CITY LIGHTS (1931), THE GENERAL (1926), THE PAWNSHOP (1916), THE PALEFACE (1922)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 12 of 12: The final battle)

Chaplin Fan: Good evening and welcome to Classic Movies Revisited. Tonight we are going to dredge up a debate that’s been going on for over eighty years. That is, deciding who was the king of silent film comedians, Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. I’m Chaplin Fan. And please, let’s stick to the films and not hold against Charlie his succession of teenage wives or any political views.

Keaton Fan: And I’m Keaton Fan. And yes, don’t hold against my guy that he later appeared in Beach Blanket Bingo.

Chaplin Fan: Deal. Go on.

Keaton Fan: My submission for the jury is Buster’s 1926 classic The General and since we need to have a short as well, I have chosen The Paleface from 1922. Why, The Paleface? Well, because I had a copy handy on VHS.

Chaplin Fan: My submission for the jury is Charlot’s 1931 classic City Lights and since I needed to pick a short as well, I chose The Pawnshop from 1916. Why did I choose The Pawnshop? Because I had a Super 8mm copy of this film in the 70’s. and I wanted to relive the memory. So make your case for The Great Stone Face.

Keaton Fan: Gladly. First of all, the most important question to answer about any silent comedy is: was it funny? Well, yes. Keaton films are damn funny. You want physical comedy? Nobody could do their own stunts like Keaton. He was an amazing visual artist. He could make something simple like about to get burned at the stake in The Paleface funny just by moving slightly away from where the tribe is about to light the fire underneath him. And the stunts on the train during The General are not only funny, they forwarded the plot and some of them makes you wonder how in the world did he do that? And he wasn’t all about stunts. Subtle scenes like the Union general burning a hole in the tablecloth and Keaton using the hole to catch a glimpse of his true love were great. Chaplin was always the one that had a reputation for demonstrating pathos or sympathy for his character, but look at the final scene of The General where Keaton states his occupation as “soldier.” I dare you not to shed a tear to that one. Now make your case for The Little Tramp.

Chaplin Fan: Thank you. In viewing The Pawnshop and City Lights, I noticed Charlie’s growth from the most popular movie star in the world to the greatest artist in the world. Charlie could find comic gold in getting caught in a ladder, fixing a cuckoo clock or accidentally foiling a heist. And in City Lights, how can you beat the opening scene of the unveiling of a statue with the Little Tramp on its lap. And the last shot of the tramp smiling when the blind flower girl regains her sight. Find a more touching ending of any movie. EVER! I haven’t even talked about the boxing scene. Hilarious, masterful and better every time you see it. Charlie always worked with great supporting foils and feemes. John Rand, Edna Purviance and others in his films were the greatest supporting comic actors of the day and Chaplin wasn't afraid to use them-

Keaton Fan: -Hold on a second. Why are we arguing?

Chaplin Fan: I don’t know. We’ve always argued about this.

Keaton Fan: Why don’t we work together? I think Chaplin was great, just not as great as Keaton.

Chaplin Fan: And I think Keaton was great, just not as great as Chaplin.

Keaton Fan: Isn’t it hard enough to get a modern audience to appreciate any black & white movie, yet alone a silent one?

Chaplin Fan: I’m with you. It’s a comic art form in cinema that was unique and will never come back. Let’s appreciate it.

Keaton Fan: Work together?

Chaplin Fan: Together.

Keaton Fan and Chaplin Fan shake hands.

Keaton Fan and Chaplin Fan stare at each other in silence.

Keaton Fan: (pointing) Keaton is number one!

Chaplin Fan: (pointing back) Chaplin is number one!

Keaton Fan huffs and exits stage left.

Chaplin Fan huffs and exits stage right.

A giant title card drops on the stage which reads: THE END

STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 11 of 12)

Steamboat Bill Jr.

Steamboat Bill Jr. really shows off the common Buster Keaton film theme of Buster having to prove himself. In Steamboat Bill Jr., he has to prove himself seaworthy to his seadog father and worthy of marrying the girl he loves.

My favorite bit in the movie has Buster trying to sneak some tools in a loaf of bread so his father can escape from the local jail. There's also a lot of fun bits with the acrobatic Keaton almost falling off the ship into the water time and time again.

But as with many of his films, the highlight of Steamboat Bill, Jr. is the final chase or action sequence. This time, we have a cyclone that destroys everything around Buster, and the special effects are...well, how the hell did they do all that in 1928?

I'm a little sad to see the last of the Keaton films on my list. (I do realize I can see others that aren't on the sacred 1001 movie scrolls, however!). It's been fun to have a reminder just what a special talent he was.



THE KID BROTHER (1927), THE FRESHMAN (1925), SAFETY LAST (1923)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 10 of 12)

The Kid Brother

When I think of silent film great Harold Lloyd, the first image I get (and I'm know I'm not alone) is of Harold hanging precariously off the side of a building clutching onto the hands of a clock in Safety Last. Possibly the second most famous Lloyd movie behind Safety Last is The Freshman, featuring Lloyd as a college football player. So it was a bit of surprise that the one movie that is listed in the 1001 movie book starring Lloyd is The Kid Brother, a movie that I admit to not being familiar with.

So I decided to watch all three. And I liked all three. Lloyd was a very inventive comedian and his movies also had strong plots to boot. The common theme in these three movies seems to be the need for Harold to impress someone (His brothers, father and the girl in The Kid Brother, the entire college in The Freshmen and the girl of his dreams in Safety Last.)

Which of these film did I like the best? I'd probably say I liked  The Freshman the most. Some very funny football scenes of Harold basically being used as a tackling dummy, an inventive dance scene where Harold's tailor has to constantly keep sewing up his suit as it comes apart, his speech before the student body and his repeated attempts to give someone that damn handshake.

However, The Kid Brother isn't too far behind. There are lots of inventive stunts (Including the laundry scene. How many films can you say there is a great laundry scene!) as well as a scene with a monkey that it still pretty mind blowing.

But how can you leave out Safety Last and Harold's famous climb up the side of a building? I guess the answer is you don't have to. Watch all three and see one of the greats of the era at work.

Safety Last

The Freshman

OUR HOSPITALITY (1923)

The Golden Age of Comedy (Post 9 of 12)

Our Hospitality

I admit to watching all the Buster Keaton shorts for this blog through the magic of YouTube. And this one was good, though I admit to not enjoying it as much as Seven Chances or Sherlock Jr. 

But I don't think the problem was the film. The problem was the fact that the copy of the film I saw had no accompanying soundtrack.

In the late 70's I discovered a place to buy Super 8 movies called BlackHawk films. This was before there was a anything called vid-e-o ka-sets or Dee-Vee-Dee's. Since the Super 8 projector was silent, the best thing to get was, of course, silent films. I remember getting some shorts like Stan Laurel's Just Rambling Along, Laurel and Hardy's Liberty and Charlie Chaplin's The Pawnshop. We also had a short called Have Badge Will Travel, which was just a shortened silent version of Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops.

I certainly enjoyed them, but the one thing they didn't have was the music. I only bring this up because of how not having the music for this film really reminded me as to what I was missing.

If someone decides to post a YouTube of Our Hospitality with an accompanying score, I may be tempted to try it again.