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Post by Mighty Jack on Aug 27, 2009 1:58:01 GMT -5
Formerly the Buster Keaton/Harold Lloyd Thread
Note to anyone reading this thread:
I've decided I'm not happy with the structure of this thread. Watching Buster out of order isn't giving me a clear picture of his progress.
So I'm going back to formula: I'm going to reopen this thread with a look at silent comedies early clowns (and update those posts as I watch more of their shorts) and then do an overview of the ones that came later. At the top of these posts I'm going to indicate updates at the top so I can ad to them as I watch more.
THEN post Buster in some chronological order and finish with Lloyd and Langdon.
Hopefully I'll get this new format going tomorrow with a look at founding father, Max Linder
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 10, 2009 23:24:28 GMT -5
Though American clowns were the most recognized, the first ‘comedy stars’ came from abroad. One of the first was André Deed, a Frenchman who later moved to Italy and did well as a director. Other stars from across the pond were Fred Evans, who at his peak was second only to Chaplin in popularity in Britain; his most famous character was the pale-faced accident prone, Pimple. What survives of his shorts are said to be very routine and not all that funny. There was bashful Charles Prince. He got his start in 1908 and made foreign audiences laugh with his character Rigadin. There are others, too many to name, except for one very important clown that I must not forget… Max LinderBorn Gabriel Louville, Max was film comedies first big star. This founding father made his first film “Max Learns to Skate” in 1905. And none other than Charlie Chaplin stated that he owed him a debt of gratitude. Max was a Frenchman, who made a big splash in Europe filming polite farces before making 2 attempts to conquer American shores. First: When Chaplin left Essanay they brought Max in as a replacement due to that fact that he too was a great pantomime. But his shorts never caught fire and he was frequently ill. By 1717, Linder was back in France. He returned to America in 1919 and made 3 more pictures. He left again, either because of illness or because he was despondent that he was unable to make a big impact in the States (sources vary, one states that he left for health issues before the premier of his 3rd film, and that Douglas Fairbanks telegraphed him to say that the film went over well with the audience). He made 2 more films in France and -once again, details conflict one another- in 1924 he and his young wife made a suicide pact. The attempt failed. In 1925 –and here’s where it’s cloudy- Either on Oct 31st he and his wife succeeded in a second attempt, by taking poison and cutting their wrists. OR, as other sources state - it was on November 1st and Max killed his wife first, before taking his own life. Was this murder suicide, or another pact? What is known for certain is that Max’s mental and physical state had eroded terribly. Many of Linder’s movies have been lost, but a few have been collected on DVD. Here’s an overview of his work… Seven Years Bad Luck (1921)Max first film back on American shores is a decent one, often hysterical. He’s modified his act a touch to fit with new comedic sensibilities, but he’s still the top hatted bourgeois, getting himself in trouble due to his love for the ladies. I’m not sure why this wasn’t a hit for Linder, it’s not as sophisticated as the work of the big 3, but it offers many big laughs. The first and biggest comes from something he perfected in his early days filming in Paris, and became a staple of American clowns throughout the decades. In it, a servant breaks a mirror that Max is planning to shave in front of. The servant places another servant who bears some resemblance to Max on the other side of the broken mirror. Of course this man then apes Max’s movements. It’s an inspired bit of film, even though imitated and done by so many acts over the years, I still laughed as if it were the first time I’d seen the gag. The film moves on with Max breaking up with his fiancé and convinced that he’s doomed to having bad luck, goes on a trip to console himself. This takes him on many comedic adventures, with varying degrees of comedic payoff. The bits when he disguises himself as a paymaster is funny. The bit at a zoo as he runs from the cops, is not. And I think that scene shows the difference between the good and the great. Linder was good, very, very good. But he could be random and didn’t always deliver a big payoff. At the zoo nothing really happens, he plays with a lion and a chimp while cops stand back afraid. But none of it relates to anything or involves any clever gags. You damn well know if Buster, Charlie or Harold and been in that situation it would have meant something to the story, would have led to something bigger, it would have resulted in a clever and inventive bit. But with Max it’s just there, plopped