By Felix Glanville, Second Year History
As part of the Bristol Slapstick Festival celebrating its 20th anniversary this week, Epigram was graciously invited by the festival and Watershed to watch Mel Brooks' 1976 classic Silent Movie, opened with an insightful talk by festival director Chris Daniels and comedy legend, Robin Ince.
As I arrived into the lobby of Watershed, there was already a great buzz in the air. Bristol locals, students, and comedy fans eagerly filled into the cosy cinema screen, preparing to step back into a vintage Hollywood age and poignantly for many, embrace themselves in the comedy memories of their childhood. As Daniels and Ince introduced the film, you could really feel the love and appreciation they hold for slapstick comedy, placing Brooks' Silent Movie as a revelatory film of its age. Ince describes a 'preciousness' that colours Silent Movie, as 'you don't find many films likes this'. Their talk clearly laid down some high expectations for the film, but best of all it really primed my viewing experience. I was more than ready for an unexpected cameo here and outlandish punch to the gut there.
So, as Daniels and Ince left the front of the theatre in silent suspense, the lights of the cinema began to dim, the classic film number sequence counted down, and most profoundly of all–the film opened in complete silence. Well of course, true to its name. I must say, at first I was slightly worried with the prospect of soundless dialogue for 90 minutes, but all these fears were quickly abandoned after the iconic introductory scene. We see Mel Funn (Mel Brooks) with his absurdist double act of Marty Eggs (Marty Feldman) and Dom Bell (Dom DeLuise) driving haphazardly down Sunset Boulevard as chirpy music plunges the audience into this exaggerated Hollywood world. I was properly prepared for a wacky time.
The film revolves around Brooks' protagonist, a once great director who, after his recovery out of alcoholism, is desperate to create the first major silent movie in Hollywood for several decades. As Robin Ince brilliantly pointed out in his talk, what makes this film a true slapstick masterclass is Brooks' dealings with mad characters, recruiting famous Hollywood faces (for which he promises he can get to the studio chief) and an archetypal nutty villain in the form of the studio boss of Lunatic and Devour. This is a fitting criticism by Brooks about the domineering studio executives of the 1970s which are taking a chokehold of all films, actors and the Hollywood space.
The audience becomes such an integral part of this wonderful viewing experience: great laughs, roars and at the most funniest of parts, the occasional applause. Mel Brooks had got this Bristol audience in stitches. Rightfully so, this film really captures the very best of that foolish Chaplin style of physical comedy. There were so many comic highlights from the film: a caravan teetering from side to side as our lardy Dom DeLuise aims to convince 1970s legendary actor Burt Reynolds to join Funn's creative endeavour. Then, the Hollywood homeless celebrating around Mel's enormous bottle of whisky, and Eggs and Bell playing the 1972 game, pong on an ECG attached to the studio chief in the hospital.
The real comic beauty of Silent Movie is that the film's plot is literally the plot of silent movie itself, with subject mimicking form. We have just watched a star studded cast create the first major silent movie in forty years, something that Brooks' seemingly alter-ego character 'Mel Funn' aimed to do during the whole film. This 'meta' feel of this film left me feeling deeply satisfied and cements, for me at least, Brooks' place in Hollywood as one of its greatest. Watching everything play out in a larger than life way was a welcoming break to the era of films concentrated on heightened horror and emerging tacky special effects. Brooks created a ridiculous comedy with so much passion and heart, really taking me by surprise at just how much I enjoyed it as I was leaving.
In reflection, Ince and Daniel's description of 'a collegiate spirit in the film' was firmly alive. Brooks cultivated an environment for physical absurdity–all the more impressive as not a word was uttered by the cast. Everyone in the film all felt like one big stage ensemble, bouncing around these Hollywood sets and acting with great vigour. The energy was high and constant, making for an all-round brilliant watch.
Once again, Epigram is so grateful to the Watershed and Bristol Slapstick Festival, who even in the early hours of the day, cultivated a brilliantly engaging event sharing their love for slapstick comedy. I really felt immersed in an audience caught in hysterics and there was a sweetness to the scene with the older generation laughing in nostalgia, and I was there for it.
Be sure to catch @slapstickfest when it comes around next year!
