A happy crowd… Buster’s Shorts, Talkies Community Cinema, Christ Church, Southgate with David Hinitt and Adam Dickson

“Not long ago a friend asked me what was the greatest pleasure I got from spending my whole life as an actor. There have been so many that I had to think about that for a moment. Then I said, ‘like everyone else, I like to be with a happy crowd’.” – Buster Keaton

This was an irresistible first for me: the chance to watch silent comedy in a church with live improvised organ accompaniment.

Talkies organised the event superbly and silent activist Michelle Facey programmed perfectly. There were packed pews for this premier of Keaton comedies at Christ Church in leafy North London; just a dash down the A10 and a few dozen minutes of male hit-and-hope navigation (it’s really quite easy to find if you have the humility to pre-plan Paul…) from home.

Sybil never loses faith...well almost

The venue is lovely with the warmest of welcomes: this is a community cinema in all senses and there were eager helpers ready to serve the kind of refreshments required after your husband has just given you a de-tour of Enfield. This was not entirely the usual audience for a silent screening - there were a fair number of “civilians” here for the opportunity to share something different and to laugh at a man repeatedly falling over in a church.

Sometimes people can treat silent film with too much reverence (sorry) but the aisles were truly alight almost the second Roscoe and Buster started their larks in the first film: this audience were here for an unqualified good laugh. They were here to share. 

Molly Malone watches as the wall falls on Roscoe Arbuckle

Back Stage (1919)

First up was one of the 15 two-reelers Buster made with Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle a huge star at the time soon to be on a $1 million a year contract. Back Stage deals with a subject very close to Buster’s heart: small-town vaudeville. Keaton had been on stage almost his entire life with his presence in the family act enabled a combination of childcare and commercial opportunity.

Buster and Roscoe play a couple of stage hands trying and failing to keep the motley performers happy. There’s a crazy-legged dancer (Jack Coogan Sr. in the days before his son made him more famous) and a giant strongman (Charles A. Post) whose strength is matched only by that of his petite assistant (Molly Malone).

Charles A. Post

Buster and Roscoe electrocute the brute but he just won’t stay down. In the end their cast go on strike and they have to complete the show on their own. Things go so badly they go really well and amongst the hilarity a stage scene house falls onto Roscoe who survives by the good fortune of an open window… the first, if not even the last time tonight, Buster deployed that device.

It was a treat to see these two in their early adventures. Now, wouldn’t it be god to see some more of Mabel Normand with Roscoe?

Roscoe Arbuckle

The Goat (1921)

The Goat was another astute choice from Michelle featuring another iconic Buster Keaton moment…

Buster thinks he's seen a ghost not a goat!

Buster gets confused with Dead Shot Dan (played by co-director Malcolm St. Clair) and all heck breaks lose as he goes on the run. Dan simply ducks as Buster watches on through the bars looking for all the world as if he’s the con.

Much confusion reigns in what could be considered a demo for Cops only with a handful not hundreds of LA’s finest in pursuit. Eventually Buster annoys the Police Chief himself – BIG Joe Roberts – and ends up romancing his daughter (Virginia Fox) or at least trying… the chase is almost all...

Buster and some Cops!

One Week (1920)

All under control

Directed by Eddie Cline and Keaton this was the first film to be released with Buster on his own. Not for long though as he is quickly wed to Sybil Seely and then off to build a new house on a plot provided by his uncle. All looks swell for the newly-weds until a jilted ex swaps the numbers round andthe pieces fall neatly out of place.

Big Joe Roberts features again as a piano mover who drops his cargo onto its relatively tiny recipient: more jokes about size not being everything: Buster always finds a way even if it leads to further complications.

I’ve previously raved about One Week and it hasn’t lost its charm or impact: the audience gasped at the ending as Keaton provides the classic gotcha moment of jeopardy-relief and then… smash!!

Looking good

The Boat (1921)

This was another Keaton revelation: I knew he had a boat called the Damfino, I just never knew what it really meant or, indeed, how it was pronounced or rather, mouthed. It was a punch-mime well worth waiting for and I’ve never heard so many people laugh whilst lip-reading.

Sybil launches the Damfino!

Buster has built his boat in his house and, best laid plans and all that, it just won’t squeeze out of the front door. He makes a few adjustments and pulls the Damfino through only for his house to collapse just behind. Undeterred the Keaton family, two boys in pork pie hats and the long-suffering Sybil Seely head sea-ward.

It’s interesting to see the character Keaton had devised across these four films. He was a go-getter, trying to sort things out for himself and in spite of every reversal he just keeps coming. A constructive clown and a man after our own hearts. Your boat’s sinking? Climb into the bathtub! Lessons we should all heed…

Buster and Sybil take a bath

In a world in which mistakes happen and you have to improvise your way ahead: and in Buster we trust!

The organists David Hinitt and Adam Dickson performed admirably on what was only their second or third silent accompaniment. It’s no mean feat especially trying to capture the mood of quicksilver comedy: take your eyes of Buster and you risk missing the punchline!

All in all a splendid time was had by all in Southgate and lets’ hope Talkies shows more silents in future.

The three Buster solos are available on the Kino Blu-ray Short Films Collection: 1920-1923 set and also with the Arbuckle collaborations on Complete Buster Keaton Short Films (1917-1923).

