Charlie Chaplin vs. Buster Keaton

"Right things happen at the wrong time"

     When I hear about comedy the first thing that comes to mind is that it's a complicated issue for me. I would laugh when I would laugh. It doesn't matter what type of comedy. It can be a prank or a mock about race, but if it's good for me I would definitely have a laugh. The top two types of comedy that I like must be dry humor and dark comedy. Films such as "The Royal Tenenbaums", the scene where Royal Tenenbaum called Henry Sherman 'Coltrane' and then they got into an argument, or in the film "Nacho Libre" where the skinny guy called Jack Black 'fat' and that he hated all the orphans in the world, or the scene in "In Bruges", when Harry Waters shot Ken in the leg after Ken gave him a long, inspiring speech and the only sentence he gave after he shot Ken was, "Well, I’m not going to stand here doing nothing, am I?", and last but not least, Coen brother's films. I don't usually burst out laughing at these kinds of comedies, but I do adore them.

    This comes to these two films, ‘The Cure’ by Charlie Chaplin and ‘The General’ by Buster Keaton. Both of them were cited as 'legends' of comedies and highly respected, and both films are different in terms of technicality, feel and . Even though not many people here, or i doubt they would, have seen any of Charlie Chaplin's films, he isn't a stranger to us. I knew him when my friend told me that he was the first person who created the "parody" and that his moustache was actually a mock about Hitler. As I read about Charlie I can say that this fact was wrong, he had that moustache way before Hitler did. This brings to his physical appearance, which was tought off to have contributed to his comedies. When I saw this film 'The Cure', I couldn't love it. I wanted to, but I couldn't. It wasn't appealing to me. Here's why, I felt that it didn't feel as natural as it could have been and the tempo of the film was deliberately fast. Charlie's actions were always fast and staccato-like, and that just made it all cheesy. There are a few pointers from the film that I thought was good. Firstly, you can see that it is tremendously rehearsed. No doubt about that, just look at the scene where he fought with the guys in the spa, or the part where three of the guys were in a revolving door. In, out and about, and that's what a lot of film directors want in their films, 'perfection'. Another point is that Charlie Chaplin's sense of humor would be really funny back then than it is now. That's how I felt. I think I saw too many films that were copied from or inspired by Charlie, and most of them do it wrongly. The third point that i want to point out is his overall appearance. He reminded me of 'Mr. Bean', who I used to watch when i was a kid. Charlie's facial expressions and the way he dresses, wanting him to be funny. A clown to be precise and we laugh at clowns. I saw parts of 'Gold Rush' and 'The Great Dictator', both films were given tremendous critical acclaim, but I still felt a bit off. Maybe it's just me; I just didn't draw into his sense of humor.

    Now, the film 'The General is a totally different story. In all my life, i have never heard of Buster Keaton. So, during the screening of this film was my first time I have ever heard of him. After this film was over, I was sure to say that this was one of the best films in comedy that I’ve seen so far, and even one of the most epic. Epic, in the sense of that he used real trains, real tracks, he is the director, the actor, he runs the train, the stunts are all done by him and all of this was done in 1927. I could only grasp how he made that film. I saw a documentary on how he did 'The General', and the narrator said that the only way cameraman would stop filming is that when buster said 'cut', or if he dies. Films now protect actors too much; it just doesn't feel the same as what Buster did. The one thing that made me shook my head and said 'wow', was the fact that he does his own stunts. On the train, especially, when he walked across on end of the train to another to hide from the canon was amazing. The part when his foot got stuck, and then when he wanted to break free, the part when he threw logs on the train while he was rushing, the part where he threw boxes and stuff on the tracks so that the enemies won't crossover to catch him, the part when three soldiers including Buster were beside the canon when the three soldiers were shot one by one after Buster asked them to shoot the canon were all fantastic. Even the timing and tempo was perfect. The tempo was not fast nor was it slow. It was the right speed. See, how many scenes of this film really ingrained to my brain. Buster's facial expression is my favorite of all time, the 'deadpan' look. There was a reason why he was called 'the great stoned face' and that was exactly why. Even in the most stressful situations he put up a face with no possible emotions. 'Right things happen at the wrong time' is the description I would give for these kinds of comedies, and this film did just that. I've seen a lot of films where the stupid or the loser becomes the hero, for example, 'Forrest Gump'. What made it funny is always 'luck', and 'The General' was all about that. I can honestly say that I smiled throughout the film, I laughed most of the parts and I thought that it was a clean, honest comedy. Although, I’ve seen other Buster Keaton's work, I didn't really like it. So, 'The General', I can say was Buster's masterpiece.

      Comedies are pretty unpredictable for me, I laugh at what I laugh at. 'The Cure' didn't really draw my attention but 'The General' did.  Edward Kean said in his deathbed, "Dying is easy, Comedy is difficult".