(I decided to repost this with pictures.)

My sincerest apologies for being late on this one. It was a LONG day so I’ll just jump in.

Today was a day of comedy genius! We started out with a short film, Who Dun it? with the Three Stooges playing bumbling detectives trying to solve a murder. Hilarious, of course, but I think I found them way funnier as kids. Slapstick gets old hat, you know, but it was still very entertaining. Sadly, this particular film occurs sometime after Curly’s unfortunate stroke on set of Half-Wits Holiday so everyone’s favorite Stooge is absent. Still, Shemp is a fantastic comedian and really pulls this movie together along with Moe and Larry.

During the same screening, we watched another, longer film entitled Who Done It? featuring Abbott and Costello as two soda jerks attempting to solve a murder at a radio broadcasting station. It’s after their famous Who’s on First? sketch and they address it with a great laugh. Also in this film is Mary Wickes, who plays the nurse in The Man Who Came to Dinner. She holds her own very well with the two, where many of the other actors seem to fade into the background as they usually do when you have two great comedians up there. William Bendix also holds his own again Lou with some great, witty back and forth dialogue as the police leuitenant’s detective sidekick. The great thing is that even after Who’s On First, they haven’t lost their appeal; they certainly havent passed their prime. The film also has noir elements that go along with one of the festival’s themes. It’s just great that Abbott and Costello, while comedians, can be so versatile with their comedy, dipping their hand into horror, mystery, adventure, and romance. What I love most is that unlike the Stooges or Laurel and Hardy shorts, it uses dialogue to its every advantage. Not “smart, sophisticated” dialogue, but it is most certainly not dumbed-down. It does not underestimate the audience, nor does it confuse them.

Continuing this train of comedy, we saw several Laurel and Hardy shorts, Busy Bodies (pictured above), Helpmates, and County Hospital. The presenter from UCLA explained that most of their films were cut up and divided and put together in other combinations so originals aren’t found in their entirety. These were all fully restored, all scenes in the correct order and in the correct short. I loved watching these guys. Laurel is so absolutely sweet, caring, and loyal, to a fault, of course. Hardy is just that grouch who loves Laurel but probably loves to use him just as much. Even with the ability to speak, they allow expression and gesture to rule. I found so many elements of these comedies still being used today, noticeably the way Hardy looks at the camera every time Laurel does something silly is almost exactly how the cast of the Office interacts with the camera when Michael Scott is up to his shenanigans.

We interrupted our comedy day with a Disney princess I feel gets little respect nowadays, Snow White and her seven dwarves. Not only did Leonard Maltin introduce Disney’s first feature-length cartoon, but he interviewed Ginnifer Goodwin from ABC’s Once Upon A Time, who’d had a life long love of Snow White, AND announced that the original motion model, Marge Champion, was in the audience. It amazes me how well these actors look after 75+ years. The film was, of course, a masterpiece. Out of all the Disney princesses, I feel her character moves the most realistically. She really looks like someone took a video of Marge Champion and colored over it. She’s the perfect example of the purity and innocence of children that Disney tries to capture in all his movies.

Back to comedies, we went and saw a Harold Lloyd film, Girl Shy, that was presented by his granddaughter who was raised by him. The film was accompanied by a full orchestra that really made the entire experience ten million times better. Girl Shy is his first endeavor into producing his own films and what a way to start off! The cinematography is amazing and the stunts were too crazy! For a period of film where cinematography hadn’t fully been recognized, it is too fantastic. Harold Lloyd does so many crazy stunts, jumping from a broken carriage to the horses pulling it and then taking off on one after unhitching them. He is driving motorcycles through itty bitty trenches and through grocery stores and driving cars like a mad man! And of course, he did these all himself. I’m not even sure how he got permission to do all this stuff. The most impressive stunt is when he drives the two horses and carriage right over the camera. You can even see him trying to aim it just right so that he doesn’t damage it. Nowadays, we see that kind of thing all the time in films, but there are extra precautions taken to ensure the safety of the camera, where this is just a huge risk. After it cuts to another angle, you can see where the camera was set in the street. Harold Lloyd is just too perfect in this movie as well. Many of his gestures and behaviors are very modern. It almost seems as if a good friend of mine set up all this and made a period film with an old camera just yesterday, instead of the film being almost a hundred years old. He has such a great, timeless presence that brings in audiences of any generation.

