SAFETY LAST
Starring Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis
PHOTOPLAY
June, 1923
This new Harold Lloyd farce will become a classic of its kind, or we will miss our guess. For it is the bespectacled comedian's best effort to date. Lloyd has evolved his laughs from the skeletons of skyscrapers and the ledges of lofty buildings before -- but nothing has equaled 'Safety Last." Here he seemingly climbs a twelve-story department store all for the love of a girl -- and to win enough money to make possible a wedding. A hundred times he hangs by an eyelash.
The shrieks of hysterical laughter that greeted Lloyd in the comedy in New York would convince even a hardened critic -- but this reviewer left the showing in a state bordering on collapse, along with the rest. Who hasn't heightophobia? There are nervous thrills galore, as when a flock of affectionate pigeons descends upon the head of the fear-racked Harold. Then a mouse runs up his leg as he balances upon a ledge. After that an excited store customer drops a tennis netting upon the worried climber. But the climax comes when he misses his hold and seizes the huge hand of the store clock, as the face of the time-piece stretches into space.
But "Safety Last" isn't all a climbing stunt. There's a lot of good legitimate funmaking with Harold as a department store worker under the eye of a floor walking autocrat. There is one particular joyous moment when Harold, to impress the girl of his hopes, takes possession of the genral manager's private office -- and barely gets away with it.
This is easily one of the big comedies of the year. It is seven reels in length -- but it speeds by with the rapidity of a corking two-reeler.
SAFETY LAST
Starring Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis
PICTURE PLAY MAGAZINE
July, 1923
"Safety Last" is Harold Lloyd's latest. It is funny and exciting and full of good stunts. And they aren't all the sort of stunts that you can explain to your grandmother by telling her it is all trick camera work. But Edwin Schallert has taken up so much space in this issue telling you how some of the thrills were produced that I shall not dwell upon the other stunts. If you haven't seen the picture yet, you'll want a few surprises left.
For more information, see "Safety Last" as our "Feature of the Month