Gotta love comedy shorts night in Niles. And that reminds me, next weekend is a special presentation of the first Best Picture Academy Award winner (and only silent winner) WINGS. More info here.
On to the movies:
THE PAWNSHOP: Chaplin in one of his sillier, more slapstick/less pathos role. He's an assistant in a pawnshop. He messes up the shop a lot, with painful repercussions for the owner and the other employee. But eventually, he foils a thief's plot.
THE BLACKSMITH: A workplace theme, with Keaton as a blacksmith's (way too weak) assistant. He shoes a horse, gets filth all over it, and destroys a beautiful white Rolls Royce. A bit of trivia--the car he destroys is his own, given to him by in-laws with whom he was no longer on speaking terms. A bit of on-screen real life revenge.
NEVER WEAKEN: Harold Lloyd as the always love-struck glasses character. For half the film, he saves his beloved's job by drumming up business for her employer. But then he overhears her planning to marry another, and becomes suicidal. That's right, suicide comedy--leading to some high-rise hi-jinks.
And finally, we always end with the boys...
LEAVE 'EM LAUGHING: Laurel and Hardy go to the dentist's office, get a little loopy on laughing gas, then have a run-in with a police officer. Awesome.
And that also reminds me, the Niles Film Museum is now home to the Midnight Patrol tent (San Jose) of the Sons of the Desert--the Laurel and Hardy official film appreciation society. And they're having a big to-do on May 31st. Details here.
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