Standout Sequence

Comedy

We watched A Night at the Opera this week. There are so many funny bits in the film that it seems almost continuously hilarious. One bit that stands out, however, is the famous "stateroom" sequence, in which Groucho's tiny cabin on an ocean liner is filled by one person after another until they all finally spill out. This is an amazing sequence, partly because so much care is lavished on letting the gag build slowly and steadily. You don't see that sort of thing very much, then or now (especially now). It's said that the idea for the bit was provided by Buster Keaton, who served as a consultant. It's certainly Keatonesque.

Back to School

Subversive Comedy

Buster Keaton in "Cops."

For our first class, we watched Charlie Chaplin's "Easy Street" and Buster Keaton's "Cops." Both are silent films, and some students thought the movies seemed to move very quickly, sometimes too fast to really figure out what was going on. Interesting! It can take a while to get used to the way a silent film presents all its information visually. We're so used to being told and shown what's happening at the same time that you have to learn to watch a silent film in a different way. From here on out, in any case, all the films this semester are "talkies."

Slapstick?

American Film Comedy

Evidently, Sleeper was a big hit with this class. Lots of positive feedback during the discussion. Even the somewhat dated parts of the film (i.e., where there are topical references to "things" like, say, Howard Cosell) somehow didn't matter. Reading the students' papers, however, revealed that some students really seemed to like the movie's slapstick humor (which they compared to that of Buster Keaton), while others didn't care for that aspect of the film. Still, I'd say that as of 2012, Woody Allen is still relevant.

Comedy Seminar: First Day

Some good discussions in my first class with the comedy seminar. Amazing that most of the students said they'd already seen at least one silent film (not counting The Artist). Lots of laughter from the class during Buster Keaton's Cops and Charlie Chaplin's Easy Street. One student said she generally enjoys black-and-white films more than color ones, which is rare (and nice) to hear these days.