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Griff Rhys Jones presents:
SILENT COMEDY SPECTACULAR

Featuring Buster Keaton's comic masterpiece

The General (1926)

Colston Hall, Friday 27th Jan 2012 7.30pm, £18 full/£16concs/ £8 under 12s

Book early online to avoid dissappointment >>

Now in its unprecedented eighth year, Slapstick Festival’s annual silent comedy gala presents three comic film masterpieces celebrating the great silent comedians of yesteryear. Our special host for the evening is the inimitable comic actor and writer Griff Rhys Jones, supported by ‘master of ceremonies’ Chris Serle.

 

Buster Keaton’s feature length classic comedy, The General (1926), is considered a masterpiece of cinema. Set in the American Civil War, Buster Keaton plays Jonnie Gray, who is unable to enlist in the Confederate army because he is needed as a railroad engineer. His sweetheart, who thinks he’s a coward, won’t talk to him until he’s in uniform.

 

The evening will also feature shorts from Laurel & Hardy in The Finishing Touch (1928) and Charlie Chaplin in The Adventurer (1916).

 

Plus, all of the films will be accompanied live, including a world premiere of a new score for The General, composed and conducted by Guenter A. Buchwald and performed by The European Silent Screen Virtuosi and Bristol Ensemble. The Matinee Idles, featuring Paul McGann (*withdrawn due to work commitments*), will also perform on the night.