Silently laughing

The other night I finally got to see a show that I’ve been wanting to see for years, but kept missing it – Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns.

 Settling down for some good comedy, the rather sparse, but appreciative audience welcomed both Paul Merton and pianist Neil Brand to the stage. Paul introduced the evening, most of which would consist him him telling us about the clips and films he was showing us that evening. You could tell he was enthusiastic about the subject and keen to share these delights with all who were interested, and his love for the films and performers certainly came across.

He began with a couple of scenes from a Snub Pollard film, It’s a Gift, where he plays an inventor who has all of these Wallace and Gromit style gadgets to help prepare his breakfast and get him dressed, as well as a car powered by magnetic force. All very clever stuff.  Then there were a couple of very short French films, one which had a bloke playing the cello and another called Artheme Swallows his Clarinet. For both of these  Neil Brand explained what he was playing through the films to help us understand the demands of improvising the piano accompaniment.  He is amazing in his ability to play music and sound effects as well as help convey the story. We also saw a scene from Chaplin’s The Pawn Shop, and the house-front falling down bit from Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr, which was famously copied by The Goodies in their episode The Movies. 

We were shown two full films - Laurel and Hardy’s Liberty and Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances. I thought the Laurel and Hardy was great – I’ve never really seen much of their silent films, so it was good to be able to broaden my film experiences there. Although I will have to say it was both funny and terrifying and at times I was almost having to watch through my fingers because the stunts of them being at the top of a high building were far too realistic and scary. Interestingly Paul Merton was talking to some people at the stage door after the show and saying how Laurel and Hardy were really quite high up when they filmed it, not as high as it looks, but still dangerous if they fell.

I liked Seven Chances, which took up most of the second half. I’ve seen a clip of the bit where he’s on the hillside being chased by ever increasing amounts of before, so I was looking forward to seeing the rest of it. The story is partly taken from a stage play, and at times it does seem rather slow paced. But over all it was still very enjoyable.

After the show it was round to the stage door, as is usual for these things, to get the book signed and have a quick photo. Although I had lots of questions and comments in my head, I didn’t manage to formulate them into sentences to talk to either Paul or Neil, but I did listen to what they were saying to other people and I agree that it’s so much better to appreciate these films by seeing them on a big screen with live music. I want to see some more now!

Silent, but dead funny!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an afternoon of Buster Keaton shorts at the Barbican in London. Now I wouldn’t say that I’m a huge fan of silent comedy, although the few films I have seen over recent years I have appreciated. So why did I choose to go? Well, it could have something to do with the fact that the afternoon was being introduced by Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor and was also to feature some clips from The Goodies showing how they had been influenced by Keaton. So C and I took seats on the front row, with a few Giddies and other forum folk scattered nearby, to see what the afternoon would bring.

I really enjoyed watching the films and was captivated not only by how funny they were, but also how clever Keaton and his film makers were – pushing the skills and techniques of a still fairly new art form. There were a few particular bits where I forgot to laugh as I was so in awe of the photographic skills, particularly in The Playhouse where Keaton was playing all the roles on screen. Graeme and Tim spoke between each film to explain various things and during one of these Graeme told of how this effect was done – by screening off each part of the film to film one character in the scene before winding the film back, moving the screen and filming the next one. All the more impressive when you think it was being done on hand cranked cameras!

In addition to the Keaton films there was a short selection of clips from The Goodies, to demonstrate some of the influence they took from silent comedy. I’d like to say I know the clips used fairly well, but they took on a whole new dimension with the piano accompaniment of the amazing Neil Brand (who had been providing the live soundtrack for the afternoon – who knew you could recreate the sounds of gunshots and bells and all sorts of other things on a piano??!) I did also find myself watching the Keaton films and spotting bits that had been reused in The Goodies – it seems they weren’t so creative and innovative as I’d thought (only joking!)

After the films there was plenty of time for chatting in the bar, although not really about the films, as I know nothing – apart from what I’d learnt that afternoon. Graeme commented on how much easier it was to get to than Leafield. I’m not convinced – the Barbican is a maze of concrete, and the lanes of Oxfordshire are so much prettier. And I had a chat with Tim while I asked him to sign my The Zygon Who Fell To Earth CD about Zygons in their many forms [hmm .... that sounds slightly surreal, but it seemed perfectly normal at the time] and how he hadn’t heard the adventure yet. Then it was time for hugs all round before heading off home (having taken a slight diversion to Mornington Crescent!).