| Safety Last! | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Written by |
|
| Story by |
|
| Produced by | Hal Roach |
| Starring | Harold Lloyd[1] |
| Cinematography | Walter Lundin |
| Edited by | T. J. Crizer |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Pathé Exchange |
Release date |
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Running time | 73 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent film (English intertitles) |
| Budget | $121,000[2] |
| Box office | $1.5 million[3][4] |
Safety Last! is a 1923 American silent romantic-comedy film starring Harold Lloyd. It includes one of the most famous images from the silent-film era: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic. The film was highly successful and critically hailed, and it cemented Lloyd's status as a major figure in early motion pictures. It is still popular at revivals, and it is viewed today as one of the great film comedies.[5]
The film's title is a play on the common expression "safety first", which describes the adoption of safety measures as a means to avoid accidents, especially in workplaces. Lloyd performed some of the climbing stunts himself, despite having lost a thumb and forefinger four years earlier in a film accident.[6]
In 1994, Safety Last! was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It is one of many works from 1923 that notably entered the public domain in the United States in 2019, the first time any works had done so in 20 years.[7]
- ^ Safety Last! at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- ^ David Parkinson (June 26, 2006). "Safety Last!". Empire. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
- ^ rentals in US and Canada - see Variety list of box office champions for 1923
- ^ Quigley Publishing Company "The All Time Best Sellers", International Motion Picture Almanac 1937-38 (1938), p. 942, accessed April 19, 2014
- ^ Ebert, Roger. Safety Last. RogerEbert.com. July 3, 2005. June 21, 2013.
- ^ Bann, Richard W. "Safety Last" (PDF). Library Of Congress.
- ^ Douglas, Nick (April 13, 2018). "These 1923 Copyrighted Works Enter the Public Domain in 2019". Life Hacker. Retrieved September 5, 2018.