The coming of sound is erroneously said to have destroyed the careers of the great silent comedians. Not quite true, though some truth to it. Chaplin did not go fully into sound until 1940 with the generally excellent THE GREAT DICTATOR. Keaton actually went into the sound period with a final great silent film (THE CAMERAMAN) but problems with an unsympathetic (even hostile) Louis B. Mayer, divorce problems with his wife, and (unfortunately) alcoholism caused a serious collapse in his career. But he recovered slowly to be a fixture on television and in movies to the end of his career. Laurel & Hardy did better with sound than with silent films (including getting into feature films). W.C.Fields also did better in sound films (and so did the Marx Brothers after their fitful silent production(s)). After years in the wilderness due to scandal, Fatty Arbuckle was making a come-back when he died in 1933. The only real casualties were Larry Semon (who died in 1928, presumably in part due to the collapse of his production company after some film failures), Raymond Griffith (who was unable to speak loudly due to a physical problem - but would play his best remembered part as the dying French soldier in ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, and then have a great career in film production), and Harry Langdon (whose career toppled over his egomania, according to Frank Capra). Langdon still managed to occasionally appear in films (HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM, ZENOBIA) and did work as a gag writer for Hal Roach.
Harold Lloyd found the coming of sound relatively easy. Unlike Keaton he did not have domestic problems or drinking problems that interfered with his career. Like Chaplin he had invested his sizable income into a wide variety of different businesses, and was rich enough to pick and choose his vehicles.
But he made mistakes in his first two films that managed to show what was no longer possible. Lloyd's comedy was the comedy of suspense and danger. Lloyd's characters, whatever their social class, always had to overcome death defying or dangerous problems to reach their goals. This included winning a football match (in THE FRESHMAN) or capturing a murderer to free his father and brothers (in THE KID BROTHER). His best remembered sequence of danger and humor was the climb up the side of the department store in the aptly titled SAFETY LAST!
SAFETY LAST! appeared in 1922. Eight years later Lloyd repeated the climbing sequence in FEET FIRST, his second talky, and his second error at trying to repeat the successful formula. The first film was a crime melodrama/comedy WELCOME DANGER, which was too long and complicated to be successful. The sections dealing with potential dangers were not well handled - some reversed the whole concept of sound films by having Lloyd and others talking in the dark (sort of making the movie the equivalent of a radio). Lloyd apparently was trying to return to the success of SAFETY LAST!, but failed to notice one aspect of the first talkie. Audiences were not thrilled to hear people in peril screaming for help. As a result the audiences were confused about what their responses to the "comedy" was to be.
SAFETY LAST! had a natural build-up to the last half hour of Harold's climb up the side of the department store to win $1,000.00 and get married to his girlfriend. FEET FIRST was also tied to a romance. Harold is working in a shoe store in Honolulu, when he meets a female customer who is the daughter of the store's owner. They are taking a boat back to the U.S. and Harold is accidentally made a stowaway. He has tried to impress the girl that he is a millionaire too. So now he is romancing the girl as a rich man, and also trying to avoid being thrown into the brig as a stowaway.
At the end of the film the ship is in San Francisco, and Harold gets off the boat by hiding in a mail bag. But he is taken to an office building, and accidentally pulled up the side of the building (in the bag) many stories above the street. Harold cuts his way out of the bag, but he is soon struggling to get to safety. Here, unlike SAFETY LAST!, he is heard yelling for help. This actually makes his danger all the more real. But it keeps the audience from enjoying Harold's predicament.
An audience today would also resent the humor of Stepin' Fetchit (here called "Sleep 'N Eat") as the only person who tries to assist Harold - but moving and acting in stereotypical manner (i.e., when he sees Lloyd has fallen a few floors down, he asks, "Whatcha doin' down there?"). To be fair one sequence has both men frightened by a stuffed gorilla, but it is not enough to undue the bad taste of the racism.