in the film for no reason and no payoff (and the cop in a suit of armor isn’t much of a payoff at all). He eventually is arrested, which takes him back to his fiancé and marriage. The end. Kind of a limp “the end” (though the 7 years later bit was cute with the kids in top hats) Bad Luck is a cute movie, with a couple of huge guffaws. Max wrote and directed it (as he did with most of his films), his direction is stronger in intimate, indoor settings; it flounders with poor edits in scene changes and outdoor work. The opening camera shot is great. It looks like we are seeing a close-up on a wedding diamond, but the camera pulls back to an overhead look at a group of men seated around a table during a bachelor party I don’t know who first filmed an overhead, but this was one of the first I’ve ever seen. Here’s a look at some of his early work in France Troubles of a Grass WidowerWhat is offered here is a lot less raucous than what we’ll eventually receive in the States from Mack Sennett’s gang. This quieter, gentler (though not always peaceful) comedy has Max discovering that life isn’t so easy after his wife leaves him and he has to fend for himself. Though the story is basic and some scenes just float off without a real end, Max proves to be a master pantomime. Love’s SurpirsesMax is one of several suitors who have to hide in a woman’s home when another suitor shows up. Being a ladies man brings all kinds of humiliation upon these men who then get together outside and are happy for some reason. I don’t know why. Max Takes A PictureAnd that’s what he does, tries to take a picture of a flirty gal at the beach, meeting with much resistance. When she disappears under the waves, he fears her lost at sea. This one lingers on scenes. Max wandering the beach pulling his hair as a crowd amasses didn’t make me laugh or entertain. I guess after spending years with the genius of a Keaton, Lloyd, even languid Langdon, these shorts are too sedate. Max Sets The StyleOkay, this one got a laugh. Max accidentally puts his feet to close too fire at home. He later runs off and his shoes fall apart, they’ve melted. He stops a guy on the street and buys the shoes off his feet, but then notices how icky they are and is loath to put them on (Max is after all, a sharp dressed and stylish man). That ‘shoes’ would cause such outrage and upset seems silly, but of the shorts I’ve seen, this one at least was enjoyable as Max turns humiliation into gain. The scene where everyone is dancing in ugly oversized shoes at the end was a hoot. Be My WifeThis was an excerpt from an American film made in 1921 that opens with Max apparently pouring water on his girl friend, Mary’s head. This angers Mary’s aunt who goes looking for a better suitor and refuses to let the couple see one another. Max then devises all kinds of ways to meet up with his gal, including dressing up as a scarecrow, as well as staging a fight with himself, in a scene that echoes something done by Rowan Atkinson in his film “Johnny English”. Very funny bit of film, I don’t know if the rest survives but I hope it does and they eventually release the whole thing. Boxing With Maurice TourneurI don’t know what this was (the DVD offers up no historical background, and the disc really could have used it). The title cards are all in French. In it Max gives boxing lessons, clowns around and does some boxing himself. Then Max disappears and the 2 guys go back to fighting, a woman steps in, the film ends? Curious. I wish I could have found the well-received 2 reel short, “Max Comes Across” that he made on his first trip to America.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 12, 2009 3:06:58 GMT -5
Silent Era Comedies: The early yearsProduced in Fort Lee, New Jersey (Before Hollywood became Hollywood, that’s where many of the earlier movies were made) Director D.W. Griffith (Intolerance) wasn’t known for delivering laughter, but in 1908 he filmed a short titled the Curtain Pole (starring Mack Sennett) that set the table for silent comedies to come. The 10 minute piece tells of a man who helps a woman hang a curtain pole, only he breaks it and has to run off to buy another. On the way there he stops at a bar, but the camera doesn’t follow him, it lingers outside… for quite a spell. After a moment of time the man emerges, drunk. That’s a classic device, not showing us what happened, but giving us the consequences. Everyone from Chaplin to Keaton to Lloyd used this gag in some manner and this “implied action” gag is employed in comedy to this very day. The short ends with the guy buying the overlong pole and taking a cab back. The pole is sticking out on the sides and strikes everything and everyone as it goes, causing chaos. Again, this theme and variations thereof, will become a staple of silent comedies. The Curtain Pole can arguably be cited as the model for the coming era. But who were its first stars? Ben TurpinNoted for his cross-eyes, Turpin made his first film in 1907 with Essanay (where he