Travis Simpkins

Go West (1925): Buster Keaton

Written, directed by and starring Buster Keaton, Go West (1925) sets his familiar character as a man named "Friendless", who heads West to find posterity and becomes an awkward Cowboy, with hilarious results. Keaton's physical humor is in fine form and the scenes of the cattle stampede through the streets of Los Angeles are classic. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, whose career was in shambles at the time following a murder scandal, has an uncredited role, dressed in drag as a woman in a department store.

Buster Keaton: Go West. 1925

a scene from "Go West" (1925)

Buster Keaton: Go West. 1925

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927): Alfred Hitchcock's Silent Look at a Serial Killer

Directed by Alfred Hitcock, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) was an important film in the master's early Silent Film career. The dark story concerns a man who may or may not be a "Jack the Ripper" style serial killer. The film contains Hitchcock's first on-screen cameo, early on as a telephone operator, which was done purely out of necessity after an extra did not show up... but it worked, though, and the cameo became a mainstay, with Hitch making a veiled appearance in all his films afterward. The film also contains many tense themes that Hitchcock would revisit time and time again in his later work. The cast is good, including Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney, Malcolm Keen and Ivor Novello.

The Lodger. 1927. Alfred Hitchcock

Ivor Novello. The Lodger. 1927. Alfred Hitchcock

a scene from "The Lodger"

Sunnyside (1919): Charlie Chaplin, Love and Dancing Nymphs

Written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin, Sunnyside (1919) was the third picture he made for First National Films. Upon it's release, the film was met with criticism for lack of creativity (perhaps due to struggles in Chaplin's private life), but it has since grown to become a beloved classic like most of Chaplin's work. The story has Chaplin as a hotel clerk who must vie for the love of Edna Purviance's character with charming results. The fantasy sequence scenes involving Chaplin dancing with lovely young Nymphs are particularly enchanting.