It’s supposed to be big mystery: what do women want from a romantic partner? But there is no mystery at all. GSOH every time. That’s good sense of humour, of course. So if you’re in anyway romantically inclined, you’ll already be asking yourself: what is the FUNNIEST way I can celebrate Valentine’s Day next year.
Not to brag, but I do have the solution. Bristol’s Slapstick Festival runs 12-16 February at venues across the city centre. It’s the perfect romantic getaway for you and your lighthearted lover. Or for you and your love of silent film.
If you know you know that Slapstick Festival celebrates visual comedy in all its forms. But that include silent cinema and there are especially strong offerings on that score this year, including lashings of Buster Keaton (with expert Polly Rose on hand to guide you through his work), including the gala screening of Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), accompanied by the European Silent Screen Virtuosi, led by Günter A. Buchwald, on the Friday night at Bristol Beacon. Plus Harold Lloyd, Sarah Duhamel, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, WC Fields, and lots more.
I have pasted the full silent lineup below, that is the screenings of classic silent films with live music. But also a couple of modern riffs on silent technique: Mel Brooks’s beloved pastiche Silent Movie (1976) and the uproarious new movie Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik, 2022).
Wait, there’s more! I will be at Slapstick this year, as part of a team of far more illustrious types the comedian Lucy Porter and the actor Paul McGann, presenting some highlights of Soviet comedy. On Friday 14 February, Valentine’s Day itself, I’ll be giving a short presentation before a screening of the fabulous, anarchive Chess Fever (Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mykola Shpykovskyi, 1925) and later on introducing a simply delightful film, The House at Trubnaya Square (Boris Barnet, 1928).
Live music for both screenings will be provided by the wonderful John Sweeney. Also showing: The Girl with the Hat Box (Boris Barnet, 1927) and a films that will be new to many, the newly rediscovered camel caper The Opportunist (Mykola Shpykovskyi, 1929).
And no, just one thing more! On the Saturday morning, I will be introducing a solid-fold five-star, hands-down, bona fide masterpiece: Yasujiro Ozu’s I was Born, But… (1932), yet again with music from John Sweeney. Definitely worth an early start.
See you there, it’s a fabulous event, that always draws great (and growing) audiences. And we could all do with a giggle.
Silent films at Slapstick 2025
Wednesday 12 February, at Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX, Tickets are £11 (£8.50 conc/ £5 under 25 unless otherwise stated)
1100 CARTOON CARNIVAL
With Peter Lord CBE & Andrew Smith
Dir: Andrew T Smith, 2021, UK, 89 mins
To open Slapstick’s 20th anniversary edition Aardman’s co-founder chats with director Andrew Smith and introduces his lovingly-researched documentary telling the story of the pioneering early days of animated film and of one film preservationist’s quest to rescue pre-sound cartoons from obscurity and share them with new audiences.
13.00 NORRTULLSGATAN (THE NUTHILL LEAGUE)
With Peter Walsh
Dir: Per Lindberg, 1923, Sweden, 77 mins
A comedy about four single girls with busy office jobs and love lives sharing a flat in a big city. Sounds like the plot of a modern TV series, doesn’t it? But not only does Norrtullsligan date from 1923 it was an adaptation of stories published 15 years earlier by journalist and feminist Elin Wägner. South West Silents’ Peter Walsh introduces this charming comedy about women trying to navigate a male dominated world. With live piano accompaniment from Daan van den Hurk.
1530 W.C.FIELDS : RUNNING WILD
With Dr Harriet Fields and Andrew Kelly
Dir: Gregory La Cave, 1927, USA, 68 mins
W.C.Fields is best known for his sharp wit and later talkies but in this early silent comedy he is henpecked at home, regularly criticised by work colleagues and disrespected by clients. Until that is, he’s hypnotised into believing he is a lion. The star’s granddaughter Dr Harriet Field joins host Andrew Kelly live via Zoom.With live piano accompaniment from Daan van den Hurk.
Wednesday 12 February, at Bristol Megascreen (Aquarium), Anchor Sq, Bristol, BS1 5T Tickets: £15/ £10 unless otherwise stated
1800 HAROLD LLOYD in THE FRESHMAN (1925)
With Paul McGann
Dir: Fred Newmeyer/Sam Taylor, USA, 77mins
Join actor and Lloyd admirer Paul McGann for a screening of one of Harold Lloyd’s best-loved comedies on the West Country’s largest screen. In this satire of college life, Lloyd plays a student desperate to gain popularity, including on the football field, despite having no flair for the game. Some of his classmates, however, are faking friendship and aim to make him look like a fool. But will the affection of his landlady’s daughter be enough to turn his fortunes around?
