Silent Film Comedy; Projects Due!

LAB: Please complete and prepare your documentary projects & turn in your film journal papers today. 

Documentary film projects should be saved as MP4 films. If you don't know how to do this, please ask. After saving work as MP4 files, please upload your film to Youtube.com (make it public--at least during this unit), and send me the URL link in the COMMENT section below.

If you finish before 2nd period, please view the following clips:

 Various famous Hollywood actors:

• Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in the Thief of Baghdad (1924), The Mark of Zorro (1920); the full version of The Thief of Baghdad can be found here. It's really a good film, all told. Douglas Fairbanks was known for doing his own stunts. Along with Chaplin and Pickford, he helped establish United Artists. Full film: The Black Pirate (1926); The Mark of Zorro (1920); The 3 Musketeers (1921); Robin Hood (1922)
• Rudolph Valentino's The Son of the Sheik (1926) & the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Blood and Sand (1924); Full films can be found here: The Sheik (1921);  Blood and Sand (1924); The Eagle (1925); Cobra (1925), Camille (1921)
• Mary Pickford (1917) The Poor Little Rich Girl; Full films: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917); Poor Little Rich Girl; Pollyanna (1919); Daddy Long Legs (1919)
• America's Lovebirds or America's Sweethearts: Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell; 7th Heaven (full film 1927); Lucky Star (full film 1929); Sunnyside Up (full film 1929, a talkie!)
• Clara Bow in It (1927); It (full film); Get Your Man (full film 1927) 
• Conrad Viedt (mentioned below in German Expressionism): Different From Others (film no longer available on Youtube); The Man Who Laughs (full film 1928)
• The Man of a Thousand Faces, Lon Chaney, The Phantom of the Opera (complete silent film, 1925), The Unmasking Scene from Phantom (clip), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (full film 1923); Shadows (full film 1922); The Shock (full film 1923); Oliver Twist (full film 1922)
• And a few others: The King of Kings (full film 1927, Cecil B. DeMille)
• Gloria Swanson in: Male & Female (full film 1919, Cecil B. DeMille)

Slapstick & Silent Film Comedy

The name "slapstick" comes from the bataccio — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in commedia dell'arte. Actors using the slapstick may hit each another repeatedly with great audible effect while causing very little actual physical damage. The term "slapstick" became synonymous with the style of silent film comedy most frequently found in the comedic silent films of Mack Sennett, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Hal Roach, and other comedic directors.

Later, the animated films from Warner Brothers Studio and Walt Disney will utilize many of the common gags found in comedic silent films. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tom & Jerry, and Donald Duck are just a few examples.

Slapstick is characterized by broad humor, absurd situations, comedic or farcical action such as chase scenes, and, of course, physical violence. Watch various clips below and note the actor/director where appropriate. Take notes on the film styles and view the films for ideas for your own stories, plays, and films.

Mack Sennett: comedian Billy Bevan (scene from Wandering Willies - 1926) and another clip with Vernon Dent & Billy Bevan
Mack Sennett: Black Oxfords (1924) with Vernon Dent & Sid Smith
Mack Sennett: comedian Harry Langdon (scene from Fiddlesticks - 1927)
Mack Sennett: comedian Harry Langdon (scene from Smile Please - 1924) & another scene (the skunk) from the same film.
Mabel Normand: The Extra Girl (clip, 1923)
Fatty & Mabel Adrift (1915) Mabel Normand & Fatty Arbuckle
Fatty Arbuckle: Coney Island (1917)
Fatty Arbuckle & Buster Keaton: The Butcher Boy (1917), The Cook (1918) The Garage (1920)
Buster Keaton: known as the great "stone face" because of his deadpan expression. Here are some stunts from The General 

Buster Keaton: One Week (1920); Sherlock Jr. (1924), The Paleface (1922) 

Harold Lloyd: from The Freshman (1925)
Harold Lloyd: from Safety Last (the clock scene) (1923)
Charley Chase: Accidental Accidents (Hal Roach directing)
Ben Turpin: Seein' Things (1928), part one; Seein' Things (part two)