working as a janitor). He is the first man to take a pie in the face on film (1909’s Mr. Flip) and was a huge star by 1912. When Chaplin showed up he was reduced to second banana and didn’t click with Charlie’s slow meticulous filming style, Ben was better suited to frantic and cruder material. Which is probably why his star rose again when he joined Mack Sennett in 1917, who often cast him against type, which delighted audiences. When talkies arrived, Turpin retired, he was already successfully entrenched in the real estate biz. Popping up 2 more times in films, one a cameo in a Laurel & Hardy film, Saps at Sea, for which he was paid $1000. Mr. Flip (1909)In this short film Turpin goes around flirting with women by touching their faces. Since this bugs them as it naturally would, they fight back by poking his ass with scissors or throwing a pie in his face. Watching Turpin paw at the ladies isn’t funny, it’s creepy. Yukon Jake (1924)An older but not gentler Turpin, this time teamed with Sennett. He plays a sherrif who accidentally gets the job done. I laughed at the “waffle footed grizzly” line but other than that… Ah well, at least Sennett found an excuse to bring out his bathing beauties (one of his staples). John Bunny and Flora FinchRotund John Bunny and his frequent partner in film, Flora Finch (their films were affectionately called Bunnyfinches) made situational comedy shorts that were extremely popular in America starting in 1910, and ending with John’s sudden death from kidney disease at his home on April 26th 1915. Finch did some work afterwords, though nothing matched her time with Bunny. I’ve seen John’s Troublesome Secretaries (1911) and found a little too busy, rife with ticks and twitches, people marching in and out of the room… and not very funny. The Cure for Pokeritis (1912) fares a little better, though that’s more for the fact that Finch & Bunny work well together, not from any abunace of laughter I received. There may be better material out there, waiting to be discovered. Augustus CarneyFrom Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide – “Incredibly popular in early silent comedies, Augustus Carney was yet another former vaudevillian lured to films in the early 1910s. From 1911, Carney starred as Alkali Ike opposite his wife Margaret Joslin and Victor Potel in Essanay's Snakeville Comedies, filmed in and around Niles, CA, by Bronco Billy Anderson. More a situation comedy than pure slapstick farce, the still extant Alkali Ike's Automobile presents the buckskin clad Carney losing the town beauty to a rival, Mustang Pete (Harry Todd). The comedy is not exactly subtle but Carney and company got the most out of their hayseed characters, all of whom owed their origins to the still popular "Dutch comedy" style. By 1912, the series had become such a success that Essanay began merchandising Alkali Ike dolls to theaters and novelty stores. Reportedly, all this went to Carney's head and when Essanay refused to meet his increasingly outrageous salary demands, he defected to Universal. Although basically playing the same character, Carney was prohibited from using the Alkali Ike moniker, which remained the property of Essanay, and instead called himself "Universal Ike." But like Essanay, Universal was not about to humor the demanding comic and he was summarily fired in May 1914. Although Carney would play a few supporting roles elsewhere, his career had practically come to an end. His death in 1920 went completely unnoticed by the industry that had made him a star.” I’ve seen Alkali Ike’s Automobile, which I guess was so popular that Essanay re-released it 2 years later. I didn’t laugh, didn’t really enjoy it. The final scenes are better than the opening, where the squabbling cowboy’s swat at one another like 5-year-old children, even then, the whole thing was rather blah. Mr. And Mrs. Sidney DrewThese Domestic comedians came up shortly after Bunny & Finch and offered an alternative to the crude, madness of the Sennett/Keystone style that arrived in 1912. There were 2 Mrs. Drew’s, the first wife died in 1914. With his second wife (who wrote many of their films) the act flourished and continued to be successful until Sidney died in 1919. Like Buster Keaton, Sydney felt audiences were smarter than they were given credit for and wrote for adults (as opposed to Sennett who zeroes in on a 12 year old mindset) Fox Trot Finesse (1915)This drawing room comedy was the most pleasant thing I’d seen of these early films. More refined doesn’t mean stuffy and unfunny. Mr. Drew is the ‘put upon’ husband, having to suffer with mother in law and his bubbly wife’s insistence that they dance all the time. This was quaint and enjoyable and I hope this delightful team catches on with film buffs/historians somewhere, so a DVD collection can be released. I’d like to see more. Mack Sennett & KeystoneHit the floor running in 1912 with wild, undisciplined antics. I was never overly fond of the Keystone cop stuff – it was so chaotic and random. But there’s no denying that Mack Sennett had an eye for talent. Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle and Mabel Norman were all part of the Sennett troupe. The Rounders is one to check out as there’s a semi-improvised scene with drunks, Chaplin & Arbuckle, where it appears the two are trying to top one another. A Muddy Romance with Normand is interesting because Sennett liked to incorporate real events in his films, here he heard they were draining a lake so he gathered up his writers & actors and off they went to make a movie on the spot. Teddy At The Throttle (1917) features a young Gloria Swanson (Sunset Blvd)
