Fred Karno | Silent London

This February, comedy fans will head west to Bristol, Unesco City of Film for the annual Slapstick Festival. As usual, there is plenty for fans of silent cinema in the programme, with stars from Charley Bowers to Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin to Marlene Dietrich. Presenters include Kevin Brownlow, Steve Massa and Polly Rose, as well as the marvellous Ayşe Behçet, whose Charlie’s London posts you may remember from this very site, back in the day.

The 2023 Slapstick festival runs from 14-19 February this year, and here’s what’s coming up silent in the programme.

WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY

2pm: The Cigarette Girl Of Mosselprom [1924]

Hosted by Lucy Porter

Watershed £8.50/£5.00

Dir: Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky, Soviet Union, 78 mins, cert TBA

In stark contrast to most films made immediately after the Russian Revolution, this is an endearing rom-com filled with likeable characters and some self-effacing insights into the filmmaking process. At the centre of it all is cigarette seller Zina (played by the future Cannes award-winning director Yuliya Solntseva) and the love tangles that surround her when she is talent-spotted to become an actress. With an introduction from stand-up comedian and actor Lucy Porter and live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.

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