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[Andymeets1880s]

I have been really getting into old classic movies and reading about the argument regarding Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Who was the real genius? Who was more innovative? Their style comparisons.

What do you think??

Honestly, I think they are film pioneers standing shoulder to shoulder. Both had a genius of different style and technique. Chaplin's "The Kid", "City Lights" and "Limelight" are wonderful masterpieces. Keaton's "Steamboat Bill Jr", where he does the famous scene of the front of the house falling down and he is standing on the ground where the open window of the house falls around him, is both nailbiting and groundbreaking comedy.

Are any of you classic fans? And what is your opinion on this debate? 

[rubedugans]

Ahh my neck of the woods. Thats like asking Laurel and Hardy, or Abbot and Costello, or asking the Three Stooges or The Marx Brothers....Tough call, I would rather not do without any of them!

I am a Keaton fan through and through. It isn't that i do not enjoy "The Tramp" or the others that Chaplin portrayed...I just  enjoy his physical comedy, and the look "stone face"(very deadpan) he would give.

One of my all time favorite Twilight Zone episodes was the 1961 episode "Once Upon a Time" where Keaton-a janitor in 1890 puts on a helmet that transports him to 1960. The 1890 segments are "silent film" style, where as the present-1960 included sound.

LOOK IT UP IT IS GREAT!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_(The_Twilight_Zone)

Don't forget about Harold lloyd...lesser known, but he was a daredevil, did all his own stunts, and all with 1 hand (the other was badly damaged on set when a prop bomb exploded- he wore a glove to disguise it from then on)

[Junior]

Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd...they are all great in their own way. Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Marx Brothers...not a bad apple in the bushel basket!

[StaceySue]

This discussion reminded me of the Buster Keaton festival held in my "hometown" each year in September.  My parents, my husband's parents, all of our living grandparents, and a few aunts and uncles live in or near Iola, KS.  I've happened to be "home" when the festival occurs, and my cousin always makes a special trip to attend the festival.

[okiebluegrass]

Stacey Sue,

I have family in Iola as well. Fisher and Catron families. Any chance we're related?

[StaceySue]

Not related, but my sister is friends with a "Catron." 

Stacey Sue,

I have family in Iola as well. Fisher and Catron families. Any chance we're related?