A look into this year’s Silent Film Festival
The Duke Independent Film Festival organization will host their second annual “A Night of Silent Film” Festival this Saturday, February 18th. The program includes eight silent films from the early 20th century. All the films showcase the magic of silent films through witty romantic comedy plots and through brilliant, iconic performances. Let’s take a dive into this year’s films:
1.) The Scarecrow (1920)
The Scarecrow stars Buster Keaton, who also co-directed the flick alongside Edward. F Cline. The film follows a rival love story when a farmboy (Buster Keaton) battles with his roommate (Joe Roberts) for the prettiest girl in town: the farmer’s daughter (Sybil Seely).
The film is a quintessential Buster Keaton solo flick. It features hilarious gags, and chase sequences with outstanding stunts for its time. The movie’s most emblematic gag includes Buster Keaton pretending to play a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield in order to prevent the engagement of his rival farmboy and the love of his life.
Also, who can forget the fact that this film also stars a dog. Luke the Dog plays the “mad dog” character who gets into mischief and complicates the rivalry between these two farm boys.
If you’re a fan of Buster Keaton, this is a must-watch.
2.) Romeeow (1927)
Let me introduce you to the iconic Felix the Cat. The Felix the Cat character was created by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer; he made his debut in 1919 in a Paramount Pictures short called Feline Follies. Felix’s debut was an automatic success.
His mischievous yet good-hearted personality quickly won the hearts of widespread audiences. Felix the Cat is an icon of the silent film era and is regarded by many as the world's first animated film star.
In Romeow, we follow Felix the Cat as the archetypal Romeo character who is on a mission to win the heart of Juliet. The movie even pays homage to Shakespeare’s famous balcony scene and adds some comedic flare to it, of course.
3.) Take a Chance (1918)
Harold Lloyd–the man behind Safety Last, also known as that silent movie with a man hanging from a clock tower that you had to watch for your film 101 class—stars in this classic romantic comedy short. This 10-minute short has a pretty simple plot: a man who calls himself “The Sport” falls in love with a girl named Bebe who has a boyfriend known as “The Snub.”
From there, Harold Lloyd embarks upon some wacky misadventures to gain Bebe’s attention. Spoiler alert: this leads him to end up in jail by the end of the movie.
This is also one of Harold Lloyd’s first successful short films! I definitely recommend it if you haven’t yet had the chance to explore his wonderful stunts and physical comedy!
4.) Wrong Again (1929)
Give it up to the newest movie from our list– it is only 94 years old! Wrong Again stars Laurel and Hardy: a famous comedic duo of the silent era. You can easily recognize them because of their very classy bowler hats. They successfully transitioned into the “talkies” era, a feat many famous silent flick actors were unable to accomplish—sorry about that Mae Murray.
The duo made more than 100 comedies together, cementing their place in cinematic history. In Wrong Again, their slapstick comedy is present in full force. Two stable boys—Laurel and Hardy—overhear that there is a reward of $5000 for whoever finds the stolen “Blue Boy.”
And wouldn't you know it, these two stable boys just happen to own a horse known as “The Blue Boy”! This is their chance to be rich! However, they missed the part that “The Blue Boy” is actually a stolen painting– not a stolen horse.
This leads to a series of hilarious misunderstandings. This film was one of this dynamic duo’s last silent projects so it is definitely a must-watch!
5.) Trolley Troubles (1927)
Who doesn't love Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? Let me give you some fun Disney trivia: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is one of the first cartoon characters designed by Walt Disney. He precedes the one and only Mickey Mouse!
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit made his world debut with Trolley Troubles, produced by Charles Mintz and George Winkler and directed by the man himself Walt Disney. In the short, we follow Oswald as a trolley conductor as he attempts to smoothly transport a series of colorful characters to their respective destinations.
But, he is unfortunately hit by a series of obstacles including several bumpy roads and an unexpected crash into a river! The movie’s charm is found in its playful animation, especially in Oswald’s mannerisms and exaggerated body movements; he can reshape his body parts at will, making for great physical comedy.
The short was a big success and paved the way for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’s career in the entertainment industry. Although Disney stopped working on the Oswald cartoons in 1928–leading to the birth of Mickey Mouse– Oswald persevered, starring in various Universal Pictures shorts throughout the 1930s. If you are an animation fan, you have to watch this revolutionary classic!
6.) Electric House (1920)
Another Buster Keaton movie? Yes…
However, Electric House is one of Keaton's hidden gems–a film that is pretty underrated in my opinion. The movie follows three college students graduating from college. On the day of their graduation, however, their diplomas get all mixed up leading to a botany student (Buster Keaton) to accidentally pick up an electrical engineering degree. The botany student is then hired for his first electrical engineering housing project which, unsurprisingly, suffers from a few mishaps. Keaton has one too many gadgets that lead to a series of visual gags at the expense of a poor family’s house.
The movie has incredible set design; the layout and construction of the house is breathtaking and the contraptions designed by our confused botany student character are delightful inventions that lead to various funny scenes.
Also, to offer some fun movie production trivia, the film began production in the early months of 1920 but had to be abruptly halted when Keaton broke his ankle on set when acting in the iconic electric staircase scene. Thankfully, the project started production again a few months later and was re-shot entirely–thank God!
7.) The Non-Stop Kid (1918)
Yes.. we included another movie from another repeat actor–but it's Harold Lloyd this time! This movie also follows a man desperately in love with a girl named Bebe (I guess that was the standard plot for all early Harold Lloyd movies). Lloyd’s character is disheartened by the fact that Bebe’s father does not want her to marry him. In fact, he wants her to marry an academic known as Professor Noodle.
Thus, Lloyd ‘s character comes up with a genius plan. He disguises himself as Professor Noodle–simply by putting on a fake mustache– in order to sneak into a party Bebe’s family is throwing.
The movie includes a hilarious singing scene in which the fake Professor Noodle has to sing in front of all the family guests, leading to a verbal argument between Lloyd’s character and a poor pianist who is just trying to do his job.
8.) The Immigrant (1917)
Last but no least, we cannot have a Silent Film Festival without Charlie Chaplin. The Immigrant is one of Chaplin’s most famous and most personal movies. The film is based on Chaplin’s own experience moving to the United States. He made it to poke fun at this life-changing yet traumatic experience; it is no surprise that Chaplin himself considers it to be one of his best films out of his impressive 81 title filmography.
The movie follows a European immigrant (Charlie Chaplin) on his voyage to America. When he eventually lands in New York, he endures a series of wacky obstacles. The movie’s most iconic scene can be found on the voyage scenes, showing various funny visual gags of an Atlantic passage on an early 20th century ship while still demonstrating the hardships of this type of voyage.
The movie reached massive success and is still considered one of the most influential flicks from the silent movie era. The Immigrant is even selected for preservation by the Library of Congress due to its historical significance.