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 13, 2009 17:59:56 GMT -5
Buster KeatonA showbiz kid from the start, at 3 years of age he became a part of his parents comedy act. Keaton said he got his name from Magician Harry Houdini, who said –after a 2 year old Keaton suffered a nasty fall down a flight of stairs- “Boy that was sure a buster!” This wasn’t the first or last hurt. He was an amazing acrobat but was injured often throughout his life because of the physicality of his comedy. An excellent place to start with Buster (if you can find it) is the wonderful American Masters documentary (I taped it off PBS and my copy is showing some wear, I don’t know if it’s on disc). You get a look at his life, insights on how he filmed certain stunts and the danger he put himself in (he not only did his own stunts, but doubled stunts for other actors). There’s even a rare shot of Buster directing the General. As for his film career, lets begin at the beginning… When Buster Met FattyBuster was a known commodity in the entertainment world, having been on stage since childhood. He was in New York to do a play and while visiting a friend he met Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Roscoe had just left Sennett after 4 fruitful years and was heading his own studio. He was aware of Keaton and quickly asked him to join in. But what kept Buster around, what made him quit the play he was set to do and sign on with Arbuckle, wasn’t the great short they filmed and it certainly wasn’t the money (he made considerable less than he would have had he stayed with the play). What did it was the camera. It was said that if Buster hadn’t been a performer he’d have been a technician of some kind. He also had an insatiable curiosity. He studied that camera, hungering to know how it work, and was agog over the creative possibilities it offered. Teamed with Fatty, Buster found a playground to explore and experiment and make his own. In addition to that Buster found a fast friend and a mentor, though the two though were opposites on the comedy scale. Arbuckle, -who had a great singing voice and could very well have made a career out of that talent- was old school, crude, loud and full of force and fun. While Keaton understood the power of a quiet moment, Fatty had to fill every moment with some kind of action. He also wanted to keep things simple, while Buster wanted to push the limits. Roscoe enjoyed gags like the old pie in the face bit (Arbuckle was one of the first to do this on screen in 1910, but not “the” first. The earliest record we have of that was in 1909 with Ben Turpin) I feel that Walter Kerr, in his book “The Silent Clowns” is too dismissive of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, in essence attributing his success and popularity to the fact that he was a likable fat man – who didn’t need to be brilliant, he just needed to pop up on screen and act silly. I think that’s a ridiculously shallow summation of the comic. No, Roscoe didn’t have Buster’s surreal scope, he had a formula that he liked and stuck too. But he was known for have a quick mind and could improvise a gag on the spot. He took Chaplin under his wing when Charlie first signed with Sennett, it was Arbuckles oversize pants, boots and hat Charlie put on when creating his character. Buster called Arbuckle his greatest influence and greatest friend. While Arbuckle profited as much, if not more, in his teaming with Buster - he did inspire creativity, had great comedic timing and wasn’t completely devoid of inventiveness himself. The “fork in bun dance” seen in his short, “The Rough House” is very similar to something Chaplin would do later in “The Gold Rush”. He’s not sophisticated and he’s nowhere near in league with the great silent comedian, but he deserves more respect than Kerr gives him and should be remembered for more than just being that “fat guy” with the friendly face. Note: While Kerr points out, that once free of Roscoe, Keaton’s first release was one of the greatest shorts in comedy history (One Week) what he leaves out is that Buster had filmed another short previously, was unsatisfied and closed his studio. Why? So he could consult with his friend Arbuckle. I’m not saying that Fatty wrote any bit of “One Week”, but there was something within him, in his advice, in that comedic mind of his that