JAMESON DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
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<strong>JAMESON</strong> <strong>DUBLIN</strong> <strong>INTERNATIONAL</strong> <strong>FILM</strong> <strong>FESTIVAL</strong> 2014<br />
SPECIAL PRESENTATION<br />
SUNDAY 23RD FEBRUARY<br />
‘one of the best of this era’<br />
Empire Magazine<br />
SAFETY LAST!<br />
Sun 23 Feb / Savoy 1 / 2pm / 73 minutes<br />
Directors: Fred C Newmeyer, Sam Taylor 1923 US<br />
Writers: Hal Roach, Sam Taylor<br />
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother<br />
There may be no film image more iconic: Harold<br />
Lloyd, high above the street, dangling from the<br />
minute hand of a giant department store clock.<br />
The face of the clock swings down; the minute<br />
hand bends. It’s been 90 years since the silent era’s<br />
greatest daredevil shot that sequence, and it still has<br />
the power to prompt shrieks and laughter.<br />
Lloyd’s character was the All-American Boy, innocent<br />
in his horn-rimmed glasses, eager to climb the ladder<br />
of success – and like many a social striver before him,<br />
he was plagued by anxiety that he’d fall before he<br />
got to the top. Safety Last! made that metaphor literal:<br />
to earn the money to get the girl he braves harrowing<br />
heights, flocks of pigeons, a mouse up his pant leg<br />
and, near the top of his climb, a photo-studio<br />
explosion a bit like one that had happened to Lloyd<br />
in real life four years earlier. For a publicity shot,<br />
he’d lit a cigarette from what he thought was a prop<br />
bomb in his right hand – only it wasn’t a prop, and<br />
his hand was badly mangled.<br />
Having trained originally as an actor, Neil Brand<br />
has been accompanying silent films for over 25<br />
films, performing regularly at the NFT on London’s<br />
South Bank, and at film festivals and special events<br />
throughout the world. He is considered one of<br />
the finest exponents of improvised silent film<br />
accompaniment in the world.<br />
All of Lloyd’s greatest thrill comedies were filmed<br />
after that accident. Think about that as he’s dangling<br />
from a ledge by one hand. That was Harold Lloyd –<br />
always trying to top himself, and reaching a comedy<br />
summit in Safety Last!<br />
Bob Mondello<br />
NPR<br />
With special guest Suzanne Lloyd and<br />
accompaniment from writer, composer and<br />
accompanist Neil Brand<br />
BOOK ONLINE AT JDIFF.COM 115
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