Post by klep on Apr 26, 2021 10:44:49 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 4/26: Safety Last!
TALL BUILDINGS WEEK!
What Safety Last! is most famous for is the climb that makes up the back half of the film, as Harold Lloyd hilariously is forced to scale the Bolton Building himself instead of his expert climber friend. But while the literal climb is what gets the attention, there's another, metaphorical climb at play as well.
The reason for the big wall climb stunt is that Harold (his character is actually named for himself) is desperate for money. He's been working to climb the corporate ladder, but he's been stuck on the ground floor while pretending in letters to his fiancée (Mildred Davis) that he's doing quite well for himself. When she shows up unexpectedly, he's forced to reckon with an uncomfortable fact - it's not easy to get to the top when you start at the bottom.
Harold was drawn to the Big City by the American Dream - that if you just work hard you can make something of yourself. Apply yourself at a job and you can go from the floor up to the executive suites. But he's rapidly learned that being a floor worker in a department store is a never-ending scramble to avoid being fired. He's done his best to be a good employee, but getting called on not wearing his jacket (during a huge scramble where literally dozens of women are begging for his attention to cut fabric) is enough to put him on his final warning.
So Harold resorts to putting his body on the line in a mad scheme that nearly gets him killed. The company that would think nothing of throwing him on the street thinks just as little about his safety - no effort is made to secure the building or provide any kind of safety net should Harold fall. He does get enough money for his trouble that he should be able to make his metaphorical climb as well, but just through a combination of luck and necessity.
Of course, Lloyd didn't set out to make a film about the predations of capitalism upon the labor class; he was just trying to make people laugh. And Safety Last delivers on that front, with lots of great physical and sight gags that span a wide range of humor from cringing in sympathy as Harold tries to keep up the pretense of success in front of his fiancée to the zany antics like the way he and his roommate Bill (Bill Strother) hide from the landlady, to the black humor of the opening gag wherein we're made to think Harold is about to be hung. And of course the climb itself is full of laughs as Harold exasperatedly deals with any number of complications. The only gag that really hits wrong is the painful anti-Semitic jeweler stereotype that appears in one scene.
Much like Charlie Chaplain's later film Modern Times, Safety Last! gets its humor by exploiting everyday experiences and worries like being late for work, dealing with nightmare customers, and worrying about making ends meet. These films weren't trying to make trenchant observations about the capitalism, but by mining these regular experiences for absurdity they can't help but show us some unpleasant truths. The humor, after all, comes from the difference between the way we expect things to be and the way they actually are.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/3: Kung Fu Hustle
MARTIAL ARTS WEEK!
Stephen Chow's hilarious 2004 entry in the genre is our next Movie of the Week! Join us next week for axe-wielding bandits line dancing, a truly formidable landlady, and some wonderful gags as we learn what happens when you cross a martial arts film with the madcap energy of the Looney Tunes. Kung Fu Hustle is available for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 4/27: Rachel Getting Married
Next week the podcast starts a pairing on events that end up revolving around people they're not supposed to revolve around with Rachel Getting Married and the new Shiva Baby. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of the first film, available on HBO Max and for rent in the usual places.
TALL BUILDINGS WEEK!
What Safety Last! is most famous for is the climb that makes up the back half of the film, as Harold Lloyd hilariously is forced to scale the Bolton Building himself instead of his expert climber friend. But while the literal climb is what gets the attention, there's another, metaphorical climb at play as well.
The reason for the big wall climb stunt is that Harold (his character is actually named for himself) is desperate for money. He's been working to climb the corporate ladder, but he's been stuck on the ground floor while pretending in letters to his fiancée (Mildred Davis) that he's doing quite well for himself. When she shows up unexpectedly, he's forced to reckon with an uncomfortable fact - it's not easy to get to the top when you start at the bottom.
Harold was drawn to the Big City by the American Dream - that if you just work hard you can make something of yourself. Apply yourself at a job and you can go from the floor up to the executive suites. But he's rapidly learned that being a floor worker in a department store is a never-ending scramble to avoid being fired. He's done his best to be a good employee, but getting called on not wearing his jacket (during a huge scramble where literally dozens of women are begging for his attention to cut fabric) is enough to put him on his final warning.
So Harold resorts to putting his body on the line in a mad scheme that nearly gets him killed. The company that would think nothing of throwing him on the street thinks just as little about his safety - no effort is made to secure the building or provide any kind of safety net should Harold fall. He does get enough money for his trouble that he should be able to make his metaphorical climb as well, but just through a combination of luck and necessity.
Of course, Lloyd didn't set out to make a film about the predations of capitalism upon the labor class; he was just trying to make people laugh. And Safety Last delivers on that front, with lots of great physical and sight gags that span a wide range of humor from cringing in sympathy as Harold tries to keep up the pretense of success in front of his fiancée to the zany antics like the way he and his roommate Bill (Bill Strother) hide from the landlady, to the black humor of the opening gag wherein we're made to think Harold is about to be hung. And of course the climb itself is full of laughs as Harold exasperatedly deals with any number of complications. The only gag that really hits wrong is the painful anti-Semitic jeweler stereotype that appears in one scene.
Much like Charlie Chaplain's later film Modern Times, Safety Last! gets its humor by exploiting everyday experiences and worries like being late for work, dealing with nightmare customers, and worrying about making ends meet. These films weren't trying to make trenchant observations about the capitalism, but by mining these regular experiences for absurdity they can't help but show us some unpleasant truths. The humor, after all, comes from the difference between the way we expect things to be and the way they actually are.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 5/3: Kung Fu Hustle
MARTIAL ARTS WEEK!
Stephen Chow's hilarious 2004 entry in the genre is our next Movie of the Week! Join us next week for axe-wielding bandits line dancing, a truly formidable landlady, and some wonderful gags as we learn what happens when you cross a martial arts film with the madcap energy of the Looney Tunes. Kung Fu Hustle is available for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 4/27: Rachel Getting Married
Next week the podcast starts a pairing on events that end up revolving around people they're not supposed to revolve around with Rachel Getting Married and the new Shiva Baby. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of the first film, available on HBO Max and for rent in the usual places.