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The Four Great Silent Comedians

Poll Results: Who is your favorite of the four great silent comedians?

 
  • 36% (8)
    Charlie Chaplin
  • 50% (11)
    Buster Keaton
  • 13% (3)
    Harold Lloyd
  • 0% (0)
    Harry Langdon
22 Total Votes  
post #1 of 7
12/17/06 at 4:52am
Thread Starter 
Two of them I don't need to talk about, but the other two many people don't know, even though they were pretty well known by everyone in the 1920s

Here is a Wikipedia page on each of them:
Charlie Chaplin
Buster Keaton
Harold Lloyd
Harry Langdon

I am really trying to see all of their films because in so many ways the comedies that studios are releasing today just don't compare to the amount of work and ingenuity these four actors put into their films.

So far I've seen about half of the Chaplin mutuals (the Chaplin Mutuals are a collection of 11 short films Chaplin made for the Mutual Film Corporation, many consider them to be Chaplin's finest short films, including Chaplin himself), City Lights, and the Gold Rush. I've bought the entire box set of Chaplin's feature films and am switching off watching his movies with watching Buster Keaton's films.

Of Buster Keaton's films, I've watched The General and Sherlock JR. I have many more to go. Personally, I find Keaton to be the best of the four silent comedians (though I can see why many still consider Chaplin to be the best.) There are scenes in Sherlock Jr., filmed in 1924, that left me stunned. I don't think any of this year's upcoming Blockbuster films will leave me nearly as wowed as this 44min. Keaton film did.

As for Harold Lloyd and Harry Langdon, I'm sad to say I haven't seen much of their stuff, but would like to in the future. Since both are lesser known to the public, not many of their films have been transfered to DVD. I am hoping that Kino Video (probably the best silent film transfer company there is) will release more.

What are your opinions of the old silent comedies? How many have you seen?
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post #2 of 7
12/17/06 at 5:21am
There's a veritable buttload of Harold Lloyd now out on DVD. I'd highly recommend checking it out, too. All of what I've seen of him has been quite good.
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post #3 of 7
12/17/06 at 3:49pm
Buster Keaton is my favorite so far, and seeing as I always chime in on BK threads I may be repeating myself with the following:

Strange as it may seem, I think my obsession with Jackie Chan and HK style action led to Buster Keaton. I remember Chan naming Chaplin and Keaton as influences so I sought out Keaton, being that I was already familiar with Charlie Chaplin.

After weeding through a few of his post-1920's work and wondering what the hoopla was about, I happened upon a tape of the excellent 3 part Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow documentary.

And thus I was hooked! The things Keaton can do with his body, all while remaining stone-faced are amazing. I can't pinpoint it, but Keaton's body of work just connects with me in ways Chaplin's doesn't.

My interest in Keaton happened at just the right time, right around his 100th birthday. I've read most of the books on Keaton and have seen all but two of his short films from his peak. As I probably mentioned before, I also got to watch a Keaton festival on the big screen complete with live piano soundtrack. Around that time I also had cable, but now I wished I had recorded more, like Harold Lloyd and others during the silent film fest. I see Best Buy has a Harold Lloyd pack for about $70, but I haven't taken the plunge yet.

I've viewed most of the Keaton/Arbuckle stuff, but for some reason it didn't amuse me as much as I'd hoped.

As far as the others, I've read enough articles and books by film scholars to be familiar with them but haven't got around to buying their work.
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post #4 of 7
12/17/06 at 6:55pm
Keaton is far and above my favorite. If ever you get the opportunity to watch his stuff in a theatre, don't miss it. Here in Madison, they play some silent films a couple times a year in an old theatre with an original theatre organ. Keaton on the big screen is an experience that everyone should have.
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post #5 of 7
12/17/06 at 7:27pm
The Harold Lloyd box set is outstanding. I gave it to my folks for Xmas last year and they're just finishing it up.

I think I like Lloyd the best, because he's the least sentimental. Then Keaton, for his mechanical ingenuity and physical ability; then Chaplin for his ambition. Still haven't seen any Langdon films.

If you can find them, I recommend all of Brownlow & Gill's documentaries: Unknown Chaplin, Buster Keaton: A Hard Act To Follow, and Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius. Even rarer is Hollywood, a 13-hour series devoted to the silent period. Extraordinary stuff.
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post #6 of 7
12/17/06 at 10:38pm
While Keaton's The General might be my single favorite silent comedy, Chaplin's complete body of work, including such classics as City Lights, Modern Times, and The Gold Rush, really has never been surpassed.
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post #7 of 7
12/25/06 at 3:23am
I just picked up volume 1 of the Harold Lloyd collection and am about to start on disc 2 this holiday weekend.

So far I like what I've seen, as I'm warming up to Harold's style. After watching so much of Keaton and his deadpan I kind of smirked at Harold Lloyd and his seemingly too earnest manner. Lloyd does the somewhat typical "look what's happening to me!" reaction/double take, but being that Keaton's deadpan is so obviously different from what most comedians (much less the characters in his own films) were doing, I think I have to forgive him.

The films themselves are well made and I'm starting to appreciate Harold's brand of humor. Of course people make a big deal about the building climbing stunt in Safety Last, but I think the best scenes take place while Harold's at work in the department store.

One small detail I've noticed is, compared to Keaton, some of Lloyd's films had much more title cards, explaining the back story and such. Perhaps Lloyd was dealing more with the story and Keaton was just dealing with the space
around him, whether that space was filled with a love interest, a villain, a machine,etc. didn't really matter.

I think as finances permit, I will definitely be acquiring more of Harold's work. I 've absorbed so much of Keaton and his style that it is refreshing to have someone new to discover.
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