The Sounds of Silent are bringing Steamboat Bill Jr back to the big screen with a fully improvised jazz score
A nearly 100-year-old slapstick classic is about to get the live music treatment in Melbourne’s north.
The Sounds of Silent are screening Buster Keaton’s 1928 film Steamboat Bill Jr at a Northcote venue on 19 April, accompanied by a fully improvised jazz score performed live alongside the action.
For the uninitiated, Steamboat Bill Jr is one of Keaton’s most celebrated works and features some of the most jaw-dropping practical stunts in cinema history. The film’s climactic storm sequence — where entire building facades collapse around Keaton in real time — was performed without any special effects whatsoever. It remains one of the most replicated (and parodied) scenes in film nearly a century on.
The Sounds of Silent — Steamboat Bill Jr
- Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr with live jazz by The Sounds of Silent
- 19 April, 3.30pm
- Wesley Anne, 250 High St, Northcote
- Tickets available here
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The Sounds of Silent are a five-piece Melbourne ensemble who have been recreating the magic of silent-era cinema since 2013. The group performs improvised scores using jazz styles from the 1920s and 30s, matching every chase, pratfall and dramatic beat with live instrumentation. They’ve performed at festivals and events across the country, including the Adelaide Fringe, Taste of Tasmania and the Apollo Bay Music Festival.
The ensemble has developed scores for a long list of silent film classics spanning the works of Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. Steamboat Bill Jr sits among their most popular offerings, alongside The General and The Great Dictator.
The screening recreates the kind of experience audiences would have had during the silent film era, when live bands were a standard feature of cinema. Before recorded soundtracks existed, musicians would accompany every screening, turning each showing into a unique performance.
Catching the show at Wesley Anne adds another layer to the experience. The Northcote venue — a converted 19th-century church on High Street — has long been a home for intimate live music and is well suited to a stripped-back afternoon of jazz and vintage comedy.
For more information, head here.
