Hooman Mehran is hoping to “set the stage” as the first presenter for this year’s Buster Keaton Celebration, by displaying a seldom shown film that illustrates intricacies of a lost art.
A 10-minute short film titled “Seeing Stars” features Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin in one of their earliest collaborations. Mehran said he intends to show how Chaplin and Keaton’s careers often overlapped before their first major appearance together in 1952’s “Limelight” — a film with sound.
Mehran’s father was a film aficionado, and he became entranced by silent films at an early age. When he went to London to work as banker in 1996 to 2001, he had the opportunity to spend time at the British Film Institute, which has one of the most extensive silent film collections in the entire world.
Mehran now lives in New York City. He has published articles on early film comedy, and has co-edited two books on the subject.
He said he “became aware” of the subtle nuances of silent film, and it’s generation-crossing entertainment.
“Certainly the films are timeless,” he said.
“COMEDY WAS something that was particularly well suited for silent films,” Mehran said.
The vaudevillian talents were expressed well through the physical aspects required for silent comedy, he said. Actors often showcased their acrobatic, athletic and stunt skills on the large screen, something that became lost once the verbal humor of “talkies” came around.
“All of the other genres gained something (by the addition of sound),” Mehran said. “I really don’t think comedy did.”
He said the medium has changed more than the audience has, which Iola’s Buster Keaton Celebration is the “case-in-point.” The celebration is very different from any other, he added, because people from the community attend the screenings and seminars; they have become well-educated on the films, in fact.
“The community has become very knowledgeable,” he said. “You don’t have to talk down to the audience.”
Throughout the years, silent films have been discovered and rediscovered by experts and casual viewers alike. Each time he watches a film, he always sees something new.
“You can never exhaust yourself,” he said.
Although silent films are missing a common aspect of modern films — the dialogue — he said the comedy never missed a step, and in fact may have benefited from it.
