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Feb 23, 2008 John
Mucci accompanies "STEAMBOAT BILL, Jr. " "PASS THE GRAVY" . |
Buster Keaton delivers tools to his incarcerated
father
Two classic silent
film comedies will be shown with live piano accompaniment at the Cannon
Grange, in Wilton, CT on February 23, 2008. Children and adults will enjoy
a seldom-seen 12-minute comedy short and a classic Buster Keaton feature
from the golden age of silent cinema. The Grange is charging $5 admission, or $20 for families. The Cannon Grange Hall is located at 25 Cannon Road has ample parking available at the Cannondale Railroad Station. See below for directions. As a matter of convenience, Metro-North stops at the Cannondale station on the Danbury line. See the train schedule below. ABOUT THE FILMS: Buster Keaton STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928)
He tries to make a man of him, and as in all Keaton features, Buster grows in our estimation minute by minute, until in the climax of the film, during a ferocious hurricane, he not only saves the day but saves his father and his girl (and his father's rival!) by the final fade-out. A classic film with some incredible imagery in it, including
one scene that has become the icon of Keaton's surrealistic treatment
of reality, when a two-ton façade of a house falls on top of him.
Max Davidson
The roast chicken on the table looks very suspicious... It's a different kind of humor, and a film that'll make
you laugh out loud in a way you'll never do watching television
sitcoms or even listening to NPR. It's an innocent era, in a story performed
by masters of pantomime.
NOTE! I have recently finished scoring
the rare Hal Roach Film "No
Man's Law" To read
more than you need to know about me, see my website. For more information, call me at 203-722-6751 Train Schedule from Grand Central, transferring
from South Norwalk
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One
of Keaton's last independent features, Steamboat Bill, Jr. is the story
of a young man who hasn't seen his father for many years
and returns home to him from college. The captain of an old-fashioned
and failing steamboat, the father (played by Ernest Torrance) expects
his son to be a brawny chip-off-the-ol'-block. But when Buster arrives
with his pencil-thin mustache and ukelele, the captain nearly loses all
hope.
Never heard of Max Davidson? Get ready for a real treat. Once
a favorite Hal Roach star, Davidson slipped into undeserved obscurity, and is
seen here is rare form. He plays a widower father who enjoys raising prize flowers.
His neighbor, another widower father, raises prize poultry. The two families
spat because the chickens are eating Max's flower seeds (a dilemma surely we've
all been in). However...
In a Romeo and Juliet
move, the children decide to get married, and the fathers decide to hold a
celebratory dinner to show no hard feelings. However...
(1927)
that features Oliver Hardy as a very credible villain (!), and is available
on DVD through 