20.30 HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS
With Ryland Brickson Cole Tews
Dir: Mike Cheslik, 2022, USA, 108 mins
Made on a lowly $100,000 budget, this surprise independent hit about a trapper (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) battling malevolent beavers is already heading towards cult classic status, having picked up scores of awards from festivals worldwide, earning glowing reviews from top critics & audiences and getting a 97% score on the Rotten Tomatoes’ tomatometer. It is also such a masterful homage to slapstick hits of the silent era that its makers are being awarded the Slapstick Legacy Medal. Robin Ince hosts an intro from, and post-show conversation/ Q&A, with co-writer/ lead actor Ryland Brickson Cole Tews.
Thursday 13 February, at Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX Tickets are £11 (£8.50 conc/ £5 under 25 unless otherwise stated)
0930 SILENT MOVIE (PG)
With Chris Daniels and Robin Ince
Dir: Mel Brooks, 1976, USA, 87 mins
Laugh-out-loud sight gags, sharp satirical digs at the business side of Hollywood and some of cinema’s best-known stars feature throughout this fine satire – charting the attempts by Mel Brooks and the lost-too-young Marty Feldman to make a silent film. True to its title, the movie is completely silent—save for one unforgettable word delivered by the unlikeliest guest star. The screening includes an introductory conversation. NB This film will be shown again in a separate cinema at 9.45am as a relaxed screening.
1145 OH! WHAT A NURSE + short
With Lucy Porter
Dir: Charles Reisner, 1926, USA, 70 mins
Stand-up star Lucy Porter introduces two films linked by their takes on marriage. The short, LE TORCHON BRULE (Romeo Bosetti, France, 1911, 5 mins) is by far the oldest and shortest in this year’s programme, starring Sarah Duhamel as one half of a couple engaged in all-out war. The main feature is OH! WHAT A NURSE! (Charles Reisner, USA, 1926, 70 mins) in which Charlie Chaplin’s brother Syd seeks, via the newspaper “agony aunt” column he’s nursing, to prevent a young heiress (Patsy Ruth Miller) from marrying her uncle’s dubious choice of suitor, with madcap results. Includes a bit part for future double Oscar winner Janet Gaynor. With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk
1345 KEATON: THE SAPHEAD (U)
With Polly Rose
Dir: Herbert Blaché, Winchell Smith, 1920, USA, 66 mins
Buster Keaton makes his feature film debut in THE SAPHEAD, directed by the husband of groundbreaking filmmaker Alice Guy. Keaton plays Bertie, the pampered son of a silver mine owner and brother-in-law to a shady investor who ruins Bertie’s wedding plans with lies and puts the family’s wealth in jeopardy. Host Polly Rose (University of Bristol) says “this could be described as a dramedy; there are dark moments but also a grand slapstick action sequence at the height of the story”. Watch out also for a rare smile from Buster; there isn’t another by him on screen until 1934. With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk
1530 KEATON : A DOUBLE HELPING (U)
THE RAILRODDER and KEATON RIDES AGAIN
With Polly Rose
Keaton scholar Polly Rose (he’s her PhD subject) introduces Old Stone Face’s final silent, the Berlin Festival award-winning THE RAILRODDER (Dir: Gerald Potterton, Canada, 1965, 24 mins), released just four months before Buster’s death. Shot in colour, it features Buster taking a gag-packed solo rail trip across Canada in an open-top “speeder”. Also on the bill is John Spotton’s Venice Festival award-winning documentary on the film’s production, BUSTER KEATON RIDES AGAIN (Canada, 1965, 55mins), with behind-the-scenes moments including the crew’s efforts to dissuade the 69-year-old Keaton from doing a highly risky stunt (ignored!).
Thursday 13 February, at Bristol Megascreen (Aquarium), Anchor Sq, Bristol, BS1 5TT Tickets: £15/ £10 unless otherwise stated
18.00 Alasdair Beckett-King’s LAUREL & HARDY MAYHEM
Award-winning comedian Alasdair Beckett-King hosts the festival’s annual dip into the timeless brilliance of shorts and clips starring the greatest ever comedy duo: Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Includes a post-screenings Q&A with the audience.
Friday 14 February, at Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX Tickets are £11 (£8.50 conc/ £5 under 25 unless otherwise stated)
09:30 THE GIRL WITH A HAT BOX
With Lucy Porter
Dir: Boris Barnet, 1927, USSR,60 mins
To start today’s line-up of satirical films from the old Soviet Union, Slapstick favourite Lucy Porter introduces a deliciously screwball romcom directed by Boris Barnet, often hailed as the master of Soviet silent cinema. It stars the Ukrainian/ Swedish beauty, Anna Sten – later whisked to Hollywood by Sam Goldwyn who dubbed her ‘the new Greta Garbo’. In it, Sten plays a hat maker caught in a love triangle and challenges involving a room rental scam and a winning lottery ticket. With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk
11.40 SOVIET COMEDIES OF THE 1920s
+ CHESS FEVER
With Pamela Hutchinson
Dir: Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mykola Shpykovskyi, 1925, USSR, 28 mins
Writer, film historian and Silent London blogger Pamela Hutchinson provides context for the Soviet comedies showing today, highlighting the influence of 1920s Soviet silent comedies before introducing Chess Fever (1925). Shot in Moscow with real footage from the World Chess Championships, this film follows a young woman (Anna Zemtsova) frustrated by her fiancé’s chess obsession yet seeing chess symbols everywhere, Then she meets legendary World Chess Champion José Raúl Capablanca. This clever blend of fiction and reality had a lasting impact on cinema, influencing future sports comedies and the use of real-world figures in narrative films. With live music by John Sweeney. BSL interpreted event.