Christ Church's Lady Chapel complete with William Morris stained glass and decoration

Poetry and motion – Terje Vigen (1917) John Sweeney and Lillian Henley, Kennington Bioscope

I’m not sure if Victor Sjöström and John Ford ever met but from their mutual love of spectacular nature and their belief in The Strong Man (or Woman), I’m sure they would have got on like a wooden cabin on fire.

These two films came early in both men’s careers and show how advanced performance and cinematography had become by 1917. Two wildly different subjects and locations but two master film-makers at work capturing wild drama against stunning backdrops…

Out West… Bucking Broadway (1917) with Cyrus Gabrysch

This film was only rediscovered a few years back and looks very fine from the restoration on view. It features many Ford trademarks that were no doubt anything but at this relatively stage: beautiful scenery, hard-working ranch hands, a massed brawl – unrehearsed a free-for-all just like JF like them – and a slight story, balanced by not taking itself too seriously. It’s a fun film and very good-looking.

Harry Carey stars as Cheyenne Harry, the pride of the ranch and the apple of his boss’s daughter Helen’s eye. Helen is played by Molly Malone who looks far too young for Harry (39) and yet was 29 so, you can relax South Yorkshire Police Force…

Harry and Helen

Harry carves Helen a heart which she promises to keep and the couple are delighted when her father (L. M. Wells) agrees to their union and future life in a little log cabin Harry has built.

But… into this Wyoming paradise enters a gentleman from New York City, name of Thornton (Vester Pegg) a man with a baddie’s moustache if ever you saw one! He drives his fast car and eastern allure straight into the heart of the young couple’s relationship and before Harry knows it, has started to tempt Helen away with his talk of the bright lights, the big city…

Harry Carey and Molly Malone

As Harry and Helen’s engagement is announced it’s already too late and his intended has been swept off her feet, into Thornton’s car and the express train to NYC. Harry and her Father are distraught.

In New York which, sadly, we don’t get to see; any exteriors clearly being in LA… Helen is introduced to Thornton’s “sister” Gladys (Gertrude Astor) who makes very strange eyes at the younger woman: what’s really going on – white slave trade or something even more transgressive?!

Gladys' mysterious gaze

Helen begins to wonder and sends her wooden heart back to Harry who, as all cowboys do in times of emotional stress, was about to head off on his lonesome. He quickly reverses his decision on receipt of her letter and – literally – catches the next express to New York chasing after it on horseback and clambering on at speed – ye-hah!!

It’s only a matter of time before Thornton is showing his true colours – drinking, messing his hair up and pushing Helen around in front of his weird friends… and then it’s a question of how long it will take Harry to come to the rescue…

It’s a fun film aided by Cyrus’ G’s splendid accompaniment: a man equally at home with cattle wrangling in Wyoming dust as with Park Avenue sophistication and the chaos that ensues when both worlds collide.

Up North… Terje Vigen (There Was a Man) (1917) with John Sweeney and Lillian Henley

I’d previously watched the Kino DVD of this film but this was an altogether more immersive experience: the BFI’s 35mm film was screened and, in the absence of English translations, Lillian Henley read out a translation with actorly precision and powerful, controlled tones. The film is based on the poem by Henrik Ibsen and Lilian’s voice worked perfectly with the rise and fall of the verse: perfectly pitched!

John Sweeney accompanied with some of his most dramatic lines all the while allowing Lillian the space to vocalise before re-joining the action out at sea. The result was simply one of the best silent events I’ve witnessed at the Bioscope or elsewhere: it should be bottled and prescribed for all those in need of some silent spirit!

Victor Sjöström

The film marks a step change in Sjostrom’s direction and the beginning of his glory years aided and abetted by cinematographer Julius Jaenzon. Here Jaenzon captures the rugged coastline not far from Stockholm, which passes for the unforgiving Grimstad coast where the poem was originally set, whilst there are shots on board pilot’s boats, frigates and schooners that put the audience right in the middle of the relentless North Sea.

Camera angles may help a lot but so often we see Sjöström himself, climbing up rigging to splice the sails, rowing against the tides and diving under the murk to evade capture. He was a brave performer as well as innovative director and pushes his own performance to the limits here where his ability to switch from strength to vulnerability is remarkable. There is a man and one who loses all but still finds his soul in spite of a rage vast enough to match the sea storms.

Young Terje

Sjöström’s Terje is a creature of epic desolation – hair and beard robbed of all colour by the loss of his family in the English blockade of Norway between 1809-1815 – but before we know the cause we understand the effect as he rages full-on against the sea.

In flashback we see his previous noble standing and the joy upon his return from long moths at sea of discovering his new born daughter. Happiness lasts until his girl is a few years older and crumbles when war is declared. The British prevent all supplies and Terje, their strongest and bravest, sets off to smuggle food back.

Happy return

He evades the patrols but on his return with three precious sacks of supplies, he gets chased down over agonising and desperate minutes by an English privateer who cares not for his tearful pleading and simply laughs in his face. He’s locked up for long years and unaware of his family’s fate and when his hell is ended by peace, he returns home to the worst possible news.

Thus has he been made and yet he exists as a pilot helping ships in danger to navigate the cruel rocks he knows so well. But he is bitter and sick – a hollow man. When chance offers him the chance to even the score with the very man who condemned him to this fate… can he possibly resist?

 
You’ll need to watch it to find out.

Terje Vigen is available on a Kino DVD with the earlier Ingeborg Holm (1913) and you can buy it from Amazon and all the usual places but... it’s nothing like the real, live, thing!

Encore Bioscope! Encore!!