may Harold Clayton Lloyd is a notch below Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton, in fact involved less these in the design and frame of his films, his position as the third of the funniest comedians in the film of the silent period is well deserved. But the fact remains that the image of the figure suspended from the shafts of a giant clock located at the top of a building remains indelible in our memories any still photographs of the titles of the other two, winning without discussion by Buster Keaton sitting on the crank of a steam locomotive The General (Drivers of The General, 1926) or chased by a legion of marriageable feverish in Seven Choices (Seven Chances, 1925), and Charlot tramp sitting by the small The kid (The Kid, 1921) or comically so often jumped with his back to goal, but sublime moments lose their force when they forced to stay static, unlike that of Lloyd. The scene belongs to Safety last! (Last!, 1923), Pathécomedy Directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, in which Harold Lloyd is the youngest of the people migrating to the big city with the intention to thrive and be able to offer his beloved (Mildred Davis), lost her father, a life without hardship. But once there, surrounded by skyscrapers and traffic devil, he discovers that the work is hard, like his as a dependent on fabrics and remnants section of department stores De Vore, who rush are many, and who pays it, if sufficient for fancies, a pendant to the desired, for example, fails to pay the rent. Faced with the sudden arrival of the bride to what she's supposed to be the section that directs the immigrant wanted, the young will have to improvise to dazzle. And with the fear of disappoint, when he hears his boss as one would pay $ 1000 to whom he offered a good idea to increase sales, is the perfect opportunity to fulfill their dreams hard cash: his roommate, Limpy Bill (Bill Strother), is a skilled climber and comes up with buildings that could gather a large crowd to see as it ascends to the roof of the establishment. To do this create the right climate, in the press announcing the exciting challenge of death which will carry out a mysterious man. In fact, after a troubled and dangerous climb, the building is crowned, but not the way dream: Bill runs chased by a policeman in the neighborhood, because of a previous mess-mate courtesy of hardships, Lloyd's character will be the executing risky and who found the reward of the lips on the upper terrace dream. (As a curiosity, note that the loving couple had married on February 10, 1923 and the tape was released on 1 April that year, so going through its most sweet, and founded a family with three children if it was not a model was due, among other eccentricities, to the fans of him photographing Bettie Page, Marilyn Monroe and other women light or free clothes: indeed, a parasite of exquisite taste for the female nude.)
Full of comical and beautiful, among which the massive sales on the anniversary of the stores, where he himself fights a duel with a client who lost his jacket for fear of being dismembered, and the fearsome climb of the building , where the danger comes in, and not by this order of appearance, canopy, fishing net, scaffold plank, failure of old, dove, dog, mouse, fragile flagpole, anemometer, eaves, ropes, and glorious!, the machinery of big wall clock high block of shops, Harold Lloyd had the idea, which developed the producer Hal Roach and writer Sam Taylor and Tim Whelan, at see climb to the top of a building in Los Angeles to Bill Strother, one of the many men then climbed spiders without fleeing poverty network. We now know that this stunt was magnificent double major player in the sequences where we see him from afar to carry out his daring plan and impossible close-ups in the body of actor-rimmed glasses seem ready to rush to vacuum-acrobat wearing shoes, true, but had lost his right thumb and index finger, and part of the mobility and strength in that arm during an accident in a shooting four years ago: almost nothing! - he actually had stopped the platform with mattresses that was off screen and served as the basis for the different sets that generated the optical illusion seems so real and dangerous that once caused a huge amount of rolling blackouts, the end of the climbing is more rapid and remarkable, though less plastic, which featured the famous moment in the first paragraph ", which led to some cinemas to hire nurses on duty, which increased the fame of the film and the actor's cache, which by then had been shot more than 150 titles, many of them with his character of Lonesome Luke.
also see today that Safety last! , a feat beyond ironic to note that the least important is protection, is a parody, a parable, a metaphor, career advancement, the speed of life in the city, where everything moves with the pace set the clocks, the hours were consumed quickly in those days of madness and debauchery were continuous roaring 20. From the start cheating, it seems that there is no hurry to hang our man, when we see the clerk to get to work early so that it might be the night watchman, a change is made and full racing irrepressible, desire fulfilled in the event viewer.
Yes, Safety last! missing a couple of minutes late, just to see how it was resolved, short-term, life overwhelmed Seller, if the two friends would not have to hang their coats on hangers to simulate their absence every time he entered the home to claim the rent, if the chain and pendant would look to match a wedding ring, if you hold a banquet at the restaurant menus to 50 cents for business, perhaps with the priest facing with complicity to the widow, if he would increase social dream ... But they were fast times, waiting for the next project. Although thanks to Harold Lloyd's ability to stop the audience watches, were also fun. And, as he would say, "Laughter is the most beautiful sound in the world" .
Safety last! (Last!, 1923)
In the book 1001 movies you must see before you die (Editorial Grijalbo) no details titles F. Newmeyer and S. Taylor.
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