Silent movies (with a soundtrack) coming to Castleton
Saturday, Feb. 11, Silent Movies come to Castleton. World-percussionist Tom Teasley creates a soundtrack to the classic Charlie Chaplin film "The Immigrant” and the Buster Keaton classic "Sherlock, Jr." drawing on American Jazz traditions with lots of fun sound effects to enhance these two physical comedies.
“The Immigrant” (1917) stars Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp character as an immigrant coming to the United States who is accused of theft on the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and falls in love with a beautiful young woman along the way.
Chaplin drew on his own experiences immigrating to the United States and attempted to find humor in otherwise traumatic aspects of coming to a new land. He conjures many funny gags out of the hardships of an Atlantic passage on an immigrant vessel. Chaplin also found material for the film in his experience as an outsider careful with his money upon his arrival to America. During that time, Chaplin was intimidated by waiters and realized that others shared similar feelings. This fear was the spark for the café sequence.
Undertones of social criticism are suggested in “The Immigrant,” the first of many Chaplin films to contain such themes, which were seldom found in comedy films of this period. For instance, when the immigrants first see the Statue of Liberty the immigration officials rope all the foreigners together like cattle, causing Charlie to cast a quizzical second look at the land of the free.
Stephen Brookes recently reviewed Teasley's show and said, in part: "Tom conjured up a colorful palette of sounds that echoed the onscreen action, from hammering and car honking to nibbling corn on the cob. But it wasn’t just a bunch of clever sound effects. Tom built a musical narrative that captured the “machine-age” flavor of the films, kept the action flowing, and reflected the characters’ inner psychological drama … you felt it in Tom’s insightful, nuanced playing. And the music was revealed in other ways, too. You came away feeling like you understood Chaplin and Keaton’s own comedy more deeply and realized just how distinctly ‘percussive’ Chaplin’s physical movement often is."
A veritable treat for all ages! ► More information and tickets at rappnews.link/3vd