My Favorite
You may remember this first one
from last week's blog post:
from last week's blog post:
The greatest comedy film by the greatest film comedian.
Although a silent movie in 1925, the 1942 re-released sound version has Charlie Chaplin himself narrating. The silent star speaks!
Although a silent movie in 1925, the 1942 re-released sound version has Charlie Chaplin himself narrating. The silent star speaks!
Such a fun, fun movie. Lots of great comedy sequences: Eating a shoe, the dance of the rolls, the cabin precariously perched upon a precipice, and much, much more!
Some touching moments too. Chaplin was a genius at blending both. And that made the comedic moments that much funnier. A great lesson for comedy writers to remember.
Knighted by the Queen of England, Charlie became Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin.
Buster Keaton! A favorite of mine and Jackie Chan. The Great Stone Face. The King of the Pratfall.
A physical comedian who performed all his own stunts during the silent era, except when he had to do the stunt for someone else in the same scene with him!
Buster broke his neck making his movie, but he didn't even know it, until years later when a doctor giving him an exam asked him when he broke his neck. He realized he broke when the blast of water knocked him of the top of the train.
Harry Houdini gave Buster Keaton the nickname Buster.
Harold Lloyd. The American Dreamer. Always hopeful and optimistic in spite of the horrors that constantly confront him.
Unfortunately, this is only a clip and not the whole movie.
This is the movie from which comes the famous picture of Harold Lloyd clinging to the face of a skyscraper clock that's falling apart high above the city.
Harold performed these stunts himself, even though he was missing three fingers on his right hand after a prop bomb exploded during a publicity photo shoot. (He wore special gloves to disguise his loss.)
Photo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_Last!
My secret favorite ...
How can I have a secret favorite? I like all the great ones. Herein, I picked what I think are the most iconic films for each of the three greatest silent film comedians. Each had his own style too.
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin. The Dancer Poet. Funny, but tenderhearted too. More of an artist. Since visual comedy translates so easily, he was known the world over, even before you could be known the world over!
Buster Keaton. The Great Stone Face. Funny too, but more rough and tumble with himself, less poetic.
Harold Lloyd. The American Dreamer. Just as funny as the other two, maybe even more so. He went for gags like crazy. Turned out to be a bit a daredevil with heights too!
All three were brilliant! Masters of their craft. I picked The General for Buster Keaton because that's his most well known, but my secret favorite of his is ...
Although Buster Keaton broke his neck in The General, he faced his most dangerous stunt in Steamboat Bill, Jr. A half-ton, or maybe a 2-ton, wall falls on him, but the window's open giving him only two inches to spare on each side!
Why is this my secret favorite? I had to pick something! Plus, the title's so silly. Makes me think of Mickey Mouse!
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