8mm Forum: Safety Last - Harold Lloyd

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Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 20, 2010, 02:37 PM:

Who released this on Super 8, feature length?

Posted by Antonis Galanakis (Member # 1455) on September 20, 2010, 03:02 PM:

I have it on super 8mm BW silent 3x400ft reels running on 18fps by Blackhawk Films.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 20, 2010, 04:37 PM:

Was there a Blackhawk sound release?

Posted by Guy Tessier (Member # 2029) on September 20, 2010, 06:00 PM:

Hi Michael - a mate of mine has a lot of Harold Lloyd full length features on Super 8 sound. They are Time Life prints. They are "in storage" at the moment - but he's pretty sure Safety Last is one of them. I seem to remember Blackhawk advertising it but as was the case with a lot of their titles the copyright meant they would not sell to Australia so I never got one. I'm doing an inventory of his films in the near future as he may sell off a lot of his collection. Keep watching here.
Cheers

Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on September 21, 2010, 03:22 AM:

Yes there was a Blackhawk sound release-I own a copy in original box [Smile]

Posted by Antonis Galanakis (Member # 1455) on September 21, 2010, 05:15 AM:

You lucky...... my friend!

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 21, 2010, 09:24 AM:

Great, thanks fellas.

I just picked up the sound version on ebay.Looking forward to it.

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on September 21, 2010, 06:28 PM:

Keep in mind that the Blackhawk/Time-Life version is slightly edited. Unless you've seen the full-length version recently or have memorized it, you wouldn't suspect that anything was cut out.
To my knowledge, a full-length version was never released in 8mm.

I've found that to be the case with WHY WORRY? and THE FRESHMAN as well -- the cuts are very well-done.

WHY WORRY?, btw, is just as good as SAFETY LAST. If you haven't seen it, it is worth seeking out. Someone is offering it on eBay right now. It is my favorite Harold Lloyd film.

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on September 22, 2010, 02:55 AM:

I agree with regards to 'Why Worry'. Probably Lloyd's best film. But then I like all of them.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 22, 2010, 12:59 PM:

quote:
Keep in mind that the Blackhawk/Time-Life version is slightly edited.

Yes, that is the one thing that almost deterred me from buying this print. I hate edited versions of any film.
But, until I can afford a decent 16mm print of this one, I'll settle for this one.
[Smile]

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on September 22, 2010, 06:11 PM:

Michael,

Every print of SAFETY LAST I've seen offered in 16mm is also the Time-Life cut. On many occasions sellers have listed Time-Life Lloyds as "complete", and I've often pointed out to them that it was not complete. Most doubted me. Oh well.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 23, 2010, 01:23 AM:

Hi Tony,

How much is missing on the edited prints?

My feeling is that there should be some complete prints out there somewhere on 16mm - TV prints perhaps?

Posted by Rob Koeling (Member # 35) on September 23, 2010, 04:18 AM:

Michael,

There must be about 10 minutes missing. Having said that, it is not really noticeable if you don't know the original cut. I used to have the S8 version but sold it (to Yanis I think...) when I found a 16mm print. My understanding is that TimeLife had the rights for it since the early sixties. Any complete prints must therefore be older than that.

I'm waiting for the Lloyd dvd set. As soon as it arrives I will be able to say what is missing from the Time-Life print. I must say that the jazzy score on the TimeLife prints is the most annoying aspect of them.

I have a few R8 prints of Harold Lloyd shorts from Film-Office. Those are marvelous quality. I wonder if they ever released features.

My kids asked just yesterday to see Safety Last again. So will try to get it out for a screening this weekend!

- Rob

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 23, 2010, 04:47 AM:

Hi Rob,

I have the full version on VHS but haven't watched it for some time. I probably shall not miss the 10 mins at all.

Thanks for the info.

-Mike

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on September 23, 2010, 01:19 PM:

Awwwwww damn! I have several of the Blackhawk/Time-Life Features in Super 8 Sound with beautiful original boxes. Now to find out they're edited? Dammit! It's like finding out there's not really a Santa Claus. Well, I shall still treasure them - it's all I can get right now. As for the music.... I don't recall my Blackhawk prints having the jazzy scores. I'll have to rewatch them - I seem to remember organ scores, but I could be wrong.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 23, 2010, 02:53 PM:

I just had confirmation from a friend that he has a full length 70min version of SAFETY LAST on 16mm - so, they are indeed out there.

