Every year of late, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival hosts a “Director’s Pick” program in which a contemporary director selects and introduces a silent film for which they have a special affinity.
In the past, Canadian director Guy Maddin (My Winnipeg, The Saddest Music in the World) and Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World, Art School Confidential) have participated in this unusual program which melds the old with the new.
This year, Academy Award-winning Pixar director Pete Docter (UP, Monster's Inc, etc...) will present a selection of comedic short films -- some of the funniest moments in cinema -- and all in glorious 35mm! This special program, titled “The Big Business of Short, Funny Films,” will include an onstage conversation between Docter and film historian Leonard Maltin.
The three short films Docter has chosen are The Cook (1918), Pass the Gravy (1928), and Big Business (1929).
The Cook, directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, was long thought to be a lost film. It stars Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, two physical comedians whose styles and physiognomies could not have been more different – yet in The Cook, they complement each other brilliantly. Set in a restaurant where Fatty’s the cook and Buster is the waiter, the inspired duo are having the time of their lives. The highlight may well be the film’s two dance pieces -- Arbuckle 's tribute to Salome (with a salami) and Keaton’s rug-cutting with a belly dancer! Also in the cast are Al St. John and Alice Lake.
Pass the Gravy trades on the comic device of feuding neighbors, played by Bert Sprotte and Max Davidson. They call for detente when their children fall in love. However, when one of their prize roosters ends up on the other’s dinner table for the couple’s engagement party, all hell breaks loose. Pass the Gravy was directed by Fred Guiol and Leo McCarey, and features camerawork by George Stevens, later a great director. The film was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1998. Also in the cast are Martha Sleeper and Spec O'Donnell.
Big Business is another Leo McCarey directorial effort, along with the help of James W. Horne. The tagline to this Laurel & Hardy treasure is: “The story of man who turned the other cheek and got punched in the nose.” That rather understates the hilarious mayhem of this sidesplitting short which was also inducted into the National Film Registry, in 1992.
Celebrated musician Dennis James will accompany each film. “The Big Business of Short, Funny Films” is made possible through special support provided by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Following the program, Docter and Maltin will sign books and DVDs on the Castro mezzanine. Docter will be signing copies of The Art of Up (Chronicle Books) and DVDs of his various films. Maltin will be signing copies of the recently released books including Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide: From the Silent Era Through 1965 (Plume) and Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen (HarperStudio).
If you appreciate early comedy, don’t miss the one other comedic masterpiece on the 2010 SFSFF schedule. Later in the day, the festival will screen the endearing early Frank Capra comedy, The Strong Man (1926), starring Harry Langdon. His was one of the most beautiful faces in all of film.
For more info: The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is set to take place July15th through the 18th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. Details and ticketing info at www.silentfilm.org
Thomas Gladysz is an arts journalist and author. Recently, he wrote the introduction to the new “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Böhme's classic novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl (PandorasBox Press). He writes and blogs about early film from his book and DVD filled apartment in San Francisco. Gladysz loves reading and writing and old movies. More at www.thomasgladysz.com.
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