SILENT CINEMA — all episodes — Fantasy/Animation

Episode 163 - Babes in Toyland (Gus Meins & Charles Rogers, 1934) (with Rob King)

Chris and Alex make their first foray into the world of Laurel and Hardy with this reflection on Babes in Toyland (Gus Meins and Charles Rogers, 1934), a film based loosely on the Mother Goose fairytale albeit with a few other nursery rhyme characters thrown in for good measure, all supported by the iconicity of Laurel and Hardy and the duo’s particular brand of slapstick comedy. Joining them to separate their Tom-Tom Piper from their Bo Peep is Rob King, Professor of Film at Columbia University, a film historian who has written wildly on American genre cinema, popular culture, and cultural history with a particular emphasis on silent-era stardom and comedy.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantDecember 1, 2025HISTORY, HOLLYWOOD, STARDOM, COMEDY, SILENT CINEMA Comment

Episode 59 - Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924) (with Peter Adamson)

Episode 59 heralds Chris and Alex’s first foray into silent film comedy via the work of performer Buster Keaton, looking at his feature Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924) that celebrates the dreams and psychology of a movie theatre projectionist. Joining them as the lights go down is Peter Adamson, Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Münich and King's College London, and host of the successful History of Philosophy without any gaps podcast that examines the “ideas, lives and historical context” of both major philosophers and more lesser-known figures.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantOctober 26, 2020COMEDY, SILENT CINEMA, EARLY CINEMA, REFLEXIVITY, STARDOM Comments