I know you might be a big fan of Charles Chaplin or Buster Keaton, and you might think that they are the best silent movies actors. I, on the other hand, think that the best, the most creative and charismatic, was Harold Lloyd - sorry for disagreeing!
His character, a guy wearing a straw hat and horn-rimmed glasses, was a vivid representation of a man from that period of time. He wasn’t a super hero, or a tramp, he was just a man going through life with confidence and a very optimistic attitude. Most of his movies show important innovations on the use of the camera. An example is the famous scene of him hanging from a clock high up in a tower. With a good angle from the camera, he makes us cringe in our seats with a feeling of vertigo, making us believe there was nothing under his feet. This scene was very dangerous to shoot since he was so close to the edge of the building's roof where he was standing, but he kept on going with the shooting, as he did with many other dangerous scenes in his movies. He did all of his own stunts. He also used a test audience to preview his movies to see which parts were good, which ones needed to be redone, and then tested them again, a technique not used by others at that time.
His film Girl Shy is considered the first romantic comedy in the history of film, and his movie Safety Last is considered by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 most thrilling movies. So, if you are ready for the adventure of watching his movies, Austin Public Library can help you with that:
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1 comment:
bus-TER, bus-TER, bus-TER!
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