lit a spark inside Keaton. Because after that Keaton came back, reopened his studio and filmed a work of genius.Here’s a look at some of their work together. The Butcher Boy (1917)Buster didn’t do a lot in his first film, he played 3rd banana behind Al St. John, a tall hatchet like man who had limited range. St. John made faces, and he fell down and that was about it. The short starts off well. Fatty as the title character, comes out of the stores freezer in a fur coat, does some cute bits cutting meat (he flips the meat without looking onto a hook and again without looking, flips his knife, which spins through the air and stick perfectly into the counter). A few moments later he’s rolling on a ladder, doffing his hat politely as he goes. It was very cute. Then of course, it descends into the familiar rough and tumble pattern as Fatty and his rival for a girls hand, toss bags of flour at one another. Buster’s part is as a customer who comes and winds up stuck with Molasses in his hat and feet. Though it’s a small bit he brightens up the piece. There’s something about him right from the start. When St. John was hit by flour I didn’t laugh, when Keaton was, I did. It’s all a matter of movement and timing (Many Fatty haters say this was all Busters doing… not so, Buster worried he would flinch and move before the bag struck him and asked Roscoe what he should do. Roscoe told him to walk in, look away from the action non pulsed and when Arbuckle told him to turn, do so and the bag would be right on top off him. No worries about ducking, flinching then). In the second reel Fatty dresses in drag in order to gain entry into his GF apartment. Buster does even less here and this section offers few laughs. The Rough House (1917)Fatty's 3rd film, was the duo’s 2nd film together and according to Keaton, by this time he was practically Fatty’s sole writing staff. I think that shows from the very first moment, as Arbuckle starts a fire in bed and casually tries to put it out with cupfulls of water. His deadpan, matter of fact manner is pure Buster (though the water in a cup bit would end up in Buster’s “The Playhouse”, it was first done by Fatty in his 1915 short “Fatty’s Plucky Pup”). I’ve mentioned the clever “Dance of the dinner rolls” bit in the intro. In this one, Buster plays a delivery boy who becomes a cop. Though it does have Fatty’s signature roughhouse gags and it’s overall a bumpy ride, theirs a lot to enjoy as well. (Oh and Buster does smile and laugh in this one) His Wedding Night (1917)Fatty works for “Koff & Kramp Druggest” and like “Butcher Boy”, vies with a rival for the love of gal. Buster is a delivery boy who delivers a wedding dress (and later tries it on). Folks who don’t like Fatty complain about the amoral behavior on screen. Though I think that’s a bit tightassed (these are after all, playful, dumb comedies where people get shot and don’t die). Considering the dishonest and improper things Arbuckle does here (steals a kiss after a woman chloroforms herself unconscious), this will drive folks of that mindset batty. Maybe I’m a cad as I laughed at all this audacious behavior. Oh Doctor! (1917)This was a film thought lost for many years. Buster doesn’t do much, he plays Fatty’s son and he mostly cries after getting struck. Arbuckle plays a Dr. who likes to gamble and find himself caught up with a shady woman. Author Walter Kerr loved Keaton’s later surrealism, but he hated Roscoe’s cartoon-like world. Me, I like ‘em both and got a kick out of the bent reality here (Fatty uses 2 bottles as binoculars. And when his car is winding driverless down the road, he whistles it back like a horse). Fatty At Coney Island (1917)Overgrown kids goofing off is what this amounts to. Author Jim Kline in his book “The Complete Films of Buster Keaton” calls this the most Mack Sennett-like of all the Arbuckle/Keaton shorts. And it certainly is that, it’s raucous, rude and ridiculous. Everyone’s a ham, including Buster. I’ve never seen him so over the top animated. One joke has Roscoe breaking the 4th wall, addressing the cameramen. This was pure Arbuckle and Buster loved the bit so much he used a variation of it for “One Week” (during the wife in the bath scene). Coney does illustrate one fundamental difference between the 2 clowns as filmmakers. Fatty had no patience, no ability to let a gag gestate. You’d get a bit, and with a swift edit, you’re off to the next scene. I found that frustratingly noticeable with this short. When Fatty’s wife mentions to a friend that she’s misplaced her husband, you see her friend make circle around his stomach (as if asking, “Oh, you mean the fat guy?) but Arbuckle cuts away so fast that we barley see it. The joke is never allowed to settle. Time and time again he does that. Thankfully Buster knew how to take it easy and give his audience a moment to savor a joke when he went solo. Out West (1918)This violent satire of the western film seems to have offended Jim Kline -but aside from the bit where the