Too Funny for Words: A Contrarian History of American Screen Comedy from Silent Slapstick to Screwball
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AlbakiReads Editorial Tracing the silent roots of Hollywood screwball comedy
Tracing the silent roots of Hollywood screwball comedy
David Kalat maps a continuity often obscured by the arrival of sound: silent slapstick did not simply give way to screwball comedy, but remained intertwined with it. The book follows American screen comedy from visual gags, stunts, and comic violence to the dialogue-driven worlds of 1930s and early-1940s Hollywood, placing the shift around sound film in a broader industrial and creative context. Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd appear alongside Mack Sennett, Roscoe Arbuckle, Harry Langdon, Leo McCarey, Frank Capra, and Ernst Lubitsch. Framed as a contrarian history, it connects performers and directors across eras to examine slapstick and screwball as related forms rather than separate traditions.
Good fit for readers who enjoy
- Film-history readers interested in American comedy’s silent and early-sound eras
- Fans of Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, and classic Hollywood screwball films
- Readers interested in the transition from silent cinema to sound
Themes
Silent film comedyScrewball comedyHollywood’s transition to soundSlapstick and visual gagsComedy directors and performers
Based on publisher information and book metadata.
Book Overview American silent film comedies were dominated by sight gags, stunts and comic violence. With the advent of sound, comedies in the 1930s we...
American silent film comedies were dominated by sight gags, stunts and comic violence. With the advent of sound, comedies in the 1930s were a riot of runaway heiresses and fast-talking screwballs. It was more than a technological pivot--the first feature-length sound film, The Jazz Singer (1927), changed Hollywood.
Lost in the discussion of that transition is the overlap between the two genres. Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd kept slapstick alive well into the sound era. Screwball directors like Leo McCarey, Frank Capra and Ernst Lubitsch got their starts in silent comedy.
From Chaplin's tramp to the witty repartee of His Girl Friday (1940), this book chronicles the rise of silent comedy and its evolution into screwball--two flavors of the same genre--through the works of Mack Sennett, Roscoe Arbuckle, Harry Langdon and others.
Book Details Format: Paperback | Pages: 260 | Language: English | Publisher: MCFARLAND & CO INC | ISBN: 1476678561
FormatPaperback
Pages260
LanguageEnglish
ISBN1476678561
EAN9781476678566
PublisherMCFARLAND & CO INC
Publication Date2019-04-26
EditionIllustrated
AccessoriesNo Accessory
ConditionNew
Product TypeQUALITY PAPERBACK BOOKS
Weight1.05 Pounds
Length9.9 Inches
Width7.0 Inches
Height0.6 Inches
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