Editor's note: The following conversation was overheard outside of a dim classroom in the hallowed halls of St. Paul Film Academy, where some ongoing discussion of movie lore continues without concern for time or grades.
Alec: Buster Keaton, or Busta Keaton as he is known amongst the more urban crowds …
Findlay: Wait, wait. No one called him that. What urban crowds? Are you suggesting inner city folks are abandoning the clubs and stuff for standing-room-only celebrations of Buster Keaton? The guy who made his first movie in 1917? How would anybody know him?
Alex: Hey, he made himself famous through the silent comedy genre.
Findlay: Dude! You make it sound like he chose that type of film out of variety pack. ‘Hmmmm. Should I go with Low-Budget Zombie or Post-Apocalyptic Drama? Nah, I’ll make Silent Comedy.’ Keaton started in silent films because that’s all there was! What else have you got?
Alec: His main competitors were Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin. He’s not as famous as the other two …
Findlay: … except amongst the urban crowds.
Alec: Uh, yeah. But his works are equally entertaining. He got his start in the entertainment business through vaudeville. By the time he started working on movies he was already well known. You can see his vaudevillian beginnings in his movies.
Findlay: So what can we expect from tonight’s movie, arguably Keaton’s best work, The General?
Alec: Well, I haven’t seen The General.
Findlay: Dude, again! You’re the host!
Alec: But I have seen One Week. I really enjoyed the basic “Romeo and Juliet” plotline. The movie required minimal thinking and maximum laughing. These old school comedies have this exceedingly simple plot and humor but they are somehow able to entertain.
Findlay: Sounds like my English classes. But why is that funny?
Alec: Well, watching silent comedy, sometimes I think “that guy just fell down in some kind of fast motion, why is this funny?” and then he falls down again and I start laughing again. They have this ridiculous quality and although they are simple they are easily able to entertain me.
Findlay: Well, you know what they say about simple pleasures.
Alec: Not really. I know as a member of film club I am supposed to be someone who enjoys intensely thematic and philosophical movies. I can enjoy that kind of movie if they are well done but I also enjoy the simplicity of one man beating the other with a cane and knocking him down.
Findlay: I am totally hiding my Three Stooges collection from you.
Alec: I guess you could call these silent comedies the junk food of the movie world but that really would not be doing them justice. Although they may not require thought or thematic conclusions they are good movies (which cannot be said for most comedies these days).
Findlay: You’re so right. But if silent comedy is “junk food,” what the heck are Adam Sandler comedies? The paste you eat when you’re in kindergarten? I think we should look at silent film in general as a completely different form. The problem is we don’t have a lot of understanding left of the conventions of silent film, the way we do with superhero movies or romantic comedies. How do we watch these movies if their real qualities are on display but we don’t know how to see them?
Alec: Well, at the most basic, they have historical value as far as film goes. But they are also at the beginning of the film comedy genre, the “city on the hill” of film comedies. You can even see traces of these movies in pop culture today whether it be mimicking them or mocking them. In fact the common comedy technique known as slapstick found somewhat of a start here. Your favorite comedies of today would be far different without this awesome genre as a launching pad.
Findlay: Whoa! You’re getting all intensely thematic and philosophical.
Alec: I’m a true fan. Especially of Keaton. I truly enjoy his movies and those who do not give him a chance because he is from the black and white silent genre are insane. Any movie has the potential to be entertaining (yes even Jim Carry movies). People should not avoid silent or black and white films because they think of them as “boring.” People have complained to me that film club is “showing too many old movies this year.” Watching these older films will allow you to appreciate and understand new movies.
Findlay: You said it, Busta!
Alec Nordin (Film Club Co-President) and R. Findlay (Film Club Adviser)
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