Many people like to lump Chaplain, Keaton and Lloyd into a stew as "great silent comics"; but they are all incomparable. Of the three, Lloyd is perhaps the most modern. He looks like a push-over (and played one in "The Kid Brother") but his character was more like a Bill Murray character today: irreverent, occasionally mean, sassy, and ultimately good hearted.
"Safety Last" was Lloyd's best feature (though some would argue for "The Kid Brother"), a metaphor for America's rise to the top in the 1920s, after a long struggle. Only after World War I could America really assert its dominance on the world stage, though it was also, just then, very isolationist. The stock market was booming. People sought cheap thrills, and dare-devil acts were everywhere -- flagpole sitters, wing-walkers, human flies . . .
Lloyd plays a poor young man who leaves his home town sweetheart to make his fortune in the big city. Some time later, he's working at a counter at a department store and still very poor. Two things happen simultaneously: he learns his girl is coming to the city to see how he's succeeding (he's been writing letters home that are full of deception); and he learns the store wants a gimmick to attract more people.
Lloyd's best friend is a construction worker. The two of them previously played a practical joke on a mutual friend who is a policeman -- but it's the wrong policeman. He doesn't see Lloyd, but chases his friend, who escapes by climbing a building. The friend later confides to Lloyd he used to have a human fly act.
Lloyd persuades him to climb the department store, and then sells the human fly gimmick to the store's head honcho. But as Lloyd's friend arrives at the building, he finds the policeman who's looking for him is hanging around. He's chased up through the building. He tells Lloyd to go up the first story, and then he'll swap coats and hats and go the rest of the way. Lloyd's character is wary, but committed to the act.
Unfortunately, every time Lloyd gets to a higher floor, the policeman has caught his friend. Lloyd has to climb one story after another, and each time a new and original obstacle is put in his way (including the infamous clock, which produces Lloyd's iconic image).
Like the best comedies, it starts with a plot and believable characters, then builds inexorably and even inescapably toward one of the funniest half-hours in motion picture history as Lloyd's character scales the side of his store to success and love.
A documentary on Lloyd produced by the BBC, called "Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius", gives some spoilers as to how the climb was accomplished. By clever forced perspective, camera angles, and fine acting on Lloyd's part, the illusion is maintained that he is actually in danger(Lloyd actually is as high as he appears, whatever other sleight of hand Lloyd's crew pulls). This helps build a tension that augments rather than dampens the laughs.
And Lloyd saves the best trick for the climax.
"Safety Last" was Lloyd's best feature (though some would argue for "The Kid Brother"), a metaphor for America's rise to the top in the 1920s, after a long struggle. Only after World War I could America really assert its dominance on the world stage, though it was also, just then, very isolationist. The stock market was booming. People sought cheap thrills, and dare-devil acts were everywhere -- flagpole sitters, wing-walkers, human flies . . .
Lloyd plays a poor young man who leaves his home town sweetheart to make his fortune in the big city. Some time later, he's working at a counter at a department store and still very poor. Two things happen simultaneously: he learns his girl is coming to the city to see how he's succeeding (he's been writing letters home that are full of deception); and he learns the store wants a gimmick to attract more people.
Lloyd's best friend is a construction worker. The two of them previously played a practical joke on a mutual friend who is a policeman -- but it's the wrong policeman. He doesn't see Lloyd, but chases his friend, who escapes by climbing a building. The friend later confides to Lloyd he used to have a human fly act.
Lloyd persuades him to climb the department store, and then sells the human fly gimmick to the store's head honcho. But as Lloyd's friend arrives at the building, he finds the policeman who's looking for him is hanging around. He's chased up through the building. He tells Lloyd to go up the first story, and then he'll swap coats and hats and go the rest of the way. Lloyd's character is wary, but committed to the act.
Unfortunately, every time Lloyd gets to a higher floor, the policeman has caught his friend. Lloyd has to climb one story after another, and each time a new and original obstacle is put in his way (including the infamous clock, which produces Lloyd's iconic image).
Like the best comedies, it starts with a plot and believable characters, then builds inexorably and even inescapably toward one of the funniest half-hours in motion picture history as Lloyd's character scales the side of his store to success and love.
A documentary on Lloyd produced by the BBC, called "Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius", gives some spoilers as to how the climb was accomplished. By clever forced perspective, camera angles, and fine acting on Lloyd's part, the illusion is maintained that he is actually in danger(Lloyd actually is as high as he appears, whatever other sleight of hand Lloyd's crew pulls). This helps build a tension that augments rather than dampens the laughs.
And Lloyd saves the best trick for the climax.