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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Compilation > Silent > Slapstick, Too (Documentary)

Slapstick, Too

 

Picture: C     Sound: B-     Extras: D     Documentary: B

 

 

Eli Wallach narrates an exceptional compendium of classic silent films clips in the Killiam-produced documentary Slapstick, Too (1992) featuring some of the most vital clips of the silent screen comedy stars one could ever hope to assemble.  Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Laurel & Hardy and others are shown as slapstick’s rise is charted.  We learn of the idea of slapstick, its variants and its roots in vaudeville.

 

This is traced into the early sound comedies and shows why many of those films were classics as well, but the focus is still the silent era.  This is an era where a majority of all the films produced are long gone.  Nitrate stocks gone bad and a severe lack of preservation have been the main culprits, with studios and independents not having cared enough to begin with early on until it was too late.  Add those independents long gone who had their catalogs land up who knows where, often the trash (!!!) and you can imagine the situation.

 

Here however, this very well thought out and edited piece shows the vitality and greatness of the era, all at proper camera speeds.  Silents were shot 16 – 18 frames per second, while sound films goes at least 24 fps.  Overcranking on the set notwithstanding, many people for decades would play the silent films at the sound speed because they either did not know to switch to silent speed or had a projector that did not do silent speed.  These comics have what is still some of the best comic timing, athletics and talent ever.  Like thrillers, comedies (especially these) had their classic moments of suspense, i.e., will the train or streetcar run the star over.

 

The full frame 1.33 x 1 presentation preserves the aspect ratio of those silents in good prints and clips Killiam is known for.  They are a company that has preserved and reintroduced some of the most important films ever made.  Some may look better now, but with so many bad prints out there of these films (a situation worse than anything in the sound era), these clips at their softest still look good for their age.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo features healthy Pro Logic type surrounds for the music and Wallach sounds clear, but there are no extras.  Slapstick, Too is a key must-see for all true film fans.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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