Film Friday | Weekly Roundup

So seriously, I made a little online tour of the rep cinema’s last night to see what’s on offer this weekend, and felt very disappointed that I can’t go out to a silent film screening this week. The Toronto Silent Film Festival spoiled me! It might just be me and the dvds this weekend, folks. Despite my many silent film screenings this week, I still made time to scour the interwebs for you, dear readers. First, I want to say that over the week I collected a ton of links from The Cinementals and then I thought I should just tell you to follow The Cinementals. They’re doing an awesome job! Now, let’s get down to it. Here’s the best and the brightest the interwebs had to offer this week. Happy reading and happy viewing!

Keaton – Cops – and the First Baptist Church of Hollywood

It’s always a fun day when I notice a new post at John Bengtson’s completely awesome Silent Locations. And after seeing Buster and Fatty in the high-larious “Backstage” last night at the 1000 Laffs: Playmates screening at Toronto Silent Film Festival, reading about this Keaton location is like a cherry on my sundae!

Keaton – Cops – and the First Baptist Church of Hollywood.

TSFF Preview: 1000 Laffs – Playmates

You do not have a silent film fest until you bring in the clowns and Toronto Silent Film Festival will be delivering the goods on April 1 with 1000 Laffs – Playmates, a program of silent shorts. Silent comedy is, of course, dominated by the holy auteur trinity of Buster Keaton – Charline Chaplin – Harold Lloyd. The feature films of those clowns are the apotheosis of silent comedy, arguably of silent cinema in general. Ah, but silent shorts! Shorts are like little bite sized bits of comedy nirvana, and of course you can’t have just one.

This year Toronto Silent Film Festival focuses on comedy duos, or trios as the case maybe. We’ve got Buster and Fatty Arbuckle in Backstage. We’ve got Chaplin, Edna Purviance, and Eric Campbell in The Cure. We’ve got Harry Langdon and Vernon Dent is Saturday Afternoon. We’ve got Stan Laurel and Larry Semon in Frauds and Frenzies. And last, but by no means least, we’ve got comedy’s most dynamic duo, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Can you think of  a better way to while away a Sunday afternoon?

If you’re a hardcore silent film fanatic and you’re trying to lure a newbie into the medium, comedies are always a great route in. If you’re silent-curious, you won’t find a better introduction than this program of yucks and chucks. When you see a silent comedy, especially one with a very large man paired with a very small man, in a theater with a howling audience, you’ll be hooked for life. But first, you gotta show up. Get over to Toronto Silent Film Festival to secure your tickets.

Screening details:

1000 Laffs: Playmates

Musical Interpretation: Bill O’Meara

Sunday April 1, 2012
4pm
The Fox Theatre 2236 Queen Street East. Toronto
(Queen East between Beech and Willow)
Tickets $12.00/$10.00 Seniors and members

The Toronto Silent Film Festival Program

March 29 – Our Dancing Daughters

March 30 – Tabu: A Tale of the South Seas

March 31: Blood and Sand

April 2: The Italian Straw Hat

April 3: Variety

An Award for Little Old Me? 7X7 Link Award

First I would like to thank the awesome Shadows and Satin who bestowed this honor (on February 19 and I missed it!), and of course, I want to thank the Academy, and everyone who believed in me even though it flew in the face of all reason… (music swells) AND I must thank Classic Movie Puppy, my little Norma Desmond, who inspires me everyday with her (mic goes dead).

Okay, I’m being a tad silly. But really, thank you for including my humble little blog Shadows and Satin, and I’m game to play. Here’s the deal-i-o:

• Tell everyone something that no one else knows about;
• Link to one of my posts that I personally think best fits the following categories: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful Piece, Most Popular Piece, Most Controversial Piece, Most Surprisingly Successful Piece, Most Underrated Piece, and Most Pride-worthy Piece; and
• Pass this award on to seven other bloggers.

So let’s get down to it!

Saturday Fun: Buster Keaton in the Adverts

Watching old television advertisements is always kind of fun. They’re so quaint and unsophisiticated relatively speaking. But watching old tv ads is especially super fun when they feature Buster Keaton. Just for a little (really cold!) Saturday fun, check out three Buster product appearances.