Does anyone have any favorite scenes from sound or silent films that they like watching frame by frame or in slow motion?
Aside from scenes from a few Roscoe Arbuckle's Vitaphone shorts that I mentioned in another thread, one of my favorite scenes to watch in this manner is from "In the Good Old Summertime". At a party later in the film, Buster Keaton as Hickey gets up from a table to bring Otto Uberkugen his "Stradivarius". He strides up to the stage holding the violin and bow in an elegant manner so that Uncle Otto can easily reach his hands out to recieve them. Once he has walked up the steps to the stage, Keaton appears to trip, stumble back back down the steps, and fall flat on the violin, smashing it to pieces under his chest (I can never hear or think of the city of Bannf without it reminding me of the sound effect that accompanies this action). As Uncle Otto and the audience react in horror, Keaton attempts to shove the instrument back together.
It is quite funny, but brief scene in the film, but viewed frame-by-frame or in slow motion it becomes even more hilarious; truly poetry in motion. I enjoy watching how Keaton carefully places his feet as he appears to clumsily stumble back down the steps, and how his feet and legs leave the floor before he lands on the violin. The preview to the film that is included on the DVD has an outtake of the same scene. Here, Keaton's motions are practically identical, though before the smashup, amazingly, he manages to get his entire body aloft. One likely reason this take wasn't used is that in this case, the violin didn't break up so thoroughly.
What a pity this was to be Buster Keaton's last work at MGM.
Viewing scenes in Frame-by-Frame and/or Slo-Mo
-
Richard Finegan
- Posts: 1159
- Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 3:09 am
Re: Viewing scenes in Frame-by-Frame and/or Slo-Mo
SFBOB wrote: ...One of my favorite scenes to watch in this manner is from "In the Good Old Summertime"...
What a pity this was to be Buster Keaton's last work at MGM.
That is a great scene!
But it actually wasn't Buster's last work at MGM. He later appeared in the 1960 MGM feature THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.