black man is taunted with gunfire- I don’t know why. Why do these authors get so darned serious over a silly slapstick comedy? This rowdy short has the directorial look of a Keaton production (especially when the Salvation Army gal looks into the camera as she speaks to Roscoe). The version I saw had a great knockabout score and while this isn’t Buster’s best. I enjoyed watching it. The Bell Boy (1918)One of Buster and Roscoe’s best collaborations. It’s clever and wildly funny. Even Al St. John was good. The 2 of course play Bellboy’s who find all kinds of trouble in their jobs. Theirs a bit where Fatty shaves a customer that is cute and imaginative. Later when Buster helps foil a robbery, his acrobatics are a wonder to behold. Keaton’s father Joe shows up as a guest of the Hotel, and reenacts one of their old Vaudevillian routines (in a scene where Buster mops the floor). Jim Kline called this near perfect, he’s wrong, it’s absolutely perfect. Moonshine (5/13/1918)Fatty & Buster play revenuers on the hunt for moonshiner’s in the Backwoods Mountains of Virginia. This one is dominated by Keaton’s style, but the duo is working as a well-oiled team by now. Funny gags include an army of cop pouring from a car. This old bit is made funnier due to Buster’s use of double exposure. He keeps it in full shot so you see the entire car, which gives a fresh and funny spin to the joke. Another laugh is when Fatty hangs a wet Keaton on a line to dry and I loved it when Arbuckle breaks the fourth wall and explains to a character that this is only a 2 reeler and that they don’t have time to build up to a love story. The print of this funny parody of melodramas of the era is in bad shape and was missing bits and pieces for years, the best version of it can be found on Kino’s “Arbuckle and Keaton Vol 1” Goodnight, Nurse (1918)In the book “The Complete Films of Buster Keaton”, Jim Kline writes… “In contrast to “Moonshine” which was totally dominated by Keaton’s brand of comedy, Nurse is an Arbuckle film in which Buster contributions enhance Roscoe’s style rather than clash with it”. I actually see a lot of Buster in this; the opening in the rain feels like Buster. But I think Kline makes a great point, these 2 completely different comedy styles were merging and complementing one another. Arbuckle and Keaton are working not as star/co-star, but as a great comedy team. In this short, Fatty plays a drunk who enters a sanitarium and has to be operated on after he eats a thermometer. Buster plays his doctor (as well as the woman in the rain). Wonderfully lyrical vibe to this one. The Cook (1918)Was lost for many years, pieces were found over the years though there are still a few missing scenes. The short is episodic and features Fatty as cook, Buster as a waiter at a seaside resort. The first 7 minutes are the best. Most silent films are a comedy of errors, things go wrong, situations need fixing… but in the Cook the dynamic duo are good at their jobs, Roscoe flips, flaps and tosses the dishes at Keaton who catches them deftly. They are like a well-oiled machine. The whole tone of this section is playful and extremely silly. Buster breaks out in a hilarious dance, which he continues into the kitchen. Fatty spots him and decides that it looks fun and starts dancing as well. They are like a couple of overgrown kids. Eventually things do go wrong and that’s when the short looses steam. Al St. John pops up as a bully and is soon chased by the Luke the dog. Then the restaurant staff settles in for a spaghetti dinner, which was also silly and not a bad scene. Then it’s the day off, and it ends routinely (more dog chasing man). It’s uneven all told, with the first half well worth watching. After this Keaton was drafted (which he loathed. Buster was a pacifist and hated war). Back Stage (1919)Buster returned after serving 10 months in the Army to make this ode to his vaudevillian days. When the act they’d booked walks out (including a thin dancer played by child star Jackie Coogan’s father, John). The stagehands must go on with the show themselves. The comedic timing between Buster and Fatty is in full bloom, making this another winner for the duo. Buster does a lot of amazing acrobatic moves, and there is drama in this one as the love interest is shot (spurning the troupe to spring to defense) The Hayseed (1919)Buster and Roscoe are back working in a small store. This one offers up some cute bits. Fatty has a funeral for an empty bottle of booze, drills a few extra holes in Swiss cheese to satisfy a customer (I love how he politely lifts his hat when she calls, even though she can’t see him). The bit with the pickle and the way he delivers mail were all cute scenes. Not a tour de force, subdued at time, but I enjoyed much of it. The Garage (1920)The duo run a garage and wackiness ensues! That about sums it up. It’s a fun short, imaginative and wild. Buster does a funny Scottish jig. This was the final film for the team. Fatty was off to do features while Buster Keaton was given his own studio. The time spent with Fatty was some of his happiest. Jim Kline wrote… “Buster loved the jolly fat man, loved his exuberance, generosity, and total lack of ego when it came to encouraging colleagues to develop and expand their creative talents.” Lost shorts: Reckless Romeo was thought lost, it was found and Buster is not in it. A Country Hero is still the holdout, missing to this day (It was also Joe Keaton’s film debut)
