Charles Wolfe
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816665167
- eISBN:
- 9781452946207
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816665167.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores two of Buster Keaton’s short comedies, both examples of what has been called California slapstick: The High Sign (1922) and The Balloonatic (1923). Both films, which were shot ...
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This chapter explores two of Buster Keaton’s short comedies, both examples of what has been called California slapstick: The High Sign (1922) and The Balloonatic (1923). Both films, which were shot in and around the seaside resort of Venice, California, give evidence of a peculiar moment in the social and material geography of metropolitan Los Angeles during a critical period in the histories of the city and the Los Angeles-based film industry. Apart from the stimulation of their entertaining, intensely physical hilarity, Keaton’s films give us an example of the mutual implications of the film technology and suburbia, both of which were involved in making sense of modernity’s propensity toward an experience of dislocation.Less
This chapter explores two of Buster Keaton’s short comedies, both examples of what has been called California slapstick: The High Sign (1922) and The Balloonatic (1923). Both films, which were shot in and around the seaside resort of Venice, California, give evidence of a peculiar moment in the social and material geography of metropolitan Los Angeles during a critical period in the histories of the city and the Los Angeles-based film industry. Apart from the stimulation of their entertaining, intensely physical hilarity, Keaton’s films give us an example of the mutual implications of the film technology and suburbia, both of which were involved in making sense of modernity’s propensity toward an experience of dislocation.
Richard Barrios
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195377347
- eISBN:
- 9780199864577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377347.003.0012
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
Comedy was the most established of all silent-film genres, and as it began to find new bearings in a time of sound, it frequently took on musical trappings. The Marx Bros. led the way, followed by a ...
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Comedy was the most established of all silent-film genres, and as it began to find new bearings in a time of sound, it frequently took on musical trappings. The Marx Bros. led the way, followed by a strange assortment of silent comedians (Buster Keaton), blackface performers (“The Two Black Crows” and radio's Amos ‘n’ Andy), and stage stars such as Charlotte Greenwood. The marriage between music and comedy was frequently uneasy, although in random moments a performer such as Beatrice Lillie, in Are You There?, could demonstrate the possibilities.Less
Comedy was the most established of all silent-film genres, and as it began to find new bearings in a time of sound, it frequently took on musical trappings. The Marx Bros. led the way, followed by a strange assortment of silent comedians (Buster Keaton), blackface performers (“The Two Black Crows” and radio's Amos ‘n’ Andy), and stage stars such as Charlotte Greenwood. The marriage between music and comedy was frequently uneasy, although in random moments a performer such as Beatrice Lillie, in Are You There?, could demonstrate the possibilities.
Ryan Bishop
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748643073
- eISBN:
- 9780748689071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748643073.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines cinema’s engagement with ubran-based industrialization, linking its audience and their modes of mechanized production to those that made cinema possible and does so by using ...
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This chapter examines cinema’s engagement with ubran-based industrialization, linking its audience and their modes of mechanized production to those that made cinema possible and does so by using Chaplin and Keaton as complementary directors who engaged with mechanization. Cinema’s capacity to engage the increasingly thin line between animate and inanimate entities, between the organic and the mechanical / electric, was rendered even thinner by the technologies that altered labour and vision. The numerous connections between the machine of the factory and the vision machine of the cinema factory/industry system reveal the many roles of visual technology within the cultural politics of the first few decades of cinema, leading to a self-reflexive examination of the status of the image, and cinema’s engagement and thematising of its own power.Less
This chapter examines cinema’s engagement with ubran-based industrialization, linking its audience and their modes of mechanized production to those that made cinema possible and does so by using Chaplin and Keaton as complementary directors who engaged with mechanization. Cinema’s capacity to engage the increasingly thin line between animate and inanimate entities, between the organic and the mechanical / electric, was rendered even thinner by the technologies that altered labour and vision. The numerous connections between the machine of the factory and the vision machine of the cinema factory/industry system reveal the many roles of visual technology within the cultural politics of the first few decades of cinema, leading to a self-reflexive examination of the status of the image, and cinema’s engagement and thematising of its own power.
Jennifer Fay
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190696771
- eISBN:
- 9780190696818
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190696771.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, Environmental Politics
Much of Buster Keaton’s slapstick comedy revolves around his elaborate outdoor sets and the crafty weather design that destroys them. In contrast to D. W. Griffith, who insisted on filming in ...
