Slapstick Comedy and Silent Films - Essay Example

In the early 20th century, besides theatre, motion pictures or films gained immense popularity in the world of entertainment. The films produced at that time were devoid of sound and were made in Black and White. People could only see whatever was happening on the screen. These films were made purely for entertainment of the audience. To make the audience understand about the theme of the films, slapstick comedy was introduced. Slapstick comedy is a device in which, the characters have exaggerated and speedy physical activities backed up by accurate timing. They do this mainly to make people understand what kind of character they are portraying in that film. More emphasis is given on speed of actions and facial expressions. For example in slapstick comedies we find scenes like a person slipping on the peel of banana skin, somebody hitting a person with frying pan, a person hitting his head against a suddenly opened door, etc. The central character enacts certain scene, which seems to be normal initially but suddenly the situation becomes chaotic, with all the characters running helter-skelter creating confusion. And it is during this time that the actor has to show presence of mind and has to take some action, which will make the audience laugh and also he has to do something brilliant to come out of that chaotic situation. The actor performs all sorts of actions like leaping, running, tumbling down etc. And for all these purposes he uses props like buckets, shovel, ladder, sea-saw, sticks, roller skates etc., which generates comedy. The stunts like falling down with a bang, taking a leap, hanging on the top of the building is all done by the actor himself. While doing these actions he has to be aware of the impending consequences and the injuries. The settings in the films too played an important role. The settings were simple, like the house of the character, a park, river, some building etc. The settings were from day to day life and the audience could easily relate with those situations. The sets were not lavish. Mostly the scenes were of some parties wherein the character unknowingly falls on some cake or accidentally smears the cake on somebody else's face and this is how the chaos begins. While reacting to such chaotic situations the characters would often make strange faces or funny body movements, or run here and there, which made the audience laugh like anything. Besides, enactment, the films also displayed certain captions which informed the audience about the theme of the film. The speedy actions enhanced the humor in the film. The actors who portrayed various characters were mostly shabbily or unconventionally dressed. Their funny attire supplemented by their clown like actions aroused laughter among the audiences. Thus the slapstick comedies consisted of absurd situations and vigorous actions, which had a comic tone and were performed by those actors who were highly energetic and good stuntmen. We find a detailed account on the comparative study of slapstick comedy and Commedia dell'arte in the book of David Madden, namely, -Harlequin's stick, Charlie's cane: a comparative study of commedia dell'arte and silent slapstick comedy. In his book, he gives the discrimination between the two art forms. Commedia dell'arte was performed directly in front of the audience, whereas the slapstick comedy was presented in an indirect form that is it was projected on the screen. The commedia plays were mostly for three hours whereas slapstick comedies were comparatively briefer. In commedia the actors were donned in masks and there was continuous verbal dexterity, slapstick noise, music and color, while the silent movies were devoid of sound and color as the films were Black and White. The commedia was not video graphed whereas the slapstick was video graphed and projected on the screen. (Harlequin's Stick, Charlie's Cane - David Madden, 1968) Actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were considered the milestones in the world of silent cinema. Their powerful performances spell bounded the audiences and they enjoyed the films wholeheartedly. These great actors used the slapstick comedy in innovative ways. Each one had its own unique style, which distinguished them from each other. Since the films were silent they had to do different experiments or use different ideas to express themselves and to pass the right message to the audience. Charlie Chaplin, an Academy Award winner, was a great performer whose life was full of turbulence, yet he managed to come out of the problems courageously and surged ahead with his powerful performances. He was very much a "Silent Clown" as rightly written by Walter Kerr in his book "The Silent Clowns". Walter Kerr, a renowned theatre critique and a great admirer of Chaplin had high regards for him. Chaplin was a indeed a silent clown whose life was full of ups and downs yet he adorned the mask of a comedian and with his extraordinary skill of acting made people laugh and forget their worries. Chaplin is to be credited for giving the silent comedies the status of an 'art form'. Walter Kerr speaks of the great clowns or comedians like Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd and also of many unsung heroes who made the audience laugh with their mind-blowing performances. This book is a glorious depiction of the golden era of silent comedies. It describes growth of Chaplin as an actor. He began his career as a child artist and later became popular as "The Tramp". This character was a thorough gentleman, a very innocent kind of a person who wore a tight coat, oversize shoes and trousers, a hat, a bamboo Harlequin stick and sported the toothbrush like moustache. Although his films were comedies they had an undertone of sentimentalism and melancholy. He was a biggest perfectionist and was ready to pay for even a smaller or bigger mistake. His Tramp was always benevolent and was shown helping others in their need. The films like City Lights, The Kid and The Circus were counted as one of his greatest films, wherein he has