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 15, 2009 0:34:25 GMT -5
Buster Keaton with stand-in The Keaton shorts: Part 1 Though he was the last of the big comedy stars to make his own feature, he was one of the first to star in a film. The Saphead (1920)Based on a play titled “The Henrietta”, this was Buster’s first feature but it wasn’t done by his studio. The lead in Saphead was supposed to go to Douglas Fairbanks (he’d played the part on stage) but scheduling conflicts prevent him from doing the film so he suggested Buster for the part. This Wall Street comedy -about a rich boy trying to make it on his own and marry his love- wasn’t Keaton’s style but it got him noticed and he does well as Bertie “The Lamb” Van Alstyne. I think it’s cute but not really all that funny, save for the great bit at the Stock Exchange at the end when he goes full out buying up stock, even though he has no clue what he’s doing. As he shouts, “I’ll take it!” he flips and spins and comes alive. After this Keaton set his sights on making his own 2 reel shorts… High Sign (1921)This was his first film produced by his own studio. But Keaton wanted his 1st release to be stronger so he closed the studio, shelved the short and sought advice from his friend Arbuckle. Regardless of Buster’s sentiments, I thought this was a gas. Fast paced and absurd (the gigantic newspaper). Cartoon like fun as Buster takes work at a shooting gallery and tangles with a rough gang of thugs. Cowriter and director Eddie Cline was given a screen credit, and many curious souls wonder how much he contributed to this and other films? No one knows for sure but in Rudi Blesh’s biography “Keaton”, gagman Clyde Bruckman confessed that most of the stories were 90% Buster’s, most of the direction was his. Buster was comedian, gagman, writer, director and technical innovator. One Week (1920)Keaton’s first official release for his own studio is the precursor to Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and The Money Pit. One thing after another goes wrong, for Buster’s house building project - a section of the home even falls on the comic, reminiscent of a scene in “Steamboat Bill Jr.” in smaller scale. This is a true classic, one of the all time best shorts of the silent era and represents Keaton’s signature use of eccentric objects or mechanics. As well as making the audience think they know what’s going to happen, then turn it around… and then turn it around again. The double “gotcha”. Watching this, I must say I’ve never laughed harder at a silent picture; this was MST3K style gales of laughter for me. He released this a month before the Saphead opened and it was a huge hit, garnering the comic glowing reviews. Convict 13 1920Buster’s dark knock about film reads like an Arbuckle vehicle (I’ve seen the ‘spanking a fish’ scene somewhere lese, I just can’t remember where, maybe Arbuckle?). 13 is loaded with slapstick as it moves from one scenario to another. It opens with a golf game in which Keaton is knocked unconscious by his own ball. A recently escaped con switches clothes with the dazed man who leads cops on a merry chase… right into the prison! Buster is scheduled to hang (hangman is played by co-writer/director Eddie Cline). After subduing another prisoner (wonderfully played by Joe Roberts) he is made the assistant warden. The humor is dark, death is just around the corner but no one plays with black humor as well as Buster. The Scarecrow (1920)This is a charming short, cute and clever and nice interplay between characters. Buster and big Joe Roberts (who usually played Buster’s foes) are bachelors who share an apartment and are interested in the same girl (personable Sybil Seely, who with Virginia Fox was Buster main leading lady in his early shorts). The opening scene at the guy’s home is a delight. Everything in the place doubles for something else (The phonograph converts into a stove) and eating breakfast has become a science. The short moves to the outdoors and the girl. There’s a bit with Buster hiding in the hay, which takes a different turn from the norm. Instead of getting a pitchfork in the backside, Keaton is caught up in the machine that transfers the hay. Neighbors (1920)This is considered one of Busters best and it is full of memorable, acrobatic stunt-like comedy. Buster plays a lad smitten with the girl next door, unfortunately her father’s a butt head and feuding with Keaton’s dad. Buster tries all manner of trickery to get to her. Several great bits, including the final sequence with the