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Much of Buster Keaton’s slapstick comedy revolves around his elaborate outdoor sets and the crafty weather design that destroys them. In contrast to D. W. Griffith, who insisted on filming in naturally occurring weather, and the Hollywood norm of fabricating weather in the controlled space of the studio, Keaton opted to simulate weather on location. His elaborately choreographed gags with their storm surges and collapsing buildings required precise control of manufactured rain and wind, along with detailed knowledge of the weather conditions and climatological norms on site. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) is one of many examples of Keaton’s weather design in which characters find themselves victims of elements that are clearly produced by the off-screen director. Keaton’s weather design finds parallels in World War I strategies of creating microclimates of death (using poison gas) as theorized by Peter Sloterdijk.Less
Much of Buster Keaton’s slapstick comedy revolves around his elaborate outdoor sets and the crafty weather design that destroys them. In contrast to D. W. Griffith, who insisted on filming in naturally occurring weather, and the Hollywood norm of fabricating weather in the controlled space of the studio, Keaton opted to simulate weather on location. His elaborately choreographed gags with their storm surges and collapsing buildings required precise control of manufactured rain and wind, along with detailed knowledge of the weather conditions and climatological norms on site. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) is one of many examples of Keaton’s weather design in which characters find themselves victims of elements that are clearly produced by the off-screen director. Keaton’s weather design finds parallels in World War I strategies of creating microclimates of death (using poison gas) as theorized by Peter Sloterdijk.
Harper Cossar
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813126517
- eISBN:
- 9780813135618
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813126517.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
When widescreen technology was introduced to filmmaking in 1953, it changed the visual framework and aesthetic qualities of cinema forever. Before widescreen, a director's vision for capturing ...
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When widescreen technology was introduced to filmmaking in 1953, it changed the visual framework and aesthetic qualities of cinema forever. Before widescreen, a director's vision for capturing beautiful landscapes or city skylines was limited by what could be included in the boxy confines of an Academy Ratio film frame. The introduction and subsequent evolution of widescreen technology has allowed directors to push the boundaries of filmmaking. This book explores the technological changes of the widescreen technique and how the format has inspired directors and also sparked debates among film critics. Examining early filmmakers such as Buster Keaton and D. W. Griffith and genre pioneers like Nicholas Ray and Douglas Sirk, the book explains how directors use wider aspect ratios to enhance their creative visions. The book tracks the history of stylistic experimentation with the film frame and demonstrates how the expansion of the screen has uncovered myriad creative possibilities for directors.Less
When widescreen technology was introduced to filmmaking in 1953, it changed the visual framework and aesthetic qualities of cinema forever. Before widescreen, a director's vision for capturing beautiful landscapes or city skylines was limited by what could be included in the boxy confines of an Academy Ratio film frame. The introduction and subsequent evolution of widescreen technology has allowed directors to push the boundaries of filmmaking. This book explores the technological changes of the widescreen technique and how the format has inspired directors and also sparked debates among film critics. Examining early filmmakers such as Buster Keaton and D. W. Griffith and genre pioneers like Nicholas Ray and Douglas Sirk, the book explains how directors use wider aspect ratios to enhance their creative visions. The book tracks the history of stylistic experimentation with the film frame and demonstrates how the expansion of the screen has uncovered myriad creative possibilities for directors.
Andrew Horrall
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526113849
- eISBN:
- 9781526128225
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526113849.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter shows that the war consolidated the cave man’s status as a global cultural character. Cave men have since been frequently depicted on stage, in films, in advertisements, literature, and ...
