More Silent Films

This was another installment of The Silent Clowns Film Series celebrating the 120th birth anniversary of Harold Lloyd. Both the short, Bumping into Broadway (1919) and the feature, Safety Last! (1923) starred Mr. Lloyd.

In Bumping into Broadway, Lloyd was a playwright staying in a boardinghouse who was given his third and final notice of rent due—$3.50! He scrounged up (from some very funny places) just enough dough, but when he went out into the hallway, there was an actress who was in the exact same predicament, so, gallant gent that he is, he gave the money to her. As a result, the landlady’s “muscle” went after Lloyd, leading to slapstick chases, bumbling cops, stairs being frantically climbed and scurried down, roulette winnings from an accidental bet, and pratfalls galore. Oh, in the end the boy gets the girl.

Safety Last! has Lloyd setting off to the big city from Great Bend, leaving his girl behind but promising to send for her when he’s made good at work. He does have work as a clerk in a department store, but he misrepresents his importance. When his girl shows up unexpectedly, he has to fake his status, even including impersonating the department store manager. In the course of this, he overhears the real manager offering $1,000! to anyone who can bring huge crowds to the store. Hey! He knows someone who can climb, human fly–like, up the face of a building. He convinces his roommate to do the stunt, but that plan is thwarted due an earlier incident involving the police that has a disgruntled officer on the lookout for the human fly.

A new plan is hatched, where Lloyd will climb one story of the building and then the real human fly will take over, after ditching the cop. Suffice it to say that Lloyd ends up having to do the entire climb that includes many hazards along the way—pigeons, near falls, a board poking out of a window, a mouse up his pants leg, a rope mishap and ... yes ... the clock! Indeed, this is the iconic “dangling from the clock” movie. He finally makes it to the top, his girl is there, the roommate is still being chased by the cop, and Lloyd and his girl stroll off into the sunset.

Both films were masterfully accompanied by Ben Model at the Steinway grand. From the program notes, we learn that the climb was inspired by a real climb observed by Lloyd. He then hired the daredevil, Bill Strothers, and cast him as the roommate. The actual climb sequence required Lloyd to only be involved with two stories, with camera angles supplying the illusion of the long climb. For actual shots of the entire climb, Strothers was used as a stunt double. While I didn’t stay for the Q&A session afterward, I did hear that the climb sequence was completed first and then the rest of the plot portions of the movie were filmed and edited into the final product. Both films were quite funny, eliciting real laughter from the audience, including me. A fun Saturday afternoon at the silents!

ConcertMeister