Comedy magic to be screened at restored Picture House
Scotland’s Comedy Film Festival – SCOFF – has secured permission to screen the famous moment when two comedy legends met on film, it has been revealed.
The first edition of Scotland’s only comedy film festival will take place in the restored Campbeltown Picture House over the weekend of May 11-13.
And as part of Bunkered! - a programme of big screen comedy from the archives – the famous moment when Sir Harry Lauder and Charlie Chaplin met on film will be screened.
A ‘short’ made for cinemas in 1918, the eight-minute film sees Lauder join Chaplin in a couple of skits, including a mimicry of each other’s well-known gait.
The film was made to promote a fundraising project Lauder had set up for soldiers injured during the First World War in memory of his son but the film was never finished or shown publicly.
Other films to be screened in Bunkered! include classic Chic Murray visual gags, Stanley Baxter and Jimmy Logan being serious, and Rikki Fulton and Jack Milroy’s brilliant Francie and Josie act.
Bunkered! has been curated by Shona Thomson from A Kind of Seeing who said: ‘Scotland has an international reputation for its much-loved comedians and you can see it in the on-screen warmth between Sir Harry Lauder and Charlie Chaplin.
‘It’s so exciting to be able to bring this selection of films from the collections of the National Library of Scotland, BFI National Archive, STV and The Chaplin Office/Roy Export SAS back to the big screen in the glorious Campbeltown Picture House.’
Ailsa MacKenzie, SCOFF programmer, added: ‘We are delighted that we have been given the opportunity to screen the famous Lauder-Chaplin film.’
‘Even more exciting, we will have live musical performance complementing the footage performed in the Picture House by acclaimed singer, BBC presenter and Lauder expert Jamie MacDougall, with Scottish Opera’s Head of Music Derek Clark on piano.’
The live programme for SCOFF is headlined by Dave Johns, stand-up comic, writer and star of award-winning I, Daniel Blake, taking part in a special Desert Island Films event with Paul Sneddon (aka Vladimir McTavish) and performing his acclaimed one-man show, I, Fillum Star, inspired by his extraordinary experience in the film world when he played the lead in Ken Loach’s award-winning social drama.
Meanwhile in Spontaneous Potter, The Spontaneous Players will present an entirely new improvised Harry Potter comedy play, based on an audience suggestion of a title. An entirely new Potter adventure will be magically created on the spot – with live musical accompaniment.
Other screenings at SCOFF include Singalong Moana, Blazing Saddles, The Man in the White Suit, Bill Forsyth’s That Sinking Feeling, international hit Toni Erdmann and more, along with a screening of musical Wind in the Willows starring Rufus Hound. Free events include animation and comedy workshops and drop-in screenings.
For full details and how to book visit www.campbeltownpicturehouse.co .uk and follow CPH on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CampbeltownPictureHouse/ and Twitter: @ CTPictureHouse