Comedy: A Serious Business
- Episode aired Feb 26, 1980
- 49m
The art of silent comedy is highlighted with a focus on the work of the four great clowns of the era: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon.The art of silent comedy is highlighted with a focus on the work of the four great clowns of the era: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon.The art of silent comedy is highlighted with a focus on the work of the four great clowns of the era: Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon.
Photos
- Self - Narrator
- (voice)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Self
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- Quotes
Marion Mack: In this picture, I was always supposed to be some sort of a dumb Dora type of a gal who was trying to help Buster but getting in his way. So, they said, When Marion gets in the proper position, let's let the water spout go and knock her down. I didn't know they were going to do it, so that scene is not acting becaue the force of the water was very great. It's good that we didn't have sound movies at that time!
- ConnectionsFeatures Making a Living (1914)
- Soundtracksi'll Be Loving You Always
(uncredited)
Composed by Irving Berlin (1925)
Instrumental version heard during clip from "The Strong Man"
It talks about how Chaplin started out with Sennett, but quickly moved on to bigger contracts and was soon the highest paid performer in the world. Chaplin was great at business, not so good at marriage, thus his fortunes sustained him past the transition to sound and he did not have to work at such a frantic pace, delaying his sound film debut until 1940. Chaplin did not appear for this documentary because he pretty much shunned the press from the time he left the United States in the early 50s until his brief Academy Award appearance in 1972.
Lloyd initially was doing a character called "Lonesome Luke", but realized it was too Chaplin-like, and went on to form his own unique optimistic persona that went well with the roaring 20s. Lloyd was good at business and marriage. So good that his fortune was very much intact as the sound era approached, and after making a few talking films in the 30s that are good to very good, he pretty much vanished from the public eye. Lloyd actually appeared in the documentary to talk a little about his career, although this was archival footage since Lloyd died in 1971.
Buster Keaton is mentioned as the cerebral comic. He is also the comic who put the most gadgets in his fims, because Buster said that he would have been an engineer if not a comedian. Buster's vaudeville roots are mentioned. In fact, Keaton's family of origin might have starved had Buster not proven to be such a great child performer. Keaton was bad at business and at marriage. Thus he ended the silent era broke and considered a hopeless alcoholic and thus unemployable at the height of the Great Depression. Some of his silent films were almost lost as a result, but we also have quite a few good sound film shorts from the 30s and 40s because Buster had no nest egg and had to constantly keep working. They have some voice over by Keaton, but no interview because Keaton died in 1966.
Finally there is the comic you probably know the least about - Harry Langdon. Ironically, the person who does the most talking in this segment is director Frank Capra, who made Langdon a famous feature film comic. Getting a swelled head about things, Langdon chose to fire Capra and direct his own films. He failed and faded from the public consciousness. Capra insightfully commented that because Langdon had a comic persona handed to him, he did not understand that persona well enough to direct himself, unlike Chaplin who had invented the Little Tramp and could thus ably direct himself.
Some of what I wrote here was mentioned by the documentary, but most of the sound era information was left out. That was probably because there is an entire episode of this documentary, the last, that is dedicated to the transition to sound. But of course there is no room to talk about what happened to everybody.
- AlsExGal
- Oct 17, 2019
Details
- Runtime49 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1