1330 THE OPPORTUNIST
With Paul McGann
Dir Mykola Shpykovskyi, 1929, Soviet Ukraine, 77 mins
A rare find, only recently rediscovered and restored, and from a co-director of CHESS FEVER, this is a satire about a small-time racketeer trying to turn Bolshevism to his advantage. The fact he ends up with the Red Army in charge of a camel is just one of the absurd digs at political correctness which got this film banned by Soviet apparatchiks. Introduced by actor Paul McGann, with live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney, All profits from this event will be donated to From Bristol With Love, a registered charity providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. BSL interpreted event
1530 THE HOUSE AT TRUBNAYA SQUARE
With Pamela Hutchinson
Dir: Boris Barnet, 1928, USSR, 84mins
Recognised widely as a masterpiece of Soviet silent cinema, this is also a delightful comedy of manners satirising contemporary life in Moscow during a time of ever-shifting, often contradictory, policies, It stars Vera Maretskaya, a five times winner of the Stalin Prize for acting, as a country girl seeking her uncle in the big city and finding herself in a highly eccentric household. Noted especially for its attention to comic timing, clever use of editing, innovative camera angles and for involving, despite having few inter-titles, five scriptwriters, all of them literary or political notables. Introduced by Pamela Hutchinson and with live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.
Friday 14 February, at Bristol Beacon, Trenchard Street, Bristol BS1 5AR
1930 SILENT COMEDY GALA
Celebrate Valentine’s Day in a unique and unforgettable way by joining Bristol’s Slapstick Festival for its 20th-anniversary Silent Comedy Gala. Enjoy the magic of three classic silent comedies on the big screen—exactly how they were meant to be seen—with live accompaniment from world-class musicians, including legendary keyboardist and ‘Grumpy Old Man’ star Rick Wakeman.
The highlight of the evening is Buster Keaton’s iconic Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), filled with breathtaking stunts and timeless sight gags that cement Buster’s place amongst the all time comedy greats. The film is accompanied by the renowned five -piece European Silent Screen Virtuosi, led by Günter A. Buchwald.
Rick Wakeman provides live, improvised accompaniment to Laurel & Hardy’s final silent short, Angora Love (1929), where the comedy duo’s antics with a runaway goat cause chaos for their landlord. Completing the bill will be Charlie Chaplin’s classic and still-relevant masterpiece The Immigrant (1917) also with live accompaniment..
An added treat will bring the acapella group The Matinee Idles, featuring members from 70s chart-toppers DARTS and actor Paul McGann back with a reminder of their debut performance at the very first Silent Comedy Gala in 2005. And ahead of the main hall events, Trip for Biscuits will be playing their ragtime takes on contemporary hits in the Beacon’s foyer from 18:00. Tickets: £15-£55 BSL interpreted event
Saturday 15 February, at Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX Tickets are £11 (£8.50 conc/ £5 under 25 unless otherwise stated)
0930 I WAS BORN, BUT (U)
With Pamela Hutchinson
Dir: Yasujiro Ozu, 1932, Japan, 90 mins
It is rare for a film to score 100% on Rotten Tomatoes but this silent comedy-drama – by a Japanese director so in love with Hollywood and Harold Lloyd, he played truant from school to visit cinemas – does so. It looks at family life through the eyes of two young rascally brothers, new to their Tokyo neighbourhood, bullied at school and outraged when they discover their authoritarian father is less important than they believed. With an introduction by film journalist and Silent London blogger, Pamela Hutchinson, and live musical accompaniment from John Sweeney
Sunday 16 February, at Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX Tickets are £11 (£8.50 conc/ £5 under 25 unless otherwise stated)
09:30 KEATON: GO WEST (U)
Dir: Buster Keaton, 1925, USA, 68 mins
£12/ £9/ £ 6
Keaton is both touching and very, very funny in this spoof cowboy film as Friendless, a hapless soul who decides to try his hand at cattle ranching after failing to find a big city job. Spurned by the ranch owner’s daughter (Kathleen Myers), Friendless forms a loyal bond with a young cow, Brown Eyes, and soon finds himself stowing away on a cattle train, battling an ambush and wrangling hundreds of stampeding cattle through downtown Los Angeles in a hilarious crescendo. Look out for cameos from Buster’s dad Joe, Fatty Arbuckle, and silent comedy stalwart Babe London, and you can’t miss Brown Eyes, Buster’s bovine leading lady who he personally hand-picked and trained for the film (while also writing and directing!). With live accompaniment from members of the European Silent Screen Virtuosi led by Günter A. Buchwald.