We took a last break from comedy to see The Black Cat with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Introducing the film was their children, Bela G. Lugosi and Sarah Karloff. They told us about the sweet, sensitive sides of their fathers, spoiling them, telling jokes, and being all around loving parents. They never brought their work home with them and so they weren’t quite aware of their iconic images as Hollywood’s most frightening movie monsters. The film started and it was very interesting. Not bad, but some of the writing seemed forced. Boris is just perfectly charming and creepy at the same time. He really gets a chance to show himself without all that crazy make-up on and really is a handsome man. Bela actually plays a sort of tortured hero, attempting to rescue a young couple from Karloff’s Satanic ritual. It’s a very refreshing role to see him in. His face is softened, almost sweet, and he shows an emotional vulnerability that you don’t get when he plays the monster. I wish I could have seen him in more roles like this because it really shows his range as an actor. Despite this heroic efforts, he is very vengeful, which creates a beautiful dynamic between him and Karloff. Their chemistry is absolutely perfect onscreen. Neither one outshines the other, or should I say, overshadows the other? Though, I feel the censors got in the way of what could have been a great script. The ending was cheesy and a vain attempt at tying up loose ends. And parts that we knew would be gory, had to be worked to where you couldn’t see what was happening, which made it a bit confusing. There were many movies that clearly had problems with censors, but the Black Cat, I think, suffered the most because of it.

Broke for dinner before last movie at Musso & Franks. Was a little disappointed in the service and food, but Sandra O and a few other celebrities were also there.

The last movie to end our night was the four Marx brothers in Duck Soup. These guys were absolutely OUT OF THEIR MINDS! Crazy! Loco cabeza! Insaaaane! This particular film was made right when tensions were building in Europe over World War 2 and incidentally reflects dictatorship and war, much like Charlie Chaplin’s the Great Dictator, but not intentionally. Groucho becomes dictator of Freedonia, Zeppo is his secretary, while Harpo and Chico play two spies from Sylvania who are constantly switching sides. Zeppo isn’t quite as hilarious as his other three brothers, perhaps because he looks like he should be on the cover of GQ. Wowee wow wow. When the sleeves of his shirt get blown off, his arms are like hello mama! He really doesn’t have a distinguishing characteristic though, like Grouch’s mustache and eyebrows, or Harpo being silent, or Chico’s accent, which is why, I suppose, he eventually left the act. Harpo’s prop and destructive comedy make up most of the ridiculous comedy, burning hats and randomly cutting off pieces of people’s clothing. Groucho and Chico are more dialogue and situational comedy. The great thing about the movie is how it not only uses ridiculous gesture and slapstick, but dialogue. They hardly ever made sense and really just made comedy by pissing off people. This movie also features the famous mirror scene, that has been recreated in so many shows since, such as Scooby Doo and even Spongebob Square pants. You don’t get a sense of how much they all really look alike (being real life brothers) until you see them imitating one another in this scene. You can barely tell, except for the slight difference in their noses and even then it’s hard to keep up!!

*** Fun Story: During the Black Cat discussion, they still had time and opened it up for questions from the audience. No one raised their hands so I decided I’d asked one. I hadn’t really prepared one so I kind of stumbled asking, “How do y’alls kids feeling about coming from such a handsome lineage?” And they just stared at me, bewildered, before Bela asked me, “… What?” and the whole house laughed. Sarah Karloff translated for me, “She’s speaking Southern. She wants to know how our kids feel about being related to Dracula and Frankenstein.” As dumb as my question came out, I was surprised by how involved the great actors grandchildren were so involved with the monster scene, going to conventions and film festivals like these. To this day, I’m still embarrassed.