hi hi guys,
as you can see by the title of this, I was going to do a review of the animated movie, Wall e. But then I thought wow everyone has surely seen it. And if not, you really should! So dad and I decided to do something different. We are going to tell you the three people that inspired the movies. The silent film stars, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. All of who dad really likes, and he knows a lot about.
Now a lot of people have complained how there was very little talking in the first part of the movie, well that was because they were paying tribute to the silent film era. And a lot of what Wall e did is what is called slapstick. Slapstick is where all the comedy is done though sight gags, like a pie in the face, someone getting knocked down by a ladder or something. It is all exaggerated, and looks like they are over acting. But you got to remember these were films made back BEFORE there was sound. (we are taking OOOOOOOOLD SCHOOL). these guys I listed were the kings of these type of films, and all of them were represented in one way or another in Wall e. Let’s start with the main one.
Buster Keaton:
All of these guys had one thing that set them apart, one thing that once you saw it; you were instantly reminded; oh yeah, that’s so and so! Charlie Chaplin had his cane, and mustache, Harold Lloyd had his glasses, and for Mr Keaton, it was a flat straw hat. (looks just like the hub cap Wal E wore in the movie.)
Buster Keaton got his start in Vaudeville. That was what they had back before movies, it was like a play on the stage, there was dancing, singing, comedy and some was more for adults than for kids. Buster Keaton first stared on stage at the age of FIVE!!! A lot of his early life was just like his movies. Here is what we found out:
” When only a few months old, he nearly suffocated after being accidentally shut in a costume trunk off stage while his mother and father performed, an incident that encouraged his parents to begin leaving him at whatever boarding house they were residing in. According to family legend, the Keatons then escaped from a series of fires and train wrecks that would have destroyed a less charmed family.
Finally, on one harrowing day when he was nearly three: Buster caught his right forefinger in a clothes wringer, losing the first joint, gashed his head near the eye with a brick that boomeranged after he threw it at a peach tree and was sucked out of an upstairs window by a passing cyclone that carried him floating through the air and conveniently deposited him, unhurt, in the middle of a street a few blocks away.
After that, his parents decided he’d be safer on stage.” hehe, crazy huh?
Buster Keaton always played what they called the sad sack. That is a person that just can’t have anything good happen for them, he does get the girl in some of the movies; but he has to go though a whole lot to get there. Buster Keaton perfected the chase scene, in fact if it wasn’t for him; a lot of stuff we have today was because of him. Another thing to know is all of these guys did their own stunts! yeps, back before there was stuntmen, these guys chased trains in old cars, climbed buildings, and wrestled bulls. There was a lot of broken bones back in those days. Buster Keaton later went on to do talking films and was in a lot of the beach movies.
From dad:
Buster Keaton was not only a comedy genius, he was also know for his gift for math. In one of his most famous scenes, he is building a home during a tornado. The scene shows him walking away from the side of his new home while the near gale force winds are blowing. The side of the house only has a attic window. The end of the scene, he gets to one spot; and the side of the house comes loose and falls on top of him. Leaving him standing in the open attic window, unhurt. (A camera trick you say? No, here is how he did it.) Using his math skills, he measured the house and the window. Seeing that the window was just wide enough to stand in. He then measured out on the ground where he need to stand exactly. If he had moved a inch either way, he would have been crushed.
If you guys want to see some of his films for free, click here. But do go on to Turner Classic Movies and get all these guys dvd’s. It good for the whole family! 
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=buster keaton&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
Charlie Chaplin:
He is the most famous of the three, everyone knows about him, how can you not? He did some of the best movies and was a very detailed director. Often time working for days to get just one shot just right. He too got his big break on the British stage. His brother Sidney worked on a ship, but came back home after their mother was committed the second time. Charlie was 14, and got a acting job, he also worked along side of Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy. In 1913, he joined the film group Keystone Films. And the rest is history as grown ups say. He too went on to do talking pictures, and he did his own stunts as well. When he started to direct his comedies, he did something no one has yet been able to do in films the same way. Here’s my dad to tell us.
Back in Charlie Chaplin’s heyday of directing himself, he came upon a idea of how to do very dangerous, life threatening stunts in a safe way. Back then they used cameras loaded with real to real film. On the outside was a crank that ran the film forward, and that is how the movie was recorded. Now Charlie looked at that and wondered, what would happen if we cranked the film in the other direction? The film of course ran backwards. Something you can not do today. There was one scene where if is being chased by a axe welding robber though a house, at one point the axe falls right next to his foot, without enough space to put a piece of paper between the axe and his foot. How did he do it? simple, they planted the axe in the floor, he set his foot next to the axe; called “roll em” and the film was rolled backward. the axe then was removed, and they shot the whole scene backwards. then when it came time to show the movie in a theater, the film of course was shown running forward.
Hehehe, is that cool or what? here is a you tube link on some of his movies. check out table ballet.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=charlie chaplin&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
Lastly we have dad’s and my favorite. Mr Harold Lloyd. His was the first silent movies I ever saw when dad first adopted me and I moved in here. All of his films are funny, but he is best known for a movie called safety last. If you ever seen the posted of the guy hanging off the side of a building holding onto the hands of a clock, that’s him. Harold Lloyd was known for his black horn rimmed glasses, which never had glasses in them. hehe. He too did is own stunts. In the film I mentioned, he actually climbed the side of a building, it of course wasn’t as tall as it looked on film. but he still climbed; unaided three or four stories. (the world’s first spiderman!!) in 1917 he decided to try something different and come up with the romantic comedy. Or as we know today, the boy meets girl type films. (yeps guys, he gave us the click flicks.) :P
He went on to do talking movies, my favorite being one called the cat’s paw. Where he played a American priest’s son who grew up in China then came back to America. His character was a smart version of Forrest Gump, or dad said Mr. Smith which Jimmy Stewart played.
Here is dad with the last little known fact about Mr. Lloyd.
Early on in his film carrier, Harold Lloyd was sent out to do on the spot promotions, store openings, etc. This being back before television and sponsors. In one case he was helping to open a store, when one of the crew found what he thought was a fake bomb and thought how funny would it be to have him hold it with a lit fuse while doing the promotion? It turned out the old bomb was real, and it blew up in his hand, resulting in the lost of some of Mr Lloyd’s fingers. Not to be outdone, after he got out of the hospital; he wore a fresh colored glove and went on making films. Actors were much tougher back then.
And there you have it guys, these are the men that inspired the directors of Wall e. So if you get the chance to watch it again, you will now understand why it is partly silent. It’s to honor these great comedians that gave us sooooo much.
Here is the you tube link to some of Mr. Lloyd’s films.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&pwst=1&resnum=0&q=harold lloyd&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
Maybe me and dad gave you guys something you never knew before.
darcy
p.s.
Sorry guys, the links I put on don’t seem to work right. so here is how we did it, go to you tube and do a search on each actor. There is a lot of short clips on all of them. )
oh and sorry for the typing errors, i type fast. sometimes too fast. 
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