Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Steadmund Brand]

Mayerling, What do you think of Sunb Pollard or Charley Chase or Ben Turpin? I would put those three above Langdon as the 4th big silent comic...(American anyway)

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

Mayerling, What do you think of Sunb Pollard or Charley Chase or Ben Turpin? I would put those three above Langdon as the 4th big silent comic...(American anyway)

Steadmund Brand

Actually I like all three better than Langdon, but Pollard is like an adjunct (for the most part) to early Harold Lloyd comedies with Bebe Daniels. Later he branches out on his own. Turpin is actually better than Walter Kerr suggested in "The Silent Clowns". Turpin is constantly trying to pretend to being very verile and brave (like a silent film version of Bob Hope) but always turns chicken. Chase is actually quite good - so far I have not seen any of his comedies that I felt were inferior. The last one I watched on "You Tube" was "Mighty Like a Moose".

Kerr suggested the following pecking order.

Chaplin
Keaton
Lloyd
Langdon
Raymond Griffiths ("Hands Up"; "Paths to Paradise"; "Trent's Last Case")
Laurel & Hardy
Maybe W.C.Fields

Jeff

[GUT]

I'd put Laural and Hardy above Langdon, but I guess they were a team not individuals.

[Mayerling]

I'd put Laural and Hardy above Langdon, but I guess they were a team not individuals.

I would put Stan and Ollie above Harry too (and if the list was creative comic genius, Stan would be the name - Ollie was smart enough to see which of the two was the creative half of the pair).

I'd put Charlie Chase and Ben Turpin above Harry too - don't forget it was not my list but Kerr's (and I recommend his book highly).

Jeff

[GUT]

I would put Stan and Ollie above Harry too (and if the list was creative comic genius, Stan would be the name - Ollie was smart enough to see which of the two was the creative half of the pair).

I'd put Charlie Chase and Ben Turpin above Harry too - don't forget it was not my list but Kerr's (and I recommend his book highly).

Jeff

G'day Jeff

I saw it wasn't your list, but such lists are always a good source for debate.

[Mayerling]

G'day Jeff

I saw it wasn't your list, but such lists are always a good source for debate.

G'Day GUT,

You are right, they are a good source of debate. When I mentioned a listing based on comic genius putting Stan up alone, I should add that (although Langdon did work as a gag writer and constructor in the 1930s) the genius of his brief stardom was Frank Capra.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

As far as comic genius goes... no doubt Stan Laurel should be up there with Chaplin, hmm who else would I put on that list.. lets see

1- Charles Chaplin
2- Stan Laurel
3- Buster Keaton ( but more as a stunt coordinator but still)
4- W.C Fields- however, from all that I have read none of us ever saw the best of Fields.. he was washed up by the time he started making films.
moving away from silent films I would say

5- Ernie Kovacs- too bad he is all but forgotten....he really was a visionary...I am far too young to have watched him, he died long before I was born, but I have collected his works over the years and can only imagine how fresh it was at the time... seeing as so much of it still holds up today

anyone want to add some more? or debate this list?

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

As far as comic genius goes... no doubt Stan Laurel should be up there with Chaplin, hmm who else would I put on that list.. lets see

1- Charles Chaplin
2- Stan Laurel
3- Buster Keaton ( but more as a stunt coordinator but still)
4- W.C Fields- however, from all that I have read none of us ever saw the best of Fields.. he was washed up by the time he started making films.
moving away from silent films I would say

5- Ernie Kovacs- too bad he is all but forgotten....he really was a visionary...I am far too young to have watched him, he died long before I was born, but I have collected his works over the years and can only imagine how fresh it was at the time... seeing as so much of it still holds up today

anyone want to add some more? or debate this list?

Steadmund Brand

I was born in 1954 so I was fully aware of Kovacs imprint - and recall his death in 1962 as a shocker (a car accident). The first of two that year (Marilyn Monroe was the second one).

His work still holds up pretty well. Sorry he could not have gone on for another five decades.

Fields wasn't really washed up in the 1920s when he turned to movies - but Kerr points out that we are so used to his magnificent gift for language and that twang in his voice that when we watch his silent films (mostly with Chester Conklin as his partner and stooge), when we see the dialogue cards we frequently read them thinking how he'd pronounce the words. By the way, he uses many of the same routines from his sound films in his silent ones, so they aren't lost.

Louise Brooks appeared with him in the Ziegfeld Follies and in "That Royale Girl" (a film, alas, now lost). She said he was always funnier on stage.

Hard to make a list of pure film comic genius. Some transcend it:

Capra
Jacques Tati
Billy Wilder (but good as a dramatic director too)
Mel Brooks
Woody Allen
Lloyd (good at choosing material - at least in silent period)
Sturgis
Lubitsch

[Steadmund Brand]

[QUOTE=Mayerling;336259]I was born in 1954 so I was fully aware of Kovacs imprint - and recall his death in 1962 as a shocker (a car accident). The first of two that year (Marilyn Monroe was the second one).

His work still holds up pretty well. Sorry he could not have gone on for another five decades.

you are correct, he could not have gone another 5 decades not with his 20 cigar a day habit (and my girlfiriend is mad at my 1-2 a day habit )

Did you ever read the book about W.C Fields : A Biography by james Curtis... if not I highly recommend it!! I also liked Man on the Flying Trapeze: The Life and Times of W.C Fields by Simon Louvish.. but many "fans" bash that book.. it's a great history lesson of the times as well... especially of English Music Halls.....

any modern comics you would consider "genius"?

