FILMS AT THE GRANGE  

Feb 23, 2008

John Mucci accompanies
Silent flicks in February
Cannon Grange,
Wilton CT

"STEAMBOAT BILL, Jr. "

and

"PASS THE GRAVY"

.

buster

Buster Keaton delivers tools to his incarcerated father
in a very soggy loaf of bread. From Steamboat Bill, Jr.
 


Two classic silent film comedies will be shown with live piano accompaniment at the Cannon Grange, in Wilton, CT on February 23, 2008. Children and adults will enjoy a seldom-seen 12-minute comedy short and a classic Buster Keaton feature from the golden age of silent cinema.

Noted silent film accompanist John Mucci of Wilton will play a live score.  The films are from the collection of film historian and teacher Lou Sabini of Stamford.

Refreshments will be served at 7:00 pm, and the films will begin shortly thereafter with intermissions between the reels.

The Grange is charging $5 admission, or $20 for families.

The Cannon Grange Hall is located at 25 Cannon Road has ample parking available at the Cannondale Railroad Station. See below for directions. As a matter of convenience, Metro-North stops at the Cannondale station on the Danbury line. See the train schedule below.


ABOUT THE FILMS:

Buster Keaton

STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928)

keatonOne of Keaton's last independent features, Steamboat Bill, Jr. is the story of a young man who hasn't seen his father for many years and returns home to him from college. The captain of an old-fashioned and failing steamboat, the father (played by Ernest Torrance) expects his son to be a brawny chip-off-the-ol'-block. But when Buster arrives with his pencil-thin mustache and ukelele, the captain nearly loses all hope.

He tries to make a man of him, and as in all Keaton features, Buster grows in our estimation minute by minute, until in the climax of the film, during a ferocious hurricane, he not only saves the day but saves his father and his girl (and his father's rival!) by the final fade-out.

A classic film with some incredible imagery in it, including one scene that has become the icon of Keaton's surrealistic treatment of reality, when a two-ton façade of a house falls on top of him.
 


Max Davidson

PASS THE GRAVY (1928)

maxNever heard of Max Davidson? Get ready for a real treat. Once a favorite Hal Roach star, Davidson slipped into undeserved obscurity, and is seen here is rare form. He plays a widower father who enjoys raising prize flowers. His neighbor, another widower father, raises prize poultry. The two families spat because the chickens are eating Max's flower seeds (a dilemma surely we've all been in). However...

max2In a Romeo and Juliet move, the children decide to get married, and the fathers decide to hold a celebratory dinner to show no hard feelings. However...

The roast chicken on the table looks very suspicious...

It's a different kind of humor, and a film that'll make you laugh out loud in a way you'll never do watching television sitcoms or even listening to NPR. It's an innocent era, in a story performed by masters of pantomime.  


NOTE! I have recently finished scoring the rare Hal Roach Film "No Man's Law" (1927) that features Oliver Hardy as a very credible villain (!), and is available on DVD through ReelClassicDVDs. It's a great, unusual film, also starring Rex the Wonder Horse who saves the day (partially). The DVD comes with a short as well: The Fall Guy (1921), with Larry Semon. I've also recorded another disc for ReelClassics, an oddly poetic Robinson Crusoe (1927), and crazy, early film I found on eBay that otherwise isn't well known, the Mystery of Dead Man's Isle (1915).

To read more than you need to know about me, see my website.

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For more information, call me at 203-722-6751
or the Grange at 203-762-1900.

Directions to the Cannon Grange, Wilton, CT
The Cannon Grange is off Rt. 7 in Cannondale, just as you pass Wilton Center heading north. You pass Wilton HS, then the Wilton YMCA, and Cannondale is the next intersection on the right. Cross the railroad tracks and the Grange is on your right. Park either in the Grange lot or at the train station, to the left.


View the Google Map

Train Schedule from Grand Central, transferring from South Norwalk
to Cannondale (Danbury Line) on February 23: