Battle Royale #5: Battle of the Silent Clowns (The Results)

Always a rather hot button topic amongst those who call themselves cinephiles.  There are rabid Keatonites and veracious Chaplin disciples both.  In Bertolucci's 2003 film The Dreamers (one of the ten best films of the last decade incidentally) American Matthew, played by Michael Pitt, and Frenchman Théo, played by Louis Garrel, come to near blows over who was funnier, Chaplin or Keaton.  I tend to take Matthew's side in the argument and favour Chaplin over his so-called arch-rival.  True, Keaton was straight-out funnier - his gags were the best of the silent age - but Chaplin was the better overall filmmaker - able to make you laugh and cry simultaneously.  But then this is just my (not-so-humble) opinion on the subject.  What we are here to do is to announce who you, the adoring public, think the best, the greatest, the funniest, the koo-koo-kookiest of them all.  We are here to announce the winner of Battle Royale #5: Battle of then Silent Clowns - and with very little surprise it was the tightest of races from beginning to end.  But, as in all things competitive, there must be a victor, and that victor is Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin.  With a final tally of 20 to 18 (or 52% to 48% for the statistically-minded amongst us) The Little Tramp did sneak past The Great Stone Face.  There were, incidentally, a few side votes for Harold Lloyd and even good ole Fatty Arbuckle as well.  Anyway, that is it for this, the fifth round of our Battle Royale here at The Most Beautiful Fraud in the World.  Please be sure to check back in a few days for the announcement of our competitors in round six.  It is sure to be a sisterly, albeit the lifelong sibling rivalry version of said sisterdom, kind of event.  See ya soon.

Battle Royale #5 - Battle of the Silent Clowns

For our fifth of Battle Royale, we are going to go back to that age-old debate that has been bantered back and forth by cinephiles and film buffs and classic movie lovers for more than eighty years now - Chaplin vs. Keaton.  Granted, this is probably a pretty tired debate by now, but here at The Most Beautiful Fraud in the World we care not a whit about such things.  We want to know...no, we demand to know who is the greatest - Chaplin or Keaton.  This can stand as the be all and end all of this perennially back-from-the-dead debate.  After this, we will have our definitive answer to the persistent question of Chaplin versus Keaton.  No more will ever need be spoken or written on the subject.  This will be it people.  This will be it.  But I digress.

Yes, there was Harold Lloyd and there was Fatty Arbuckle.  There was Max Linder and there was Laurel and Hardy.  But let's face it, the kings of silent comedy were the Little Tramp and the Great Stone Face.  Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  Both comic actors/writers/directors began their career as children upon the vaudeville stage - Chaplin at five and Keaton at just three - and would eventually become masters of their craft.  Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975) and Joseph Frank 'Buster' Keaton made some of the best and funniest films of their era.  Granted, Chaplin's era went quite a bit longer, but this has nothing to do with talent or lack thereof.  Personally I have always found Keaton the better gag writer and the straight-out funniest, but Chaplin has always been the better overall filmmaker.  Both The General (Keaton) and City Lights (Chaplin) are amongst my personal favourite films of all-time.  This has always been a rather divisive issue amongst cinephiles, so let the fireworks burst.

Here and now it is your turn to make the decision.  So all you Keaton buffs and Chaplin fans get out the vote.  Just go on over to the sidebar poll and choose the silent clown (and more) that you like the best.  The poll will go on for two weeks before we announce a victor.  And please remember that you can make as many comments here as you wish (and please do) but in order for your vote to count, you must vote in the actual poll.

My Quest To See the 1000 Greatest: Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)

Steamboat Bill Jr. is #579 in  

My Quest to watch the 1000 Greatest Films

Screened 11/17/10 on TCM

Ranked #392 on TSPDT

*this is one in a series of catch-up reviews in my aforementioned quest (which should explain the rather old screening date above).

The debate rages.  Chaplin vs. Keaton.  I have always been a steadfast Chaplin man myself, but in no way does that mean I dislike Keaton.  Chaplin has the pathos, the sentimentalism that makes his films work on a much deeper level than those of Keaton.  Keaton on the other hand is a better gag-writer and his films, though never as deep, are straight-up funnier than Chaplin's.  Still, the debate rages.

My favourite Keaton has always been my first Keaton, The General.  I would surely call it one of, if not the funniest movie I have ever seen.  Not a single word is spoken, but it annihilates me every time.  Keaton did not need the added words of the later screwball comedies of Hawks and Lubitsch, he did it all with his brilliant visual audacity.  If I were to compile a Top 5 Keaton List, after his Civil War-set Masterpiece (with a capital M), I would place the oft-forgotten Our Hospitality, followed by Sherlock Jr., The Navigator and then this movie, Steamboat Bill Jr. 

Mostly remembered for its famed falling house gag (where the facade of a house falls on top of Keaton as he stands precariously - and very strategically - in the perfect spot to be saved by an open window, the frame of which falling just around him) and the scary fact that this was no trick photography or body double, but Keaton himself, just inches away from being crushed to (most likely) death, the movie is full of great physical gags - just as Keaton had done in all his previous works, becoming an influence to many future comic actors, most notably Jackie Chan, who has cited Keaton as a big influence on numerous occasions.  

Unfortunately for the world, this was the last film Keaton would ever have control over, leading to eventual obscurity (though with bittersweet roles in Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd. and Chaplin's Limelight in the early fifties) until future critics would one day rediscover the great stone-faced clown of the silent era.

Film Poll #6: The Results

As expected, this two-way race was a nail-biter to the very end.  When it was all finally over, it was the genius pathos of Chaplin over the stoic genius of Keaton that was called the winner.....but barely. 

Charles Chaplin - 18 (51%)

Buster Keaton - 17 (48%)

What exactly happened to that other 1% I wonder.  Perhaps it went to Harold Lloyd, the Ralph Nader of our little poll.  Who knows?

A new poll will be popping up shortly, so keep your eyes peeled.

Film Poll #6: Chaplin vs. Keaton

It is an age old question that has been dividing cinephiles for decades and decades (and decades and decades) - who is greater, Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.  Bertolucci went so far as to add this perennial debate to his 2003 movie The Dreamers (between American Michael Pitt and Frenchman Louis Garrel).  I know where my loyalties lie, what about you?  Go on over to the lefthanded sidebar and let your voice be heard by clicking on either Chaplin or Keaton.  Forget all about that election last week - this is the big one.