polski
As part of our film-and-music opening, together with Harold Lloyd we’ll step into Safety Last!, while one of the most iconic films in cinema history – a masterpiece of visual effects and slapstick comedy – will be accompanied live by Polish electronic music producer Bass Astral!
Safety Last!
dir. Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, USA 1923, 73′
cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother
A chain of accidental events leads the film’s protagonist — an ordinary department store employee — to a perilous climb up the side of a skyscraper. The climb is meant to be a publicity stunt designed to attract more customers to the store. On each floor, young clerk Harold awaits rescue from a supposed climbing expert. Unfortunately, help never arrives, and the brave young man must face ever-growing challenges on his own.
Harold Lloyd (1893–1971) was one of the most popular comedians of the burlesque era. He created his definitive comic persona in 1917 and remained faithful to it throughout his career. His character — dressed in a suit, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a straw hat — was courageous and optimistic, persistently overcoming life’s obstacles. Audiences found him easy to identify with and affectionately called him “the 100% American.” Lloyd appeared in around 200 films, including a dozen feature-length productions.
Safety Last! is regarded as his finest film. Crafted with great precision, it skilfully balances high tension with comic situations. According to Hollywood legend, the scenes set on the side of a skyscraper, several dozen metres above the street, were filmed almost entirely on location at the actual height shown, with Lloyd performing all the stunts himself, without a double. In reality, although the actor did carry out all the acrobatics on his own, careful camera angles and cleverly arranged sets meant that the star was never more than two metres above the roof surface of the building he appeared to be scaling.
Bass Astral (Jakub Tracz, born in 1993) is an electronic music composer whose style spans a wide range of genres, recently exploring drum’n’bass, future bass, and classical music.
He began his career as a bassist in the rock band Clock Machine, but rose to wider recognition as part of the duo Bass Astral x Igo, with whom he achieved considerable success. The duo released three albums and performed extensively. When the project ended in 2021, Jakub turned his focus to his solo work.
In 2022, he released the album Techno do miłości (Techno for Love), which was nominated for a Fryderyk Award in the “Electronic Album of the Year” category. He is currently working on his next release, titled Muzyka Taneczna (Dance Music).
Bass Astral
fot. Dominika Scheibinger
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