Buster's reactions to some of her naiveté (my oft mentioned 'ringing her neck when she throws away the wood because it has a hole, but then embracing her') is one of my favorite love scenes. All done inside of a chase, too... I kept thinking about that moment in The General too when I was reading t...

I used to think Gary Cooper could do no wrong, and looked forward with great anticipation to Ball of Fire (1941). The film promised everything: screenplay by Billy Wilder, directed by Howard Hawks, Barbara Stanwyck as a nightclub entertainer on the lam, all those excellent character actors in suppor...

Happy New Year everyone! My three sons and daughter-in-law make New Year's a sort of alternative riff on Christmas, with gifts, special food and playing music together. It works out well with the ex-wives--who are both die-hard Christmas celebrants--and gives the kids a second dose of presents and f...

This movie certainly isn't one of my all time favorites, but I LOVE Joseph Schildkraut as the slightly foppish, obsequious clerk. He's definitely caught up in the sparkle of being in a Lubitsch production, and plays everything to the hilt.

I remember hearing that Lloyd's films actually did better box office than Chaplin and Keaton's on first release. Maybe he was channeling the "Me Generation" feeling of the Twenties more than the other two. Chaplin and Keaton--at their best--seem to evoke something more timeless coming down...

I watched The Saphead last night because, well, this is a smoking hot thread. You're right, MJ, this is an odd addition to the Keaton canon. The opening title cards tell how Douglas Fairbanks played the role on stage, and then recommended Keaton for the screen adaptation. Quite an incongruous substi...

Allison,

I usually don't scroll all the way down to the bottom of Board Index, so I just learned about your ordeal. I can't add any more than what's been said already, but I'll be sending my very best thoughts to you and dear little Libby.

I don't pull out Limelight too often, but when I'm ready to see it, it always makes a big impression on me. I watched it a week ago and am still haunted by it. Here's a situation where Chaplin (Calvero) intervenes altruistically in a girl's life--a la City Lights --and she gives herself to him compl...

I hadn't noticed this and it's intriguing. In which films and which scenes have you noticed this? I did make sort of a sweeping statement there. His lingering on the "suchness" of certain things became apparent to me during Our Hospitality. And I don't notice it in the earlier shorts. Bot...

This thread has been directing me back to my Keaton and Chaplin titles, getting me to compare and contrast. There's one quality of Keaton's films that I have always appreciated but never could quite put my finger on. It's the way he'll let the camera linger on something that he's found to be charmin...

I'm glad people are having so much fun with this thread. It made me get all serious, so it took me a while to join in. My dad had left the family when I was 4 or 5, never to be heard from again. I had a domineering older sister and the competition for emotional resources was fierce. I remember when ...

CCF, I recorded this movie [Upperworld] last week, and looked forward with great relish to viewing it. I'd watch anything with Warren William, Mary Astor or Ginger Rogers in it--individually--but to have all three in one picture, it seemed too good to be true. I finally watched it last night, and co...

I have a few of those Arbuckle/Keaton shorts in my collection and you're right, Arbuckle is very generous with the allocation of screen time to Buster. My collection is pretty spotty, but it must be very instructive to watch the step-by-step progression in that early "film comedy laboratory.&qu...

I admit I'm not all that hat-savvy, but my Hats in Movies confession is my total weakness for that look in the early thirties that every woman seemed to wear. Short hair, permanent wave, and a smooth, form fitting hat that extended no more than an inch or two at the brim. Even within those narrowly ...

Ann, is the version of Ace of Hearts you watched the one with the recently composed score by Vivek Madela (SP?). He was the winner of the Young Composer's competition through TCM. I think that score is really beautiful. He uses a modern composer's "vocabulary" of chords, melodies, and rhyt...