Travel back in time for some old-fashioned entertainment with these silent comedy films.
Experience the golden age of Hollywood comedy with actors like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle. A wide range of classic films is available on Kanopy, free with your YPRL membership! Here are just a few of our favourites.
Modern Times
Charlie Chaplin's undisputed masterpiece, Modern Times is both a showcase of slapstick comedy genius and a cutting satire of industrial society. Chaplin, in his role as 'the Tramp', blunders his way through a world of dehumanising machines in search of love and a place to call home.
The General
Be thrilled by Buster Keaton's incredible stunts in The General, one of the most ambitious silent films of all time. Keaton plays a Civil War soldier engaged in a frantic railroad chase to retrieve a stolen train. There is no green screen and no CGI here, only real death-defying stunts from a master of his art.
The Extra Girl
Though less well-known than her male counterparts, Mabel Normand played an important role in the early days of Hollywood, directing and co-starring in many of Charlie Chaplin's greatest films. In The Extra Girl, she takes centre stage as a country girl trying to make it big in Hollywood. One of the first "meta" films, The Extra Girl gives a fascinating peek into the dawn of cinema. And if that's not enough: there are also lions.
Playtime
In Jacques Tati's 1967 comedy Playtime, the bumbling but pure-hearted Monsieur Hulot makes his way through a futuristic city. Life and chaos spring up in his wake, no matter how the forces of order and efficiency try to keep things under control. Although not technically a silent film, Playtime's minimal use of dialogue and focus on physical comedy shows a strong influence from the old masters of slapstick.
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Murder at the Palace: a cosy mystery novel set in a retro movie theatre.
30-Second Cinema: the 50 most important ideas, genres, and people in the history of movies, each explained in half a minute.