More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2019 (17 to 24 October)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)
31 October (additions, 5 January)
A great gig at @StablesMK in the company of Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel - @NeilKBrand, in engagingly off-the-cuff style, hosts the show that he's written about them, covering how they met, what they did before then and what makes their work special - for him and for us.
— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) November 1, 2023
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At @StablesMK, with Stan and Ollie letting Neil make a trio*, such a great night out - and a pleasant break from All Hallows' Eve ! :)
— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 5, 2024
Knowing his stuff, but easy with his knowledge and skill, Neil played the silents, informed the early years and told us what to look out for. pic.twitter.com/lJIKFZ00U1
For L&H fans, new and in the making, well worth doing ! :)
— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 5, 2024
[Sadly, the #UCFF write-up - started with the best of aims as ever - is no more than a stub, but hey !]
* Although arguably, as they were also with the perennial presence of James Finlayson, maybe almost a quartet ? pic.twitter.com/K4kByOL0lW
Yet, as with Neil Brand himself, always serving Stan Laurel's writing - and an ineffable magic wrought by Oliver Hardy with him on the big screen !
— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 5, 2024
[Plus, and as some of those stills show, the image-quality now's so good - as against, years back, when L&H were on childhood t.v.] pic.twitter.com/vhtssxQDVH
Brand attributed his approach to improvisation - itself rooted in having long 'played' silent films and his ready knowledge of cinema-history - to what he learnt in having training as an actor¹, and demonstrated how he suits sound² to a character's look, mood and gesture.
— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) November 2, 2023
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It wlll surprise if more tour-dates with Stan and Ollie³ for 2023 and into 2024 don't get added, but here's what's been announced :https://t.co/eVLOjMHo5x
— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) November 2, 2023
³ Liking the 2018 film of that name [and has his own https://t.co/BLrdegpaef], his desire's to show us the earlier years.
¹ Of course, he also writes, composes, broadcasts...
— THE AGENT APSLEY #ScrapUniversalCredit #JC4PM2019 (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) November 2, 2023
² Another role is teaching improvisation at @RoyalAcadMusic [https://t.co/fg1cVy4Pus] - not necessarily, he says, so that students become silent-film accompanists, but to find what music they have within them.
Go hear :)
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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)