performed comedy and his pathos touched the hearts of the audience. To name among the few of his creative ventures, is the film "Easy Street", where initially he plays the role of a poor tramp, which later finds the job of a policeman. Chaplin is posted in Easy Street where he confronts the villain, played by Eric Campbell. Chaplin handles him with his tactics and the movie ends on a happy note. The scene where Chaplin accidentally sits on the syringe of a drug addict and he gets superhuman energy is hilarious. With this boon of superhuman energy, he fights the villain, which is much stronger than he is. Thus Easy Street cannot be perceived as a pure comedy but also a mature film dealing with serious issues like poverty, exploitation of poor etc. Chaplin often performed actions like raising of his eyebrows, shrugging the shoulders, jumping, frequent removal of hat and moving of his famous stick, for creating humor. Walter Kerr in his book of "The Silent Clowns" very lovingly and passionately describes about these four comedians and he also speaks about the golden period of Silent Cinema. His books mainly deal with the mechanical aspects and aesthetics of that era. We also find detailed accounts of the making of the silent cinema in the book "The Parades gone by" by Kevin Brownlow. He was a successful film historian who had documented the history of the silent era. He got an opportunity of interviewing all the senior actors and directors of the silent era and unveiling the unknown sides of that kind of cinema which would have otherwise gone into oblivion with the deaths of these pioneers of silent cinema. We come to know how cinema developed technically over a period of time. Unlike Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton was a silent comedian who always had blank expressions on his face. He was named as a king of gags. Keaton was famous for his physical comedy and the expressionless face, which gave him the nickname "The Great Stone face". His films that became huge hits were - The General, Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr. and the Navigator. Keaton was mainly known for his dare bare stunts in the films. He broke his neck while shooting a scene of railroad-water tank in Sherlock Jr., wherein he had played the role of a person that dreams of becoming a detective. The dream sequence, where, the actor actually enters the screen in his dream is just mind-blowing. In the film, "Our Hospitality", Keaton was riding on a train, when suddenly he finds himself to be in a coal car that leaves the track and falls into a river. Keaton with his trademark stone face sits in the coal car and by picking up a shovel paddles his way to the bank of the river. He does this with such great ease that one can feel that he is paddling a boat. It is the stone face expression of Keaton that made the people laugh. He never changed his expression nor did he ever smile in his films, and this was a part of his genius comedy. In a 'Picture Play Magazine"(1921), he stated the following fact about his comedy: "I have found-especially on the stage- that when I finish a stunt, I can get a laugh by just standing still and looking at the audience as if I was surprised and Slightly hurt to think they would laugh at me. It always brings a bigger laugh." Buster Keaten was a genius not only in his acting skills but he was also a great filmmaker and was considered to be a genius behind the camera. Harold Lloyd was also a great actor and film producer of silent cinema. He is considered to be of the rank of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. He was well known for his character of Glasses. His films were mainly thrillers, which consisted of breathtaking stunts and chase scenes that captivated the audience holding them firmly on their seats. Lloyd will be best remembered for his scene from the film "Safety Last" wherein he is shown hanging from the hands of the clock high up in the street. Because of his habit of doing most of the dangerous stunts himself he had to lose his thumb and index finger while shooting a scene using a prop bomb in the film "Haunted Spooks". Although Lloyd was not commercially successful like Charlie Chaplin, yet he featured in more films and his films did more business as compared to that of Chaplin. Harold Lloyd had high regards for Chaplin and he tried to imitate him in his earlier films. He openly admitted that he had copied him in his film "Lonesome Luke". He was never termed as a typecast as he did a variety of roles right from a starving poor person to the refined and wealthy socialite. And that's the reason that the American audience could easily identify with the characters he played. Thus he was considered to be one of the most successful and wealthy comedians of silent cinema. Although his performance was eclipsed by the performances of Chaplin and Keaton, he was successful in retaining his identity as a popular and highest paid comedian. His getup was mainly of a shabbily dressed person wearing a straw hat and big round glasses. Although this hero has gone in the oblivion, writers like Walter Kerr and Brownlow have kept him alive in their books, which have his fond memories. Paul Merton once said, "The best silent comedians were popular throughout the world because there was no language barrier. Charlie Chaplin was huge in India and the best of the silent comedies are as funny today as they were eighty years ago". Thus, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd used the slapstick comedy in their films in a creative way that made their art memorable. Books cited: 1. The Silent Clowns - Walter Kerr 2. The Parade's Gone By - Kevin Brownlow 3. Silent Comedy - Paul Merton 4. Harlequin's stick, Charlie's cane: a comparative study of commedia dell'arte and silent slapstick comedy - David Madden 5. Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. - Andrew Horton 6. The Theatre and Cinema of Buster Keaton - Robert Knoph Film references: 1. Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last" 2. Charlie Chaplin's "Easy Street" 3. Buster Keaton's "Sherlock Jr." Read More