When I was young my favourite thing on TV was a half-hour clip-show of Harold Lloyd films. It was on BBC2 just before teatime and I loved it. Last night, I remembered why I was such a big fan when we went to a showing of Safety Last for the opening night of the Flatpack Film Festival. 
The film was shown in the Great Western Arcade shopping centre in Birmingham which had been turned into a cinema for the evening. We had glasses of sparkling wine and chocolate truffles in the lily-filled 'foyer' beforehand and then, wrapped in blankets against the chill, watched the film with live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.
It was fantastic - one of the most magical and entertaining cinematic experiences of my life. Harold Lloyd was a genius of physical comedy and the audience last night seemed to enjoy it as much as the original audiences in 1924 must have done. Harold had us in stitches.
And John Sweeney on the piano was wonderful - he kept time absolutely perfectly and it was easy to forget that the 'soundtrack' was live. It was a truly great night.
There's lots more on over the next ten days so be prepared for more posts from Flatpack!
My favourite bit was when he was eight storeys up and the mouse crawled up his leg - I'm not sure what a mouse was doing eight storeys up but I suppose you have to allow for a bit of poetic licence! Love - Mark
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