To Jon Lane, for the Mister Roberts DVD! I’m a huge fan of both William Powell (of Thin Man fame) and James Cagney—and Henry Fonda and Jack Lemon are no slouches, either. Can’t wait to watch this one.
Which reminds me: I’ve been watching a lot of Harold Lloyd stuff recently—including a 1928 film (Speedy) that featured Babe Ruth as a guest star (playing himself). For those of you unfamiliar with Lloyd, I encourage you to check him out. In my opinion, he’s as good or better than Chaplin. I haven’t yet watched enough early Buster Keaton to compare the two (someday I’ll break down and buy the Buster Keaton collection) but as a physical comedian, Lloyd is quite remarkable.
And I must say, it’s fascinating to see Coca-Cola billboards in the background of 1919 films that would look perfectly at home in 2006 New York. This is one of the most impressive things about Lloyd’s films—both his shorts and his features: they seem strangely contemporary, despite being upwards of (in some cases) 89 years old.
Many years ago our local PBS station had a Sunday evening Harold Lloyd program. I was flabbergasted when I heard that he had done all those stunts on his own – and risky ones alot of them were.
How did he always get stuck out on a ledge, or left clinging to the hands of a clock on the side of a building…
Agreed on Lloyd. Definitely check out The Freshman if you haven’t yet.
“Gosh Babe!”
At the risk of sounding like a somewhat normal human, I echo both your sentiments. Used to watch the PBS Harold Lloyd with my late Dad and we loved it. Laugh out loud funny and mesmerizing.
Great memories.
*mphsniff* Now look what you’ve done.
Didn’t Powell play Philip Marlowe in a version of Raymond Chandler’s “Lady in the Lake?”
Laura is one of my all time favorites.
Book’s great too. Tells the story of Laura from the standpoint of five of the major characters.
Good read.
Oh, yeah, Laura is good. Vincent Price was quite a hunk back then.
If you like Lloyd, “Safety Last” is well worth a gander. Keep in mind that the guy climbing the side of a building is missing half his fingers on one hand (the result of a misfire with a stunt pistol).
Click and buy Jeff junk, bitches! Where else can you get away with this verbal debauchery?
IT’S BECAUSE OF THE BIGOTRY! ER, RACISM! SHOOTIN’ IRONS?
I was flabbergasted when I heard that he had done all those stunts on his own – and risky ones alot of them were.
He lost a few fingers including his thumb doing his own stunts.
Good thing those movies were made before the country became too Puritanical.
“Wait! Who is that? Is that one of MY officers?”
I’m not a huge Lloyd fan, or really Chaplin either, but if I had to pick, I’d choose Charlie. Keaton, however, is just on another plane altogether. Watch The General and then try to convince me that any of Lloyd’s frat-boy antics really compare.
It’s the difference between genuine, laugh-inducing comedy, and desperately laugh-tracked sitcoms.
ultron,
It was a bomb. Sorry, nitpicky today, nothing more to add.
Day-uhm!!! You’ve got to be one bitter soam-beach to be talkin’ shit about silent slapstick comedy.
That was for Alan S. BTW
Big East fan. I’ll be better by next march.
Aaaaand there you go.
My favorite silent film is the great drama The Crowd, by King Vidor.
Turing = develop, as in Cinema had had time to develop exponentially, between Rescued By Rover, and that film.
At his best, Keaton was just plain great. His short comedies from 1920-22 include some of the best silent period short comedy you’ll see, and some of the features are also excellent. “The General” was not successful in theaters when it was released (1926, I think) but is excellent. (Keaton’s 1920’s features were not big money makers – the first few features he did for MGM were more profitable but perhaps not so good – I’ve haven’t yet seen any of them.) The Fatty Arbuckle shorts that Keaton was featured in are also sometimes quite good.
I’ve also seen some of Lloyd’s 1920’s films (local library has dvds) and I’ve found Keaton more to my taste.
I meant to watch more Lloyd, but never got around to it. I’m a huge Keaton fan.
Buster Keaton once broke his neck on a stunt and didn’t realize it until a decade or so later.