One day then...... [Smile]

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on September 23, 2010, 05:17 PM:

I'm sure that they are out there -- but any time I've seen them offered on eBay they were the T-L versions.

Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on September 23, 2010, 06:34 PM:

Yes Rob-it was me you sold it to [Smile]

...what I really miss about Lloyd are the TV versions with commentary apart from music-found them awsome as a kid....

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on September 24, 2010, 02:53 AM:

'Hooray For Harold Lloyd' was the name of that compilation programme I think. That's what awakened me to this great comedian too. Also led to me getting into Keaton's films simply out of curiosity.

Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on September 24, 2010, 03:57 AM:

Yes you're right John, I used to make big fun with my friends of the dab-badadabadab-dab-dab sound in the end! Great days [Cool]

.....

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on September 25, 2010, 06:28 AM:

The print I bought has the jazz score with sound effects. It opens with the Hooray for Harold Lloyd theme.

Not quite what I was expecting but a nice print nonetheless.

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on September 30, 2010, 10:17 AM:

That's an actor portraying Lloyd in the opening of the show, right? Can't possibly really be him.

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on September 30, 2010, 07:50 PM:

I'm confused. The T-L prints open with a montage of stills from Lloyd's movies.

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on September 30, 2010, 08:35 PM:

Tony, I was referring to the opening of the "Hooray For Harold Lloyd" show back in the 80's. It has what I believe is an actor masquerading as Lloyd (and a very good likeness at that) walking around a house (a typical colonial home one would see in the 1920's) doing some little bits of business. The footage is too crisp and fresh looking to be anything 60+ years old and the Lloyd in this footage just doesn't look 100% like Harold. You can tell something is off. You can view the footage if you search "Hooray For Harold Lloyd" on YouTube. The Lloyd features from Time-Life have a jazz-band version of the opening theme from the show without the lyrics being sung by what sounds like a high school madrigal group. The tune is catchy when it's done up-tempo, but the singing is just awful.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on October 01, 2010, 01:10 PM:

To be honest, I'm now a little confused myself.
Is the Time-Life version identical to the Blackhawk release?

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on October 01, 2010, 07:31 PM:

I think there may be different versions of the T-L Lloyd films.
The Blackhawk prints have the jazz-band version of the opening theme from the show -- which I understand to be called "Hooray for Harold Lloyd." I've heard that there are T-L versions with narration in lieu of title cards, but I've never seen one.

I've seen on eBay T-L title cards that pair SAFETY LAST with the abridged HOT WATER. I have prints of both titles, issued by BH, each with their own titles.

Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on October 02, 2010, 02:55 PM:

I had this feature too on 3x400 foot reels, which was the Timelife version issued by Blackhawk.

The most obvious scene misssing from the Timelife version was when Harold went into the shop to finally buy the chain for the pendant he had earlier sent Mildred. As he counts out the money you see pictures of a lunch with food disappearing until only a cup of coffee remains after he is done counting.

Unlike most people I actually preffered the high energy dixieland band (not Jazz) that did the music for the Timelife version of the film. In fact I think it works much better than the music selected for the DVD release, especially on the opening scene when the audience is led to believe that he is about to be hung and the priest is administering last rights to him. When the camera pulls back and we see it is in fact a train station and the Dixieland band comes in full blast and really sets the scene perfectly whereas the music on the DVD is just dismal on this scene and does not have the same impact at all. I also felt the sound effects used in the Timelife version were well done and spot on as opposed to instruments doing the sound effects on the DVD. In my humble opinion, even with the slight editing, the Timelife version is a masterpiece and really a much more entertaining and enjoyable experience for audiences than the DVD release.

My only gripe with this film other than being very slightly edited was the contrast of my print where everything that was supposed to be black just looked gray. A bad day at the film lab perhaps for my copy. My copy also made reference to Hot Water in the title credits but was not part of the actual film I had.

Just my thoughts on the film.

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on October 04, 2010, 06:15 PM:

Interesting -- my SAFETY LAST makes no mention of HOT WATER.

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