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This chapter shows that the war consolidated the cave man’s status as a global cultural character. Cave men have since been frequently depicted on stage, in films, in advertisements, literature, and more recently on television. Hollywood finally embraced the British conception of comic cave men in the 1920s. By then the character was so completely divorced from earlier evolutionary associations, that religious fundamentalists ignored it. The character has subsequently followed an almost unrelenting downward trajectory into b-movies, cheap comedies and cartoons, and productions that paraded hyper-sexualised women. The slide decelerated in 1960 when The Flintstones, the most influential depiction of cave men, debuted on American television. The series satirised middle-class, suburban America, in much the same spirit as E.T. Reed had once viewed Britain. The chapter concludes by briefly examining more recent depictions of cave men and prehistory in film and television to show that comedy predominates alongside healthy doses of action and attempts at scientific accuracy. Various examples are used to show that women continue to be portrayed in dismissive and overtly sexualised ways and that prehistory still denigrates and dismisses racial minorities. At the same time, the seemingly endless popularity and profitability of cave men films and television series mean that they will continue to be made for years.Less
This chapter shows that the war consolidated the cave man’s status as a global cultural character. Cave men have since been frequently depicted on stage, in films, in advertisements, literature, and more recently on television. Hollywood finally embraced the British conception of comic cave men in the 1920s. By then the character was so completely divorced from earlier evolutionary associations, that religious fundamentalists ignored it. The character has subsequently followed an almost unrelenting downward trajectory into b-movies, cheap comedies and cartoons, and productions that paraded hyper-sexualised women. The slide decelerated in 1960 when The Flintstones, the most influential depiction of cave men, debuted on American television. The series satirised middle-class, suburban America, in much the same spirit as E.T. Reed had once viewed Britain. The chapter concludes by briefly examining more recent depictions of cave men and prehistory in film and television to show that comedy predominates alongside healthy doses of action and attempts at scientific accuracy. Various examples are used to show that women continue to be portrayed in dismissive and overtly sexualised ways and that prehistory still denigrates and dismisses racial minorities. At the same time, the seemingly endless popularity and profitability of cave men films and television series mean that they will continue to be made for years.
Gabriella Oldham and Mabel Langdon
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813169651
- eISBN:
- 9780813169996
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813169651.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Harry Langdon (1884–1944) was a silent comedian in the early days of the American film industry. Although he is often compared with other silent comedians of the era, including Charlie Chaplin, ...
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Harry Langdon (1884–1944) was a silent comedian in the early days of the American film industry. Although he is often compared with other silent comedians of the era, including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, Langdon’s career is underappreciated. Following a series of disastrous professional and personal missteps, Langdon faced demotion from his place as a king of silent comedy. The advent of talkies did not bode well for him, as his greatest strengths were rendered irrelevant. He was largely forgotten until audiences in the 1970s became reacquainted with his work nearly three decades after his death. In Harry Langdon: King of Silent Comedy, author Gabriella Oldham claims that Langdon’s catalog of work merits an equal rank alongside his great contemporaries. This biography seeks not only to redeem Langdon’s position in the pantheon of silent comedians but also to accurately portray his life story. The narrative of Langdon’s life explores his early work on the stage at the turn of the twentieth century, his iconic routines and persona in silent films, and his checkered career in the early sound period. This invaluable biography of Langdon relies on film screenings, files, and interviews with those who were closest to him to capture his true genius during the time when comedy was king.Less
Harry Langdon (1884–1944) was a silent comedian in the early days of the American film industry. Although he is often compared with other silent comedians of the era, including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, Langdon’s career is underappreciated. Following a series of disastrous professional and personal missteps, Langdon faced demotion from his place as a king of silent comedy. The advent of talkies did not bode well for him, as his greatest strengths were rendered irrelevant. He was largely forgotten until audiences in the 1970s became reacquainted with his work nearly three decades after his death. In Harry Langdon: King of Silent Comedy, author Gabriella Oldham claims that Langdon’s catalog of work merits an equal rank alongside his great contemporaries. This biography seeks not only to redeem Langdon’s position in the pantheon of silent comedians but also to accurately portray his life story. The narrative of Langdon’s life explores his early work on the stage at the turn of the twentieth century, his iconic routines and persona in silent films, and his checkered career in the early sound period. This invaluable biography of Langdon relies on film screenings, files, and interviews with those who were closest to him to capture his true genius during the time when comedy was king.
Mark Sandberg
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748694174
- eISBN:
- 9781474408561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748694174.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Addressing location substitution in early silent comedies such as Mack Sennett’s Homemade Movies (1922) and Yukon Jake (1924) Buster Keaton’s The Frozen North (1922) and Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold ...
