Why Classic Movies are AWESOME!

Classic movies interest me because I like how they acted back then. I like their mannerisms, how they dressed, how they talked, and the expressions they used. For example, "Oh, a wise guy, huh?" It made me wonder if they really said that in real life, or did they just use it in the movies. They didn't use a whole lot of special effects, they mostly relied on acting. In The Hunch Back of the Notre Dame (1939), the actor, Charles Laughton, had an excellent speaking voice, but he didn't use it much in the movie. He wanted to be known for his acting and not just for his speaking.

Another good movie that didn't use a whole lot of special effects but was a great film was The Haunting (1963). The movie didn't show ghosts, but you knew they were there. It was obvious there was a haunting because of all the noises, the camera angles, and the acting. There were other versions of The Haunting but they weren't as good as the original. Mostly, because they valued special effects over acting. In the original you imagined and wondered what the ghosts would look like and that's why it did so good. And that's why I love Tuner Classic Movies.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

HAROLD LLOYD



Harold Lloyd is a famous American silent movie actor. He was one of the most popular movie actors out there along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. He made almost 200 movies, silent and also some films with audio, which he made later.  He started acting in one-reel films shortly after moving to California. Harold also started working for Thomas Edison’s motion pictures company, and eventually partnered up with fellow struggling actor and director, Hal Roach, who formed his own studio in 1913. The hard-working Lloyd was the most successful out of all of Roach’s comical actors between 1915 and 1919.

In real life, Harold didn’t want anyone to shake his right hand; If he knew you well or liked you he would let you shake his hand. The reason for this was because on his right hand he only had three fingers. In the shooting for one of his silent films, Harold was supposed to light a cigar with a fake bomb, except somehow that fake bomb turned out to be a real bomb! The real bomb exploded shortly after lighting and left Lloyd unconscious and when he finally woke up, he looked down and noticed that his thumb and index finger were blown off. For the rest of his career he had to wear skin-colored gloves and had two fake fingers.

Now, because he was an actor, Harold Lloyd wore lots of makeup. When he was off set he didn’t wear any and looked completely different from his character on the screen. And because of that, he could go to a local park unnoticed and sit at a nearby bench and would wait till someone sat next to him. Once he had company, he would start asking them questions, mostly about himself. He did this because he wanted to know who his fans were, they never figured out it was him and so he always got a kick out of that. In the 1994 comedy, Dumb and Dumber, there are two characters: Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, these Characters were actually named after the great Harold Lloyd. Harold was born on April 20, 1893 and died on March 8, 1971 and we will remember him from his great acting, witty comments, and of course his amazing physical comedy.

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