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

[QUOTE=Steadmund Brand;336264]

I was born in 1954 so I was fully aware of Kovacs imprint - and recall his death in 1962 as a shocker (a car accident). The first of two that year (Marilyn Monroe was the second one).

His work still holds up pretty well. Sorry he could not have gone on for another five decades.

you are correct, he could not have gone another 5 decades not with his 20 cigar a day habit (and my girlfiriend is mad at my 1-2 a day habit )

Did you ever read the book about W.C Fields : A Biography by james Curtis... if not I highly recommend it!! I also liked Man on the Flying Trapeze: The Life and Times of W.C Fields by Simon Louvish.. but many "fans" bash that book.. it's a great history lesson of the times as well... especially of English Music Halls.....

any modern comics you would consider "genius"?

Steadmund Brand

Thanks for the reference to the Curtis biography and the Louvish book. I'll see if I can find them.

Well technically Brooks and Allen might by considered modern comedy geniuses. I did not include one who some consider funny but others reject - Jerry Lewis. I feel he falls into the middle somehow.

There was definitely some stand-up comics in modern times one could include:

Lenny Bruce
Mike Nichols and Elaine May
Alan King (a favorite of mine)
Zero Mostel
Richard Pryor
Robin Williams (the fastest of the bunch - and sorely missed)
Billy Crystal
Whoopy Goldberg

In terms of film I would suggest the Coen Brothers work.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

[QUOTE=Mayerling;336266]

Thanks for the reference to the Curtis biography and the Louvish book. I'll see if I can find them.

Well technically Brooks and Allen might by considered modern comedy geniuses. I did not include one who some consider funny but others reject - Jerry Lewis. I feel he falls into the middle somehow.

There was definitely some stand-up comics in modern times one could include:

Lenny Bruce
Mike Nichols and Elaine May
Alan King (a favorite of mine)
Zero Mostel
Richard Pryor
Robin Williams (the fastest of the bunch - and sorely missed)
Billy Crystal
Whoopy Goldberg

In terms of film I would suggest the Coen Brothers work.

Jeff

I can't put Jerry Lewis on the list...I am in that "he's unfunny" camp.. but I do know people who LOVE him....I don't get it... it's like Will Ferrell, people seem to love him and I find him PAINFULLY UNFUNNY!!

I am a big Alan King fan as well.. also a great actor... Pryor for sure changed comedy as did Lenny Bruce (a personal favorite of mine)... I would also add George Carlin to that list.. he was the perfect mix of Bruce and Pryor.. but not as "honest" as either one..

Allen and Brooks I agree with as well... I think Mel's last few films were not up to his standard.. but I think he had no motivation and was just going thru the motions... that happens to the best of them...

I lIke the Coen Brothers.. but wouldn't put them up there with that group..but when they are on they are on, as it were.

I'm close to putting someone like Carl Reiner on the list...and possibly George Burns.. who was able to be both the clown and straight man, and could play both well, and was smart enough to know which to be and when.. not easy to do!!

I'm glad you mentioned Robin Williams... it reminds me that I just saw a Special Edition Blu Ray/ DVD of the Fisher King is coming out soon... in my opinion his best performance in film ( and he had some great ones!!) and one of the, if not the best film Terry Gilliam has made (Yes I do also love Brazil...but Fisher King is really something special)

Steadmund Brand

[Robert]

This man was a comedy genius :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofUZNynYXzM

[GUT]

[QUOTE=Steadmund Brand;336270]

I can't put Jerry Lewis on the list...I am in that "he's unfunny" camp.. but I do know people who LOVE him....I don't get it... it's like Will Ferrell, people seem to love him and I find him PAINFULLY UNFUNNY!!

I am a big Alan King fan as well.. also a great actor... Pryor for sure changed comedy as did Lenny Bruce (a personal favorite of mine)... I would also add George Carlin to that list.. he was the perfect mix of Bruce and Pryor.. but not as "honest" as either one..

Allen and Brooks I agree with as well... I think Mel's last few films were not up to his standard.. but I think he had no motivation and was just going thru the motions... that happens to the best of them...

I lIke the Coen Brothers.. but wouldn't put them up there with that group..but when they are on they are on, as it were.

I'm close to putting someone like Carl Reiner on the list...and possibly George Burns.. who was able to be both the clown and straight man, and could play both well, and was smart enough to know which to be and when.. not easy to do!!

I'm glad you mentioned Robin Williams... it reminds me that I just saw a Special Edition Blu Ray/ DVD of the Fisher King is coming out soon... in my opinion his best performance in film ( and he had some great ones!!) and one of the, if not the best film Terry Gilliam has made (Yes I do also love Brazil...but Fisher King is really something special)

Steadmund Brand

Lewis was funny when he was with Martin.

[GUT]

And Williams was brilliant from the first time saw him as Mork on Happy Days, a true comic genius but like so many with the dreaded "Black Dog".

[Mayerling]

Except for Chaplin. Stan Laurel, and Keaton (the first born in England, the second in Scotland, the third with English antecedents) and Jacques Tati I was too U.S. Centered on my choices. And I should have included Carlin - thanks for reminding me.

The following could be added from Britain:

Will Hay
Tony Hancock
Peter Sellers
the Boulting Brothers
the Monty Python Troup
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Frye

Also the female partners on television whose names I can't recall - one is (or was) fat and subsequently played a female vicar, and the other was teamed in "Absolutely Marvelous".

Jeff