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Addressing location substitution in early silent comedies such as Mack Sennett’s Homemade Movies (1922) and Yukon Jake (1924) Buster Keaton’s The Frozen North (1922) and Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (1925), along with examples of lesser known films, Mark Sandberg examines the ways in which Hollywood was able to build a simulacrum of the entire world, and the Arctic in particular, on its backlots. Sandberg delineates the claims for authenticity made by these films and the publicity machines that surrounded them, despite their artificiality. Based on extensive research at the Margaret Herrick Library, Sandberg also examines in detail para-material such scenarios, adverts, and Paramount Studios’ location map, to delineate how various world geographies were delineated across the map of California.Less
Addressing location substitution in early silent comedies such as Mack Sennett’s Homemade Movies (1922) and Yukon Jake (1924) Buster Keaton’s The Frozen North (1922) and Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (1925), along with examples of lesser known films, Mark Sandberg examines the ways in which Hollywood was able to build a simulacrum of the entire world, and the Arctic in particular, on its backlots. Sandberg delineates the claims for authenticity made by these films and the publicity machines that surrounded them, despite their artificiality. Based on extensive research at the Margaret Herrick Library, Sandberg also examines in detail para-material such scenarios, adverts, and Paramount Studios’ location map, to delineate how various world geographies were delineated across the map of California.
Jennifer Fay
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190696771
- eISBN:
- 9780190696818
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190696771.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, Environmental Politics
Inhospitable World explores the connection between cinema and artificial weather, climates, and even planets in or on which hospitality and survival are at stake. Cinema’s dominant mode of aesthetic ...
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Inhospitable World explores the connection between cinema and artificial weather, climates, and even planets in or on which hospitality and survival are at stake. Cinema’s dominant mode of aesthetic world-making is often at odds with the very real human world it is meant to simulate. The chapters in this book take the reader to a scene—the mise-en-scène—where human world-making is undone by the force of human activity, whether it is explicitly for the sake of making a film, or for practicing war and nuclear science, or for the purpose of addressing climate change in ways that exacerbate its already inhospitable effects. The episodes in this book emphasize our always unnatural and unwelcoming environment as a matter of production, a willed and wanted milieu, however harmful, that is inseparable from but also made perceivable through film. While no one film or set of films adds up to a totalizing explanation of climate change, cinema enables us to glimpse anthropogenic environments as both an accidental effect of human activity and a matter of design. Chapters on Buster Keaton, American atomic test films, film noir, the art of China’s Three Gorges Dam, and films of early Antarctic exploration trace parallel histories of film and location design that spell out the ambitions, sensations, and narratives of the Anthropocene, especially as it consolidates into the Great Acceleration starting in 1945.Less
Inhospitable World explores the connection between cinema and artificial weather, climates, and even planets in or on which hospitality and survival are at stake. Cinema’s dominant mode of aesthetic world-making is often at odds with the very real human world it is meant to simulate. The chapters in this book take the reader to a scene—the mise-en-scène—where human world-making is undone by the force of human activity, whether it is explicitly for the sake of making a film, or for practicing war and nuclear science, or for the purpose of addressing climate change in ways that exacerbate its already inhospitable effects. The episodes in this book emphasize our always unnatural and unwelcoming environment as a matter of production, a willed and wanted milieu, however harmful, that is inseparable from but also made perceivable through film. While no one film or set of films adds up to a totalizing explanation of climate change, cinema enables us to glimpse anthropogenic environments as both an accidental effect of human activity and a matter of design. Chapters on Buster Keaton, American atomic test films, film noir, the art of China’s Three Gorges Dam, and films of early Antarctic exploration trace parallel histories of film and location design that spell out the ambitions, sensations, and narratives of the Anthropocene, especially as it consolidates into the Great Acceleration starting in 1945.
Gabriella Oldham and Mabel Langdon
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780813169651
- eISBN:
- 9780813169996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813169651.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This section sets the background for the telling of Langdon’s story, which is divided into three phases. It also tells the story of how this biography came to be and expresses the author’s hope that ...
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This section sets the background for the telling of Langdon’s story, which is divided into three phases. It also tells the story of how this biography came to be and expresses the author’s hope that after many years of development, this book reflects both the hard work of the scholars involved and the memories of wife Mabel and son Harry Jr. of this man who was a comic genius.Less
This section sets the background for the telling of Langdon’s story, which is divided into three phases. It also tells the story of how this biography came to be and expresses the author’s hope that after many years of development, this book reflects both the hard work of the scholars involved and the memories of wife Mabel and son Harry Jr. of this man who was a comic genius.
