Word: silents
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...could twirl it. Returning to the stage for this limited engagement (through July 15) at Broadway's Cort Theater, the man who mumbled so effectively through two Godfathers on-screen turns Shakespeare's "bunch-back'd toad" into a smarmy caricature villain out of silent movies and old comic strips; he personifies the sort of dastard who forecloses the mortgage on the family farm and threatens the virtue of fair young damsels...
THROUGHOUT the silent film era, comedy was one of the most cinematic genres due to the tremendous visual dynamism of slapstick. With the advent of sound, film comedies became merely photographic recordings of funny dialogue and burlesque situations which could be effectively mounted on the stage. Even comedies of the 30's (including those made by the Marx Brothers which were unique in their own way) continued to exploit non-verbal, absurd gags. More contemporaneous comedians such as Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers and Mel Brooks also rely heavily on verbal puns and physical mise-en-scene, yet still with...
...entirely replaced by the everchanging panorama of the tracking camera. It appears as though the camera is tenaciously chasing the characters (particularly Allen) who run frenziedly along New York streets or through their apartments, which can be construed as a modern variation of the chases characteristic of the old silent slapsticks...
...comedy genre. He knows how creatively to employ the new modes discovered by other directors involved in different genres. He flows with the current of contemporary cinematic trends, utilizing all the resources of modern technology. In contrast to Jacques Tati and Pierre Etaix who explore the present potential of silent comedy gags, Allen blazes the trail for a renaissance of sound film comedy. He is rapidly approaching the point when-it is my hope-we will be able to say that Allen is the Chaplin of our time...
Though analysts have worried about such a post-visit backlash and Moscow remained ominously silent about the Polish spectacle, TIME Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Barry Kalb reports that the Pope's visit is unlikely to produce any dramatic result. The Kremlin reluctantly recognizes that the Polish government needs Catholic support and that it could not indefinitely avoid a visit by the most celebrated Pole since Copernicus. Gierek has gradually improved relations with the church and, since that policy has strengthened his regime and his nation...