I’ve had a fun evening watching Buster Keaton silent films.

I love silent films.

Even if you’re watching one of the films for the first time, it feels like you already know them. Sometimes you know what’s going to happen and it’s because you’ve seen what’s happened before in more modern media.

Like in a Chaplin or Keaton film, you know what’s going to happen because a lot of the humor has been re-purposed in cartoons and movies years or decades later. Yet oddly enough, even though you know the trick, it’s still hilarious because you have this deep-down-in-your-gut feeling that that was the first time it happened in the world. That was the original joke and how it was supposed to lay out. Then all the sudden the joke feels fresh and new.

I’m not saying that everything is predictable, honestly a lot of it isn’t, it’s just when you come along those certain moments. The classic moments.

Oh my, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were both super adorable, hilarious, geniuses, and artists. (Of course there are more awesome silent era actors, I’m just gushing with Chaplin and Keaton feels right now).

They both have their own styles too. Noticeable styles.
I love how Keaton kept a straight/blank face through most of his films. It’s perfect. He truly knew how to act with just body language and movement. He did a lot of physical things like falling off of stairs, climbing almost every obstacle available, jumping, exaggerated movements, but it all worked.
I love how Chaplin used a lot of facial expressions in his films. He did physical acting too, but his facial expressions tell the story. You could easily tell if he was happy, sad, crazy, etc. His face said it all.

They were geniuses! They were/are able to inspire generations ahead of them. They could make people laugh nearly a century later after the films were produced. Comedy geniuses. Artists.

I feel like silent films are just incredible. Being able to tell a story with few words at all. That’s amazing. It’s mostly sight and music that went with the story.
A lot of animators try to do this too. For some reason, the less words the more beautiful.
That’s not always the case, of course, but when done correctly it’s perfect.


Last week I watched Modern Times all the way through for the first time. (Chaplin)
Today I watched The Haunted House and Convict 13. (Keaton)

Right now I have more Keaton feels than Chaplin feels.
Guys, they are adorable. Just their actions.
Like in Convict 13, there is a scene where Buster is being chased by prison guards on a golf course and he is on top of a hill. He runs by some flowers and comes back to start pulling the petals off and “She loves me, she loves me not” appeared on the screen. Well, he ends up being caught, but it’s just adorable. It shows the character’s innocence. He was wrongfully being chased because he was knocked out and the real convict switched clothes with him and then all these sticky little messes he gets in.

And Chaplin in Modern Times, how he could never keep a stable job all because of silly little things that he doesn’t realize he does.
Oh boy, and I just love how he kept wanting to go back to prison after his first stay.

And for both of them, I love how most of the conflict is coincidental to the characters. It’s out of their control even if they act a little screwy. It’s like even if they do bad things, you sympathize with the character, then laugh at them for just being adorable.
I don’t know.

What should I watch next (like tomorrow or next week)?
I watched the first ten minutes of City Lights, it was perfect, but I had Keaton needs so I switched to him.
I think I’ll finish City Lights. I need to watch The Kid because that one is classic.
I also want to try a Rudolph Valentino film. I feel like I know so much about him already yet I haven’t seen any films he’s been in. Remember the movie The Artist? It was a silent film that came out not so long ago? Yeah that one. That movie was based off of Valentino’s life. That’s why I feel like I know him.
I also want to see The Artist again because that was perfect.

Oh and non silent films.
I was going through my favorite vintage movie channel and I’ve been purely recording a bunch of movies because of the actors.
It started with That Funny Feeling. I tuned in the station and I saw freaking Bobby Darin and I don’t think I’ve ever spazzed that much ever. I screamed. It was about the end of the movie too and all I saw was Darin being punched in the face, but I FLIPPED OUT. DARIN. THAT BOY. HE’S LIKE ONE OF MY FAVORITE SINGERS.
So I recorded it so I could watch the whole thing.
Time went on and I started flipping through the station again and FOTHER MUCKING DEAN MARTIN APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE. GUYS, HE IS MY NUMBAH ONE FAVORITE SINGER. I’ve never ever seen a single Dean Martin film. I’ve seen him and Jerry in the Colgate Comedy Hour, but no Dino film. Then a Dean Martin film appears like it just fell out of the sky. So I don’t think you could time how fast I hit the record button. It’s a world record.

Also with the movie with Dean Martin, I’m kind of scared. Going from Colgate Comedy hour in the 40s to Airport in the 70s is a big jump.
1. I’m scared of Dean’s age. Seeing him old makes me sad because then I realize that I’m not really in his generation and I live in the 2010s and he passed away years ago.
2. I haven’t really been too found of how movies were from about the mid 60s to mid 70s. Don’t ask, but I’ll try to explain. I don’t like how some directors directed the films. The style was different and I personally found it dull. I guess I haven’t seen that many films from that time segment, but the ones I have I’ve barely been able to finish because they didn’t appeal to me. I feel the same way about most 30s movies too. xD
Then at the very end of the 70s and one of my favorite movies, The Shining, comes out in 1980.

I need to see more Monroe films. I’m not lying when I say my first Monroe film was The Prince and the Showgirl and I saw it last week. I never realized how good of an actress she was. I didn’t want to get into her stuff. I don’t like how people pretend to like her today because they know her image and they don’t know any of her movies. So I avoided her and promised I would until I’ve seen her films.
I have Some Like It Hot on Youtube so that will probably be my next of hers.

By the way, she was adorable too.


Man, when I say “I felt like typing” I mean it.
I want to splurge all my feels.

I should stop and go to bed. I’m going to a baseball game tomorrow. We have really good tickets (because in my parents’ business, they like to make trade offs with their patients sometimes). If there were “the most expensive seats” these would almost be them.