tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post2922719786423535833..comments2024-03-18T19:46:10.130+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last! – the town boy, the city and a pyramid of gagsJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-27561162962789336522014-02-16T20:04:27.245+05:302014-02-16T20:04:27.245+05:30Jai: I've been commenting here for over 5 year...Jai: I've been commenting here for over 5 years now. I think you know me well enough to understand that I am not the kind of person who dismisses a movie as great as this because I don't approve of the political predilection of the filmmaker!<br /><br />I don't approve of the politics of Chaplin, Kazan, Brando and several others. Yet, these people are seminal artists. Important figures in the history of 20th century art. I am not the one to deny that.<br /><br />I was only providing my reading of this great silent film which struck me. It is a quintessentially American film - entertaining all the time, improvising all the time...shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-66152209074020764502014-02-16T19:26:13.032+05:302014-02-16T19:26:13.032+05:30Shrikanth: as you probably know already, I don'...Shrikanth: as you probably know already, I don't share your rosy view that underprivileged people can just climb out of their situations by "emulating" or "imitating" the successful - or that there's something wrong with being envious or resentful, given the degree of random, meaningless unfairness in the world.<br /><br />But let's let that be for now. Am I right in assuming that you would be just as generous towards a great silent movie that was a condemnation of capitalism, or an ode to some other "ism"? At the very least, I hope you're not implying that <i>Safety Last!</i> is a great film primarily <i>because</i> it's an ode to capitalism, or the can-do spirit. If you are, I'd have to tell you that you're flat-out wrong, not just on one but on two counts. Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-48998476264500896962014-02-16T17:22:10.170+05:302014-02-16T17:22:10.170+05:30I rewatched this great film just now. Hadn't r...I rewatched this great film just now. Hadn't revisited it after watching it the first time a few years back. I do keep revisiting the climax but not the film in its entirety.<br /><br />It's only this time around I realized what a terrific film this is. It's so much more than a silent comedy. It's an ode to American capitalism, an ode to the can-do spirit that suffused 20s America. No. This isn't an American where the lower class seeks welfare checks. This isn't an America where people want the government to subsidize their contraceptives. This is an America which is upwardly mobile. Where the working class seeks to emulate, imitate the successful, not envy them. An America where men care for their girls enough to slog insanely, tolerate workplace abuse and yet put on a smile. This is an America where the girls keep egging their boyfriends on unfairly and unforgivingly to be something, to do something. <br /><br />And that really fascinated me. And what's more. The making of the movie itself epitomizes that great American ideal - perfectibility. Perfectibility is something very very different from "perfection". It's the urge to keep pushing oneself to do something special that is so very fascinating. Lloyd had made such a fine, fine film uptil the last 5 mins. He could've stopped there and it would still be a great movie. But no. He didn't. He pushed himself for that one last hurrah. He struck himself with the weather vane. And no...He didn't stop there either. He brought the rope into the picture, tied it to his ankle and performed a pendulum swing. And no. He did't stop there either. He also ensured that the swing lands him in the arms of his beloved on the terrace! That's perfectibility. That's capitalism. That's enterprise. That's America for you!shrikanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03898755392584822638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-6570746920609854132014-02-10T08:17:23.247+05:302014-02-10T08:17:23.247+05:30Great classic - saw it on YouTube many years ago, ...Great classic - saw it on YouTube many years ago, unable to find any version.<br />As enjoyable as Keaton's " General" and " navigator" Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00601374361503464240noreply@blogger.com