ALL-STAAR COMEDY FILM FESTIVAL
Classic movies to fill month of Sundays!
This February, the STAAR Theatre brings Hollywood’s greatest comedians back to the screen in four of the funniest films ever made. From the Golden Age of silent movies to the early years of sound, these timeless masterpieces are as fresh and entertaining today as they were a century ago. Admission is $5 at the door, with showtimes on Sunday afternoons at 2 o’clock. You and your family will laugh and cry with Charlie Chaplin’s eternal Little Tramp, gasp at Harold Lloyd’s thrill comedy, marvel at the stone-faced humor of Buster Keaton, and roll with laughter over the mayhem of the Marx Brothers.
Our series opens on February 1st with CITY LIGHTS, often regarded as Charlie Chaplin’s finest work. It was released in 1931, two years after the widespread introduction of sound movies. But Chaplin felt his tramp character should never speak: CITY LIGHTS has a music score composed by the star himself and some sound effects, but it is essentially a silent film. And while it contains classic slapstick sequences, the ending is one of the most poignant in movie history.
On February 8th, join us for Buster Keaton’s epic THE GENERAL. Orson Welles called it: “The greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made.” Keaton plays Johnny Gray, engineer of the famous steam locomotive. He’s mistaken for a coward by his girlfriend… but he gets the chance to prove his bravery in a wild one-man chase to recover his beloved engine after it is stolen by Union spies. Full of amazing stunts and riotous sight gags, THE GENERAL was not a big success at the time of its release. But today it is regarded as a true comedy classic. The scene on a burning train bridge still takes the breath away.
Sunday, February 15th brings us to SAFETY LAST, starring Harold Lloyd. Filmed in 1923, this is the one that made Lloyd the King of Thrill Comedy. The climax, high on a skyscraper, with our hero hanging onto a clock, is among the most famous of all movie scenes. What makes the stunt truly remarkable is the injury Lloyd suffered a few years earlier. In August of 1919, he was posing for a publicity shot holding a prop bomb with lit fuse. But the bomb was no prop and its explosion left Lloyd with serious burns, a damaged eye, and a mangled right hand. After he recovered, he wore a special glove to hide the loss of his thumb and index finger. And yet somehow he still managed to dangle from that clock! In 1994, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. As a special treat for STAAR audiences, SAFETY LAST will be shown with live musical accompaniment, with Joyce Herring performing a full score she arranged for the film.
Our inaugural film series concludes with the Marx Brothers’ 1933 tour de force – DUCK SOUP. In this hilarious and surreal musical comedy, Groucho Marx plays Rufus T. Firefly, president of the fictional nation of Freedonia. When relations with neighboring Sylvania deteriorate, the two countries go to war. Part political parody, part absurdist nonsense, DUCK SOUP is 68 minutes of brilliant madness. It was the final film the brothers made for Paramount Studios, and the last to really capture the anarchy of their appearances in vaudeville and on Broadway. After their movie career ended, Groucho went on to star in “You Bet Your Life” – first on radio, then on television. The brothers would find renewed popularity with the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 70s… and their unique style of mayhem continues to influence comedians to this day. The genie in Disney’s “Aladdin” is only one example.
All movies in this series are suitable for the whole family. So make your plans now to spend Sunday afternoons at the STAAR Theatre reliving the glory days of film comedy!
Charlie Chaplin in CITY LIGHTS
Sunday, February 1 | 2 p.m.
Location: STAAR Theatre
Tickets: $5
CITY LIGHTS, often regarded as Charlie Chaplin’s finest work. It was released in 1931, two years after the widespread introduction of sound movies. But Chaplin felt his tramp character should never speak: CITY LIGHTS has a music score composed by the star himself and some sound effects, but it is essentially a silent film. And while it contains classic slapstick sequences, the ending is one of the most poignant in movie history.
Buster Keaton in THE GENERAL
Sunday, February 8 | 2 p.m.
Location: STAAR Theatre
Tickets: $5
Orson Welles called THE GENERAL: “The greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made.” Keaton plays Johnny Gray, engineer of the famous steam locomotive. He’s mistaken for a coward by his girlfriend… but he gets the chance to prove his bravery in a wild one-man chase to recover his beloved engine after it is stolen by Union spies. Full of amazing stunts and riotous sight gags, THE GENERAL was not a big success at the time of its release. But today it is regarded as a true comedy classic. The scene on a burning train bridge still takes the breath away.
Harold Lloyd in SAFETY LAST
Featuring Live Music by Joyce Herring
Sunday, February 15 | 2 p.m.
Location: STAAR Theatre
Tickets: $5
Filmed in 1923, this is the one that made Lloyd the King of Thrill Comedy. The climax, high on a skyscraper, with our hero hanging onto a clock, is among the most famous of all movie scenes. What makes the stunt truly remarkable is the injury Lloyd suffered a few years earlier. In August of 1919, he was posing for a publicity shot holding a prop bomb with lit fuse. But the bomb was no prop and its explosion left Lloyd with serious burns, a damaged eye, and a mangled right hand. After he recovered, he wore a special glove to hide the loss of his thumb and index finger. And yet somehow he still managed to dangle from that clock! In 1994, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
As a special treat, SAFETY LAST will be shown with live musical accompaniment, with Joyce Herring performing a full score she arranged for the film.
Marx Bros in DUCK SOUP
Sunday, February 22 | 2 p.m.
Location: STAAR Theatre
Tickets: $5
In this hilarious and surreal musical comedy, Groucho Marx plays Rufus T. Firefly, president of the fictional nation of Freedonia. When relations with neighboring Sylvania deteriorate, the two countries go to war. Part political parody, part absurdist nonsense, DUCK SOUP is 68 minutes of brilliant madness. It was the final film the brothers made for Paramount Studios, and the last to really capture the anarchy of their appearances in vaudeville and on Broadway.