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>Don't forget that Woody Allen has credited both Buster Keaton and Bob Hope
>(!) as his primary influences in performances. The Hope idea sounds peculiar
>until you look at Hope's work in the late '30's, '40's and fifties. An
>amazing influence.
>
>Gene Stavis, School of Visual Arts - NYC
 
 
I must echo Gene Stavis vis a vis Allen and Bob Hope.  I feel that this is
a major lacunae in my section on Allen in AMERICAN-JEWISH FILMMAKERS.  I
certainly mention Keaton, Chaplin, Bergman (!), Fellini, Chekhov, Ibsen,
the Marx Bros.et. al., but Allen himself has acclaimed Bob Hope, and a
recent viewing of CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT (1954; the film is absolutely
hysterical, by the way!) was a revelation in terms of understanding the
Allen persona, especially in films like SLEEPER and LOVE AND DEATH (which
are probably Allen's most purely funny).
 
DD
 
_____________________________________
David Desser,UIUC Cinema Studies
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