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Safety Last - Harold Lloyd.

Galahad

Regular
I loved this film when I first saw it, BBC used to show things like "Hooray for Harold Lloyd" after the holiday kids shows and King of the Rocket Men, and I got into the film that way.

It used a lot of camera techniques to fool the audience into thinking Lloyd actually was so high up on a skyscraper.

However, it's the hazards for me that make it so memorable. The mouse up the leg routine, the hanging from the clock, the electricution by the clock, it all made it an enjoyable comedy for me. I bet that would surprise a lot of people twice my age,
 
It has been awhile since I've seen that film. But everyone remembers the clock scene. :LOL:

I find silent movies amazing. Metropolis, for example, nails some ideas and storylines and special effects perfectly. And it was made before sound was synchronized with the picture.

It's amazing to me what some of these silent films pulled off. "The Big Parade" is one TCM showed fairly recently, during the holiday weekend, and it's another very powerful silent film.

I mostly have seen Chaplin's stuff and some of Buster Keaton's stuff. I should check out more of the Harold Lloyd films.
 
And the odd thing is, if anyone tried to pull off a remake today of most if not any of them, they would not work.

I think it was just prior to or during Safety Last that Lloyd blew half his fingers on one hand off by accident. got round it by using a special glove that meade it look like he still had all the right number of digits!
 
He still did stunts after that, didn't he? I think I remember hearing about this many, many years ago.

Anyhow, I think Mel Brookes did a good job with his "Silent Movie". :LOL: I enjoyed that movie very much. :cool:

But, yea, the depth and pathos of the old silent film era is gone forever.

Think of Chaplin's "The Kid". I remember reading a book about him in college, and he had to explain to people today that sending an orphan boy off to the orphanage was (in Chaplin's mind at least) almost as bad as a death sentence. To see that scene, if you have seen "The Kid" you know what I mean, it really is an amazing film moment. One of the best, ever.
 

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