Is safety last real?
Mia Smith
Published Mar 06, 2026
Is safety last real?
Harold Lloyd first tested the safety precautions for the clock stunt by dropping a dummy onto the mattress below. The dummy bounced off and plummeted to the street below. It turned out to be real and exploded, blowing off Lloyd’s right thumb and index finger, and putting him in the hospital for months.
What is the plot of Safety last?
A boy (Harold Lloyd) moves to New York City to make enough money to support his loving girlfriend (Mildred Davis), but soon discovers that making it in the big city is harder than it looks. When he hears that a store manager will pay $1,000 to anyone who can draw people to his store, he convinces his friend, the “human fly,” (Bill Strother) to climb the building and split the profit with him. But when his pal gets in trouble with the law, he must complete the crazy stunt on his own.
Safety Last!/Film synopsis
What is the theme of safety last?
Safety Last! is a meditation on time and money, on fame and misfortune, that holds up a mirror to the life of its creator. The opening credits dub Lloyd “the Boy,” though he was almost thirty when Safety Last! was made.
Was Charlie Chaplin in Safety Last?
The third genius of silent film. Harold Lloyd’s “Safety Last” (1923), like all of his films, was preserved by the comedian but rarely shown; having been through most of Charlie Chaplin and virtually everything by Buster Keaton, I viewed it for the first time last week, and it was my first Harold Lloyd.
What genre is safety last?
Romance
ComedySilentThriller
Safety Last!/Genres
Where does the boy work in safety last?
the De Vore Department Store
Harold shares a room with his friend “Limpy” Bill and he finally gets a job as salesman in the De Vore Department Store.
How did Harold Lloyd lose his hand?
But from his late 20s onward, Lloyd went through life—and hung from that clock—missing half of his right hand due to an explosion at the movie studio in 1919. The scenes on the screen establish Harold as an athletic comic actor and experienced dancer.
What did Harold Lloyd do to make money in safety last?
A young man named Harold leaves his small home town of Great Bend to head to the big city so that he can earn enough money to marry his sweetheart, Mildred. He finds that life in the big city is more difficult than he imagined, he only managing to get a low paying sales clerk job at De Vore’s Department Store.
Did Harold Lloyd hang from a clock?
But from his late 20s onward, Lloyd went through life—and hung from that clock—missing half of his right hand due to an explosion at the movie studio in 1919.
How did they film Harold Lloyd Safety Last?
features a 20 minute sequence in which Lloyd scales the face of a department store. The sequence was filmed on various buildings in downtown Los Angeles, but the most iconic shot was captured on the rooftop of Western Costume Company.
How long is safety last?
1h 13m
Safety Last!/Running time
In 1990, The Harold Lloyd Trust and Photoplay Productions presented a 73-minute version of this film in association with Thames Television International, with a musical score written by Carl Davis. The addition of modern credits stretched the time to 74 minutes.
Did Harold Lloyd know Charlie Chaplin?
While “Lonesome Luke” was popular, Lloyd knew his mimicry of Chaplin was an inevitable dead end. In 1917, Lloyd began work on a new character, one that was to remain a signature through out his career.