Some of the jokes are definitely based on originals from the silent film - when Harold reached the top in SAFETY LAST! he got hit on the head by a machine. Here he reaches the roof, only to breath in some ether that makes him woozy. He also does fall off the roof at the end and actually ends up within feet of the street pavement. It's a neat switch, but it makes the climb upward seem meaningless at the conclusion.
Individual scenes and sight gags are funny (Lloyd as stowaway hiding behind a lifeboat, and a gull lies on his head). But the total effect is mediocre Lloyd at best. Fortunately Lloyd learned from his error. His next two films were both good (MOVIE CRAZY and THE MILKY WAY) showing he had learned a bit from the misfires of the first two films.
Harold Lloyd found the coming of sound relatively easy. Unlike Keaton he did not have domestic problems or drinking problems that interfered with his career. Like Chaplin he had invested his sizable income into a wide variety of different businesses, and was rich enough to pick and choose his vehicles.
But he made mistakes in his first two films that managed to show what was no longer possible. Lloyd's comedy was the comedy of suspense and danger. Lloyd's characters, whatever their social class, always had to overcome death defying or dangerous problems to reach their goals. This included winning a football match (in THE FRESHMAN) or capturing a murderer to free his father and brothers (in THE KID BROTHER). His best remembered sequence of danger and humor was the climb up the side of the department store in the aptly titled SAFETY LAST!
SAFETY LAST! appeared in 1922. Eight years later Lloyd repeated the climbing sequence in FEET FIRST, his second talky, and his second error at trying to repeat the successful formula. The first film was a crime melodrama/comedy WELCOME DANGER, which was too long and complicated to be successful. The sections dealing with potential dangers were not well handled - some reversed the whole concept of sound films by having Lloyd and others talking in the dark (sort of making the movie the equivalent of a radio). Lloyd apparently was trying to return to the success of SAFETY LAST!, but failed to notice one aspect of the first talkie. Audiences were not thrilled to hear people in peril screaming for help. As a result the audiences were confused about what their responses to the "comedy" was to be.
SAFETY LAST! had a natural build-up to the last half hour of Harold's climb up the side of the department store to win $1,000.00 and get married to his girlfriend. FEET FIRST was also tied to a romance. Harold is working in a shoe store in Honolulu, when he meets a female customer who is the daughter of the store's owner. They are taking a boat back to the U.S. and Harold is accidentally made a stowaway. He has tried to impress the girl that he is a millionaire too. So now he is romancing the girl as a rich man, and also trying to avoid being thrown into the brig as a stowaway.
At the end of the film the ship is in San Francisco, and Harold gets off the boat by hiding in a mail bag. But he is taken to an office building, and accidentally pulled up the side of the building (in the bag) many stories above the street. Harold cuts his way out of the bag, but he is soon struggling to get to safety. Here, unlike SAFETY LAST!, he is heard yelling for help. This actually makes his danger all the more real. But it keeps the audience from enjoying Harold's predicament.
An audience today would also resent the humor of Stepin' Fetchit (here called "Sleep 'N Eat") as the only person who tries to assist Harold - but moving and acting in stereotypical manner (i.e., when he sees Lloyd has fallen a few floors down, he asks, "Whatcha doin' down there?"). To be fair one sequence has both men frightened by a stuffed gorilla, but it is not enough to undue the bad taste of the racism.
Some of the jokes are definitely based on originals from the silent film - when Harold reached the top in SAFETY LAST! he got hit on the head by a machine. Here he reaches the roof, only to breath in some ether that makes him woozy. He also does fall off the roof at the end and actually ends up within feet of the street pavement. It's a neat switch, but it makes the climb upward seem meaningless at the conclusion.
Individual scenes and sight gags are funny (Lloyd as stowaway hiding behind a lifeboat, and a gull lies on his head). But the total effect is mediocre Lloyd at best. Fortunately Lloyd learned from his error. His next two films were both good (MOVIE CRAZY and THE MILKY WAY) showing he had learned a bit from the misfires of the first two films.