyed every perfect second of it.
This is a real classic comedy of the silent era and well worth hunting out to see it. This is the film where famously, Harold Lloyd climbs the outside of a building and ends up dangling above the street from the fingers of a large clock. While watching this, just bear in mind that Lloyd had lost a thumb and finger some years earlier while he was holding a bomb that went off in his hand. Quite how he ends up on the outside of the building that houses the department store where he works as a fabric salesman is rather convoluted but hardly matters as the comic genius of the piece covers the holes in the plot. Lloyd has a cheery and affable disposition that makes him instantly likeable and endearing. You are literally willing him to succeed as you laugh at his antics as he launches hi madcap plan to gain a prize that will secure his future with the girl he loves.