No, it's not the bit with the clock. It's before that.
I’m a huge Harold Lloyd fan, and so are my children, so I was really pleased when SpottedRichard told me about a showing of the film, with live musical accompaniment, in Oxford last week. I collected both my daughters and one son-in-law, and we met SR at the cinema where a fine time was had by all!
And don’t tell Naomi, but I’ve bought her the complete films of HL on DVD for her birthday…hoping I’ll be able to borrow them when the novelty’s worn off.
You can watch the whole of Safety Last! on YouTube:
So who’s YOUR favourite silent film comedian?
When I was a student, there was a Buster Keaton festival at the Cambridge Arts Cinema, with live piano player at most showings. I spent most of a fortnight there, generally tripping over my own feet on the way home. It’s time to invest in a DVD or two to share with the children I think. Here are some extracts from Sherlock Jr. Talking of Safety Last, one has to keep remembering that they did stunts live. No inverted commas, live.
What’s more, part of Harold Lloyd’s right hand was blown off when a prop bomb exploded unexpectedly, and after that he wore a glove with padded false fingers – but he still kept on doing his own stunts.
Charlie Chaplin ! Here’s a clip from City Lights accompanied by my favourite Luigi Tenco song. The lyrics and the tone of the song mesh perfectly with the touching sentiments expressed in the scene. Not Charlie’s funniest moment, but a truly beautiful twinkle bathed in tender loving petals. littleriver
I really enjoyed this post and video ! ! !
Most of the silent films from this time in Japan were lost in the bombing during the war and also the humid climate of Japan made many not able to be watched. But there are some still around, but I can not find any on youtube or free to view.
I studied Performing Art at university and so I studied cinema and we did have some films in the University archive so I was lucky to be able to watch some of them. The oldest surviving film is Ghost stories made in 1898.
In Kabuki theatre (traditional theatre) there is a tradition of narration and the cinema would employ Kabuki actors to read a dramatic narration (?) of the story and some of these survive where the films do not.
But after about 1920 film separated from theatre conventions and developed in to cinema in the true sense due to the influence of American films.
My favourite silent movie star is Charlie Chaplin. I think he is just great ! ! ! But I do not know so many others really.
Sakura,
you might find this interesting. A page of old Japanese cartoons
http://networkawesome.com/special/early-japanese-animation/
Oh Wow ! ! !
That site is amazing ! ! !
This was my favourite (but of course it very old and the stereotype my be rude to people these days. I hope people are not offended. But the animation is beautiful ! ! !
http://networkawesome.com/show/collection-early-japanese-animation-2-kenzo-masaoka/
Thank you for showing me the link ! ! !
My absolute favourite has always been Ben Turpin ( whom I now resemble !)
It’s such a shame that these old films are rarely shown on TV these days. Back when I were a lad…well ..they were new, actually…but they were at the cinema and on TV.
Wonderful stuff
Great big squinty eyed Dond for Ben Turpin.
I was going to post the same clip from youtube. Can you imagine anyone looking like that becoming a star today ?
The story goes that he became cross eyed after taking a bang to the head. (Though it was only one eye that was affected). He knew it was to become his fortune and was forever looking in the mirror to ensure that everything was OK. He even used to practice his eye muscle control to exaggerate the way he looked. Although he did sometimes use trick photography, like all of the others at the time he did all his own stunts.
Of course I have to say it was Harold Lloyd, don’t I? It was a wonderful film. There were some very scary moments. Also scary was the way that retail therapy hasn’t really changed all that much since 1923, although floorwalking seems a tad less professional now. I hate interrupting those conversations about what the boyfriend said/did last night to ask for help. It didn’t used to be like that, I am sure.
Well, it’s gotta be Jean Dujardin now, hasn’t it? Funny, endearing and sexy.
not a believer in astrology or visiting extra-terrestials (bound to be some way out there). years ago Gillian Anderson of the x-files did one of those quickie interviews in Radio Times and said that her three favourite films were .. the same three as me and we share the same birthday.. but by her youthful good looks not the same year .. sppoky or what
Anyway they were Python’s holy grail, Marx Brother’s Duck Soup and Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Junior
like TFD i regard this stuff as an essential education and my teenage daughter and son were forced to watch those. Marx and Python went down a treat and led indirecttly to my daughters love of all things Izzard – but Keaton they could only take in short doses .. thankfully there are some great shorts
Our house, one week, the boat and seven chances ( cops goes without saying )
after a while we all begin to look more and more like ben turpin sadly .. unless you’re a girl .. which would be very bad luck indeed .. or a big improvement for A Widdicombe
Hi Alfie!!!
(aka RTJ)
we’re Yes-friendly here.
hi amylee.. the stones thing is called the brussels affair .. far from silent of course
Alfie -
I’ll look for it!
Carole Bristol is a big Yes fan and has done some posts on here recently -
http://thespillblog.co.uk/2011/12/13/the-crimson-yes-axis/
http://thespillblog.co.uk/2011/11/16/yes-at-the-colston-hall-16th-november-2011/
If you want to do blog posts on here, you can email Blimpy (click the contact tab at the top) to get the keys to the castle.
Anyone else remember San Ferry Ann? I really loved that as a nipper. But it has to be Harold Lloyd, relly.