Maybe I'm a dark little bugger, but I was hoping for a more macabre ending - there's just something about rival clowns and sabotage that makes my horror pulse start twitching! For me, at the moment, the 'factory' bit is a bit weak and I suppose the superglue + wigs doesn't feel like a big enough thing to a) make people laugh and b) your story suggests that no damage is done to the other performers, when I wonder how well they'd take it having wigs super-glued to their heads! After we spoke after the film last week, I did have a sort of vague idea that is not a million miles away from this one - only the tone is much blacker, and it's a sort of story that has a 'just desserts' feel about it...
So, yes, you've got two rival clowns and a superglue prank that goes wrong...
Film starts with an old man in a big expensive house. There's a thunderstorm etc. The old man is looking at pictures on his wall of him as a young man - as a clown. He hears a creaking noise - looks for its source - can't find it, so continues looking at the picture.. the camera moves towards the picture, and it starts to move, and we're into a flashback - the young man is joined by another clown - they're shown laughing and the frame widens to show a sign above a tent entitled 'Bonzo & Bozo's Factory Of Fun!' - it's the name of their clowning act. The flashback continues - we see the two friends doing their act: it involves a conveyor-belt and custard pies etc (I don't know, something factory-related) and there's all sorts of japes... but the first clown notices that the other clown is getting more laughs etc. The flashback continues, and we see this tension becoming more pronounced; one clown is jealous of the other. Anyway - and this is a bit I'm going to just go blah blah blah - there's bit in the act, when something is meant to happen involving a piping bag (perhaps the clown act involves them piping the custard onto the pies on the conveyor belt and it all goes wrong, or whatever), and one of the clowns is meant to pipe the cream onto the other's face - like lipstick, and they also take of the other clown's nose, fill it with custard and squidge it back on the guy's nose, and likewise take of his wig, fill it with custard and splodge it back down on the clown's head... anyway, in act of spite, the custard in the piping bag is replaced with superglue - and what happens is the other clown's career is ruined - he's disfigured. The flashback ends with the undisfigured clown standing under a sign that reads just Bonzo's Factory of Fun' - the flashback becomes a sepia photo again, and then we pan out and we're back in the present, with the now retired clown looking across all the posters and photos etc on his wall, which show how Bonzo became the most famous and wealthiest clown of all time.
There's another crack of thunder. All the lights go out. Bonzo curses and looks for a candle - he lights it - he hears another creak of floorboards, he turns around - nothing there - he turns back - BOO! there in the candle light is Bozo - his lips gone, his nose gone and his scalp gone!
Okay, so not Bonzo, and not Bozo, and maybe not any of this, but I had to share - as I said, for me there's something about the rivalry and the prank and the clowns that pushes this towards something more macabre. You've got a happy ending wherein the happiness is sort of predicated on a group of performers getting creative with superglue - for me, this doesn't seem strong enough visually. Anyway, I await your thoughts...
Oh, and in terms of funny factory sketches, this is a very famous one from the sitcom I Love Lucy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbNcQlzV-4
OGR 23/01/17
ReplyDeleteHi Ellie,
Maybe I'm a dark little bugger, but I was hoping for a more macabre ending - there's just something about rival clowns and sabotage that makes my horror pulse start twitching! For me, at the moment, the 'factory' bit is a bit weak and I suppose the superglue + wigs doesn't feel like a big enough thing to a) make people laugh and b) your story suggests that no damage is done to the other performers, when I wonder how well they'd take it having wigs super-glued to their heads! After we spoke after the film last week, I did have a sort of vague idea that is not a million miles away from this one - only the tone is much blacker, and it's a sort of story that has a 'just desserts' feel about it...
So, yes, you've got two rival clowns and a superglue prank that goes wrong...
Film starts with an old man in a big expensive house. There's a thunderstorm etc. The old man is looking at pictures on his wall of him as a young man - as a clown. He hears a creaking noise - looks for its source - can't find it, so continues looking at the picture.. the camera moves towards the picture, and it starts to move, and we're into a flashback - the young man is joined by another clown - they're shown laughing and the frame widens to show a sign above a tent entitled 'Bonzo & Bozo's Factory Of Fun!' - it's the name of their clowning act. The flashback continues - we see the two friends doing their act: it involves a conveyor-belt and custard pies etc (I don't know, something factory-related) and there's all sorts of japes... but the first clown notices that the other clown is getting more laughs etc. The flashback continues, and we see this tension becoming more pronounced; one clown is jealous of the other. Anyway - and this is a bit I'm going to just go blah blah blah - there's bit in the act, when something is meant to happen involving a piping bag (perhaps the clown act involves them piping the custard onto the pies on the conveyor belt and it all goes wrong, or whatever), and one of the clowns is meant to pipe the cream onto the other's face - like lipstick, and they also take of the other clown's nose, fill it with custard and squidge it back on the guy's nose, and likewise take of his wig, fill it with custard and splodge it back down on the clown's head... anyway, in act of spite, the custard in the piping bag is replaced with superglue - and what happens is the other clown's career is ruined - he's disfigured. The flashback ends with the undisfigured clown standing under a sign that reads just Bonzo's Factory of Fun' - the flashback becomes a sepia photo again, and then we pan out and we're back in the present, with the now retired clown looking across all the posters and photos etc on his wall, which show how Bonzo became the most famous and wealthiest clown of all time.
There's another crack of thunder. All the lights go out. Bonzo curses and looks for a candle - he lights it - he hears another creak of floorboards, he turns around - nothing there - he turns back - BOO! there in the candle light is Bozo - his lips gone, his nose gone and his scalp gone!
Okay, so not Bonzo, and not Bozo, and maybe not any of this, but I had to share - as I said, for me there's something about the rivalry and the prank and the clowns that pushes this towards something more macabre. You've got a happy ending wherein the happiness is sort of predicated on a group of performers getting creative with superglue - for me, this doesn't seem strong enough visually. Anyway, I await your thoughts...
Oh, and in terms of funny factory sketches, this is a very famous one from the sitcom I Love Lucy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbNcQlzV-4