Safety Last

Safety Last, motion-picture comedy about a young man who puts himself through great hardship in order to earn a fortune to impress his fiancée. Released in 1923, this award-winning silent film stars Harold Lloyd as the boy who moves to the big city, intending to return for his sweetheart (played by Mildred Davis) when he can support her. His exaggerated reports of financial success lead the girl’s mother to worry that this bright boy might be stolen away from her daughter by another woman, so she sends the girl to the city posthaste. Faced with the immediate need to produce his alleged wealth, the boy finagles a deal with his wall-climbing roommate that involves the climbing of a tall department store to earn a large cash sum. The boy will climb the first three floors, then secretly switch place with the professional, who will finish the dangerous feat. However, the professional is detained by the police, and the boy finds himself faced with an increasingly perilous climb. This film features the oft-reproduced scene where actor Lloyd hangs from the hands of a clock high above the city.

Directors

• Fred Newmeyer
• Sam Taylor

Cast

• Harold Lloyd (The boy)
• Mildred Davis (The girl)
• Bill Strothers (The pal)
• Noah Young (The law)
• Westcott B. Clarke (The floorwalker)
• Mickey Daniels (The kid)
• Anna Townsend (The grandma)

Awards

• Selected for Registry by the National Film Preservation Board (1994)

Trivia

• Actor Lloyd initially planned to use a mattress just out of camera range for his safety net in case he fell. Testing the idea with a dummy, Lloyd watched it hit the padding, bounce off, and plummet to the street below.
• Lloyd made the climb with the use of only eight fingers. Part of his hand was destroyed when a prop bomb detonated in his fist in an earlier film, and he had to wear a glove for the remainder of his career.
• This film grossed more than ten times its cost to make and was popular with President Warren G. Harding. Other filmgoers were known to faint in their seats over the dizzying, high-rise stunt work. Actor Jackie Chan sites Lloyd as a major influence in his work.