It’s a beautiful day! Time for Saturday Comedy Theater! Today, I’d like to feature two of my most favorite of all time silent movie comedy bits.
First off is one I have seen a hundred times but it still makes me laugh out loud with the genius of the idea. The boxing scene from Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights” which was released in 1931. It was immediately successful upon release on January 30, 1931, with positive reviews and box office receipts of $5 million. Today, critics consider it not only one of the highest accomplishments of Chaplin’s career, but one of the greatest films ever made. It inspires me because, whenever I’m doing a low budget video production and need a good idea (and who doesn’t?) I think of this movie. Chaplin, due to a well thought-out script and idea, is able to pull off one of the highlights of cinematic history for a relatively low cost. True genius! And hilarious! Take 6 minutes to watch this and have a great laugh!
(If video doesn’t play, click here: Charlie Chaplin boxing – City Lights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfpYYMWF5s)
Next up is one that I bet many of you have seen photos of but probably have never seen the actual film. Ever see the old silent film photo of a man hanging from a clock high above the streets? That’s it! Harold Lloyd’s 1923 comedy classic, “Safety Last!” This is truly brilliant too!
Harold Lloyd’s 1923 comedy classic, “Safety Last!” Watch the video first, details below:
(If video doesn’t play, click here: Harold Lloyd’s “Safety Last”- 1923 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEcTjhUN_7U)
Safety Last! was released in 1923 as a romantic comedy silent film starring Harold Lloyd. It is about a man who gets out of jail but wants to marry his sweetheart so he goes to the city to find success. In this scene, he is running from the police and the only way to escape is by climbing a tall building. I have to admit, after all these years in film and video, I still don’t know how they did this in the early 1920s… Did they have a Chroma-key (blue screen) back then? No! Right? So how the heck did they make it look like he is 30 floors above the crowded street?
This film, as I said, includes one of the most famous and iconic images from the entire silent film era: Lloyd clutching the hands of a large clock as he dangles from the outside of a skyscraper above moving traffic. Safety Last was highly successful and it sealed the status of Harold Lloyd as a major star in early motion pictures. This film is still extremely still popular at film revivals, and it is viewed today as one of the greatest of the film comedies. Also, get this, that isn’t a stunt-man climbing, it is Harold Lloyd! And he did that in spite of losing a finger in an accident a few years beforehand!
We hope you enjoyed today’s film productions. Today, at Robot55, we are going to make a video production and shoot photo stills of some pin-up and bikini girls for a TV show we are making … Yeah, life is tough… I’ll try to post some photos for you soon!
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At Robot55 we make video productions for businesses and services and products, but we also pride ourselves on making videos for art and music. This video was made by the team at Robot55: Albatross Bar in Shinjuku: (【動画制作 お店紹介 30秒 7万円】 新宿アルバトロス 編 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwdgP2bFL9I). Our starting price is ¥70,000 and we are sure we can work out something that fits your budget. Oh, and we love making band videos too!
Contact us! contact@robot55.jp
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ロボット・ゴー・ゴー, ビデオ編集, レストラン,格安ビデオ制作、ROBOT55, , 格安, ビデオ制作