Relive the Roaring Twenties, period costume optional, with silent cinema and a live pianist, in Midsomer Norton on Saturday, 22nd September at 7.30 p.m., thanks to the efforts of the town's Community Cinema.

A rare opportunity to see a Buster Keaton double bill of 'One Week' and 'Steamboat Bill Jr' launches a classic film element to a programme created by the Sarah Ann Trust and Bath Film Festival, sponsors, B&NES and Creative England.

"Few people these days have seen a silent film on a big screen, let alone one with a live pianist. We've been extremely fortunate to secure the services of James Harpham, one of the few people in the country who is experienced in the lost art of accompanying silent movies and who put together special scores for the screening," said Paul Myers, Secretary of the Sarah Ann Trust.

Buster Keaton was one of the top three silent film comedians, alongside Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, and was probably the most physically adept, rejecting the use of a double for stunts. Born in 1895 into an American vaudeville family, he appeared on stage with his mother and father as 'The Three Keatons' from the age of three. His father would throw him around the stage, into the orchestra pit and even into the audience, but he quickly learned how to fall safely. His nickname, 'Buster', allegedly came from escapologist, Harry Houdini, who after seeing him fall downstairs as a child, remarked, "That was a real Buster!"

Keaton acquired his famous deadpan 'stoneface' when, performing with his parents, he realised he got more laughs if he never smiled. Entering films in 1917 as a sidekick for the famous comedian, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, he later commenced his own series of short films in which he starred and had full creative control. 'One Week' (1920) was the first to be released, leading to feature films.

'Steamboat Bill Jr' was the last silent film on which Keaton had full creative control, before a move to MGM, where he lost his independence and his life collapsed into alcoholism. Talking films, which had taken over by 1930, did not really suit his visual style of comedy, but unlike Chaplin and Lloyd, Keaton remained a very prolific film-maker all his life, embracing new technology and opportunities such as television, which they disdained. In his last years, Keaton saw a great revival of interest in his silent films, which (unlike Chaplin and Lloyd) he had not preserved properly or reissued. He died in 1966.

Both films being shown include storm sequences and both feature a famous gag where the side of a house falls down, the spectacular version in 'Steamboat Bill Jr' being probably the most dangerous stunt ever performed by a film star, without a double or trick photography. What you see is what actually happened in front of the camera.

The first thirty years of cinema were silent (apart from a few brief experiments with talkies) but nobody thought of them as 'silent movies' at the time. It was simply an accepted form of entertainment and even art – like mime or ballet. Silent films were almost always accompanied by live musicians, sometimes even a full orchestra, and many even had full musical scores written for them. Around 75–80% of all silent films are lost. Many of the most important missing films are from the late 1920s, as they were not distributed long enough for many prints to be made.

The accompanying matinee at 4 p.m. on 22nd September is the new Aardman film, 'Pirates: In an Adventure with Scientists', about a pirate captain with a crew of incompetents, trying to win the Pirate of the Year award.

Tickets are on sale for the first time, in advance, from Jacarandas in the High Street. Further details are available by ringing: 07530 042627.