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The Kings of Silent Comedy
By Richard Green
The silent era which ran from 1904-1928 remains an enigma for many film viewers, an experimental period before the main event - the "talkies". Despite this, of all the great film stars who have graced the silver screen, perhaps the most revered are those early pioneers of silent comedy. With the breathtaking pace of their slapstick, stunt work and the genius of set-pieces - at a time when the medium of film was just emerging - the debt that is owed to them by the modern industry by current actors, directors, comedians, and film studios in general is enormous. Of these silent comedians, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd undoubtedly remain the best-known and best-loved, even 80 years on.
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977) made film comedy an art form and is arguably still the most important figure in motion picture history and probably the best known artist in the world. Charlie Chaplin was discovered by the great slapstick impresario, Mack Sennett, and entered the cinema in 1914. Even today, Chaplin's films and characters are among the most recognizable performances in film. With his baggy trousers, worn shoes, toothbrush moustache, ill-fitting overcoat, and hat and cane, Chaplin's little tramp presents an unwanted and forgotten intruder on the edges of society whose goal is to try to climb the social ladder, but who - as we all know - will inexorably fail. Despite this, the little tramp always maintains hope, keeping his optimism and shrugging off the inevitable disappointments to then shuffle off toward the horizon and his next adventure."
Joseph Frank Keaton VI (1895-1966), nicknamed "Buster" or "The Great Stone Face", has, over time, risen in stature and recognition to be regarded as probably the greatest comedy filmmaker of the 20th century. While the usual plaudits go to the more widely known Chaplin, Keaton's work has succeeded in standing up to the test of time better than most of his contemporaries to become the favourite of many film historians. Buster began performing onstage as a child, attracting rave reviews from the start. His film career was launched in 1917 following discovery by the unfortunate Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. Among his classic films is the brilliant 'The General', where he plays a Confederate train driver in pursuit of his girlfriend and the eponymous train which has been hijacked by Unionist spies. The, Arbuckle directed, 'Sherlock Jr' is another acknowledged masterpiece, as is 'Three Ages' (1928). Described by film review site Moviemail as a "delicious parody of D.W. Griffith's Intolerance, in which Keaton explores the tale of love rivals through the Stone Age, the Roman Age and the Modern Age." Moviemail, 'Three Ages' remains a truly great film to this day.
The third major star of the silent era was Harold Clayton Lloyd (1893-1971). Although perhaps not as widely recognised today as Chaplin or Keaton, Harold Lloyd was, for several years during the 1920s, the most popular film star in the world. For those years Lloyd brought in more money than the films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton combined. Starting his film career with Hal Roach as a Chaplin clone, he rapidly developed his own famously risk-taking stunt based comedic style. After experimenting with many different characters, Lloyd found the perfect vehicle for his talents. Lloyd's films revolve around the " bespectacled go-getter - boyish, sincere, shy, sometimes brash, full of confidence, optimism and gaiety", who "is determined to take the world by its tail. He parodied the American dream of success and burlesqued the young American go-getter.". Quote from Moviemail.
All three stars created films which, due to the lack of sound, are rich in sight gags and comic inventiveness, relying on tremendous central performances and fantastic stunts which would be deemed too dangerous to attempt today and yet are performed without the use of stunt doubles, special effects or modern computer graphics, but still achieve their comedic impact and leave the audience gasping at the spectacle.
About the Author
Richard lives in Edinburgh, occasionally writing for blogs, and often talks to himself in the hope of finding intelligent conversation, he is still searching.
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