106) Safety Last!

[00:00:03] Step right up ladies and gents, a show for the ages, a spectacle of silent silver, gather around folks, don't be shy, a real humdinger of a picture of eight, thrills, chills, and plenty of laughs

[00:00:24] From the golden days of flickering reels and grand Nickelodeons comes a program most extraordinary, a real corker of a show, a top-notch talkie about a world with no talk at all, it's Casabloga, Silent Treatment I said in the last episode that I think if you have to be vulgar to be funny, you're not funny

[00:00:52] Well, this film, Safety Last, is a prime example of how you can be entirely hilarious without being vulgar Which, I have so many examples that would fit there, but since I said that in the last episode and this is a comedy, I'm gonna use it here In fact, three minutes into this movie, I was laughing so hard I had to pause it because I was laughing so hard

[00:01:22] It literally starts with Harold Lloyd and his girlfriend played by Mildred Davis They, it looks like So it starts out with a fake-out It looks like he's in prison about to be executed Because of the way that the It's framed You see them through bars

[00:01:51] You see him through bars and behind him, it looks like there's a hangman's noose And he looks kind of Kind of upset and like his girlfriend's crying And then she like runs around And then she hugs him And then it shows outside and it turns out They're at the train station And Yeah, it was just Very clever The way that they framed that to make it look Like an execution And he was just on his way to the big city

[00:02:20] To get a job And it was just Like one gag after the After the other Like he's saying goodbye to his girlfriend And You know He looks behind him The train's right there behind him So you know He says his last words And like He's not looking The train takes off And so like He reaches behind him As a As a Horse-drawn carriage Comes by And It picks him up And he thinks he's on the train And

[00:02:50] The train Carriage is going the other direction And the train's going the other direction And he's all waving at them And he looks Notice he's on this Horse-drawn carriage And Jumps off of it And runs to catch up with the train That's all within like The first two or three minutes And this film It's just like One gag after the other And Harold Lloyd's character He just has So Much Bad luck It's just like

[00:03:20] Everything Is He keeps getting Into these situations Like At one point At the beginning of the movie He's bragging About How He's always early for work And Like his boss He's there at the At the job site And like His boss or someone Is like Hey what are you doing here early? He's like oh I don't want to be late Or whatever he says

[00:03:49] And then he's like oh well That's good for you So then like He's standing there And then He sits down on the back of a truck And then The people don't see them And they close the truck And they take off And Drive them all over town And so he ends up being late But he like sneaks in And there was There's so much There's actually one point I actually filmed the screen And

[00:04:18] Posted it on TikTok Where I was like This is what it's like Working in retail And this is over A hundred years ago This movie came out Over a hundred years ago It came out in 1923 And There's a scene Where So he's working at a place Called DeVore Department store And There's a scene Where A lady Wants Wants to look at patterns And so he pulls one out And And then And then it cuts ahead

[00:04:47] Where there's like A massive Massive pile On the counter And she's looking at them And then she goes Actually I think I like The first one you showed me And then He just like It does a close up of him And he like Kind of Looks at the camera Kind of annoyed Jumps over the counter And like Pulls out From the very bottom Of the pile The first one And she's like And like Pulls out a section And he Goes Cut it And she goes No no no no Just a sample

[00:05:16] Kind of gives her An annoyed look And then he Snips off the tiny corner And hands it to her And throws the scissors down I was like This came out Over a hundred years ago And that feels so relatable As a retail worker But I should have Waited to film To post something On YouTube On TikTok Because there's a scene Later Where It's Absolute chaos Where like There's So many customers At the counter Screaming at him

[00:05:46] And they like Rip off his coat And his tie And everything And just trying to Get into detention Trying to Like Me me me It's me It's me It's me It's me On the bottom I think Everything this season

[00:06:15] Almost everything this season Is public domain And it's on YouTube And I will link everything But I will still say that Because I don't know Not everybody looks Without being told However If you've ever heard of Safety Last Or if you haven't Heard of Safety Last You have You have heard of Safety Last It includes A shot That is probably One of the most famous Shots

[00:06:45] Of the silent film era So he's trying to The whole plot Basically Is he's trying to get He moves to the city So he can make a lot of money So that Him and his girlfriend Can get married And he The whole movie He keeps lying to her Saying that Like oh I made it I'm I'm very successful here And he like Spends all of his money

[00:07:14] Buying her these Really extravagant Fancy Expensive Like jewelry And chains And stuff Meanwhile he's suffering And she's She's like Oh he's successful Look at this chain He bought me At Tiffany's And And so He He realizes That You know Well she comes to visit him And And he plays it up And it somehow works And he's He overhears his boss saying

[00:07:43] We need to find a way To We need to find a way To get Get sales up And get People coming in Because people aren't coming in I will give a thousand dollars To Whoever Can Can get more people in And Harold Lloyd's like Wait I have an idea And he has a friend Early in the film Who just casually Climbs a building And And so he's like I have an idea And then he tells his friend Like hey

[00:08:12] I'll give you five hundred dollars Like half of the prize money If you climb this building And he's like Oh okay But then there's There's like a whole other Storyline going on With Between his friend And And like And this cop And it's It's kind of funny Because There's like Kind of multiple storylines Like It's not Like a major I mean it is major To the story But like It cuts to it So So So So Seldom That you almost forget about it

[00:08:42] But then whenever you see him It's like Oh it's that cop And He has a full story arc Like That side character That side character To the side character Has a full arc And it's interesting That That like He's given like A full character He's not just like Like a blank slate cop Like every cop He Like He has a character And And a storyline And an arc And Motivations and everything And So like His friend

[00:09:12] He can't climb it Because the cop's right there And so Harold Goes to climb the building And his friend's like You only have to climb one story Because Because I'll meet you up there And then We'll swap out And nobody will even notice And Harold's like Okay Just one floor Okay I got it But he gets there And the cop And Basically He just keeps having to go up One floor One more floor Next floor I'll meet you next floor You just go up One more floor And then the famous shot Is Harold Lloyd

[00:09:41] Climbing up A clock At the very top of the building And he like Hangs under the clock And the clock starts to break And Yeah It's funny I've never seen this movie Until now And I always wondered The context Of why he's climbing the building And Now that I know the context It's It makes it even funnier I highly recommend Seeing it Even though It sounds like I just gave away The everything In this movie

[00:10:11] And yeah I kind of I did kind of spoil the end But like You've seen the end You know he climbs at the top So like Um When his friend goes Just climb one story You're like No he's gonna climb all the way There's so many gags in this Like It's still worth it Even though you know the ending It's still worth it So I highly recommend Watching this movie It is hilarious And Cut

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