The Inverness Courier (17/Apr/2009) - Silence is golden for comic Paul

(c) The Inverness Courier (17/Apr/2009)

Silence is golden for comic Paul

Silent comedy may seem a slightly odd interest for a comic who does so much work on the radio, but "Just a Minute" regular Paul Merton is always happy to speak — presumably without hesitation, repetition or deviation — about his own comedy heroes.

Merton, whose way with words has also made him a television star with programmes like "Have I Got News For You" and "Room 101", will be doing just that at Eden Court this Sunday when he will not just be talking about his love of early cinema's comic greats, but showing them in action on the screen, including a full length screening of Buster Keaton's comedy classic "Steamboat Bill Junior" — a film best remembered today for the scene where a three ton building facade collapses over Keaton's head.

"I love silent films," Merton explained.

"What I love above all is their concentration on the visual.

"The stars of those films — Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy — were totally committed to their work. They were brilliant physical performers, who were perfect for silent films."

Yet Merton and the silent clowns will not be the only stars of the evening. Making a vital contribution to the evening will be pianist Neil Brand, who will be providing live accompaniment for all the clips shown.

"I always say to Neil: 'My name brings them in, but it's you who keeps them there'," Merton stated.

"It's intriguing how much music changes the whole experience. It can alter the entire mood of a film — it can make it upbeat or downbeat. When you have live music, it becomes a completely different form of cinema. The music is happening there and then, and it's crucial to the success or failure of the film."

It is a quick return to Inverness for Brand, whose own solo show, "The Silent Pianist Speaks", featured at Inverness Film Festival in November.

"I got a lot of people hanging around afterwards and two or three e-mails as well and it's always really nice when it has an effect on people. If nothing else, it's made them curious to learn a bit more than they've heard," Brand said.

And it seems more people are wanting to learn about all aspects of silent cinema these days.

"More silent movies have been discovered, there's been a lot more interest in the whole subject and I also think that things have changed since the turn of the millennium," Brand suggested.

"There was less interest in 1999 than there was in 2001 and I think it's because after the millennium there was a sense that the whole of the 20th century was of interest. It was cool to look at the whole century and social phenomena like silent films. Since then, the audiences have grown, the number of films available has grown and it's moved more into the popular agenda. Every film festival now has at least two or three silent films and there's a sense you can't judge cinema in it's entirety without including silent cinema, where before there was sort of assumption that silent film wasn't cinema, it was archaeology. Now people understand that if you look at the best 20 films ever made, at least one or more will be silent movies."

That has certainly been demonstrated by the success of the Silent Clowns shows.

"We're taking the live show to audiences that are packing out 1000-seater venues. The public interest is there because they know this stuff works," Brand said.

However, he acknowledged that having someone like Paul Merton introducing the films was a major factor in the show's success.

"He's not just an enthusiast, Paul is now an absolute expert, not just on comedy, but the whole genre of silent films," Brand continued.

"It matters to him greatly that people do come and see these films and enjoy them.

"What's lovely is that he comes off stage after a Silent Clowns gig as he does after a comedy gig.

"In a way it's going back to the days when he used to show these films on the wall of his bedroom and invite friends round to look at them — so in a sense everybody who comes to Eden Court is going to be sitting in Paul Merton's bedroom!"

Merton recently presented a documentary on the early films of master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, but Brand believes the partnership would be unlikely to attempt a similar project with Hitchcock films.

However, Brand has found himself playing accompaniment for a number of Hitchcock's silent films recently and admits he enjoys the chance it gives him to spook the audience.

Brand is getting a chance to do that on a larger scale after being commissioned by an Italian film festival to write an original score for full orchestra for Hitchcock's silent film "Blackmail". The director also made the film as Britain's first talkie, but the two versions are substantially different.

In writing the new score, Brand acknowledges he can draw on, but not imitate, the scores of Hitchcock's long time musical collaborator Bernard Herrmann and is well aware that his predecessors as silent movie accompanists did not have the advantage of 80 years of recorded soundtracks to call on.

"When the talkies came in, there were over 20,000 musicians playing music for silent films in this country," he revealed.

"Many of them were in ensembles and although some of them had notes about what music to perform, they also had to be able to improvise together. The last silent movies were incredibly sophisticated and the same goes for the music. That music had 20 years to develop."

At the age of 51, Brand says he is amazed he is living the life he dreamed of at 16, touring to new places with a delightful companion, but more than that, he is introducing classic pieces of cinema to a new audience in exactly the way they were intended to be seen.

"If you watch one of these films on DVD or television, you are only going to get an idea of what it is like for one person to sit in front of the screen," he said. "Each time you see it in a theatre with an audience laughing with you it is totally unique. If you really want to see it properly, you need to see it on a cinema screen."