guys standing on each other’s shoulders. Haunted House (1921)Poor Buster, he was such a helpless character sometimes – here he’s a banker, who gets glue on all the banks money (why the hell an open can of super glue was left near the cash drawer is beyond me. But that’s par for the course in silent comedies). These scenes are a riot, even though you feel bad for the sap. After a series of unfortunate events, the Banker winds up in a haunted house while running from the law (falsely accused of stealing) Oh, and I love how Buster stares right at the camera as he’s running past it. Lol, breaking the 4th wall on purpose or was it a mistake? I think he did it to be silly on purpose. House is another superb release, delightfully funny and inventive from start to that great finish (where Buster goes to Heaven, is rejected and takes the long slide to the cellar) Hard Luck (1921)This was Buster’s favorite short and for years it was lost, scattered bits would show up here and there, until someone had enough bits to stitch the film together, save for the ending. That ending, in rough shape, was finally located and Hard Luck is back… and it is funny as Hades. It opens with down and out Buster making several suicide attempts. Failing that he stumbles onto a job for a sportsman’s club and later foils a robbery. He saves a gal, proposes but alas, she’s already married. Buster, perhaps showing off, heads to the pool and makes a dive… missing the pool and creating a deep, deep hole in which he disappears. 7 years pass and we see Keaton emerge from that hole with his new Chinese wife and children. It’s a great short, but author Jim Kline in his wonderful book “The Complete Films of Buster Keaton” hypothesizes that the reason it might be a favorite is that it exemplifies Keaton own philosophy on life. Man was not a master of his own fate. Writes Kline, “No matter what he attempts… the end result always differs from what he anticipated, being sometimes better, sometimes worse.” Harold Lloyd’s glass character believed that a man could move mountains if he had the wherewithal. With Buster a man could either do nothing, or fight with all his might, it didn’t matter. The results were the same; we were all subject to fates random kiss. The Goat (1921)Magnificent short, this classic finds Keaton on the run from the law, an innocent man, falsely accused. There’s some memorable camera work, I like the simple scene with Keaton sitting on the outside grill of the train as it moves to the forefront. The Playhouse (1921)This is an amazing short simply for the technical achievement of making Buster appears as himself, 9 times at one time. The cameraman said it couldn’t be done (exposing the film that many times) but he did it anyway, painstakingly stripping tape on the lens bit by bit and then having to stay on a precise mark 9 times. Keaton was parodying his reputation as the guy who did it all. The opening sequence is a riot, as Buster goes to a show and see nothing but more busters, Playing instruments and dancing on stage, in the audience as the entire audience, man woman or child. After this dream is over, Buster goes to work. He’s a stagehand and the laughs continue. I especially love the gag when a woman is caught in a tank and is drowning; Buster's first rescue attempt consists of grabbing a cup and scooping the water out that way. LMAO – he soon sees this will take too long and grabs a huge mallet. The Playhouse is classic Buster, the curious man who loved to explore the camera and discover all the wonderful ways it could bring his imagination to life. The Boat (1921)Keaton builds his dream boat (The Damfino) and takes his family on a trip. This is an uproarious, clever short where Buster loses it all - his house, car, even his beloved boat. And takes it all on with that wonderful deadpan expression of his. The spinning boat trick seen here was used again in The Navigator. The Paleface (1922)This time Buster plays a butterfly collector who stumbles into a land rights issue between a tribe (lead by Joe Roberts) and the big oil barons. While a few Indian stereotypes might make one uncomfortable, this is generally a fun, lighthearted romp, loaded with cartoonish gags and some nice acrobatics (Buster crosses a river, walking on his hands).
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 16, 2009 0:28:05 GMT -5
Buster’s shorts: Part 2 Cops (1922)One of Buster most famous shorts is a comedy of errors, there’s one misunderstanding after another until it snowballs into the entire police force on Keaton’s tail. Though it breaks out into a standard chase, the short is riddled with clever gags and a hilarious finish. The last scene fades with “the End” etched on a tombstone, bearing Buster’s trademark porkpie hat on the top. My Wife’s Relations (1922)Buster accidentally gets married (in Polish) into a rough and tumble Irish family, who falsely believe that he is rich. This isn’t one of my all time favorites, though there are a few good laughs to be had. The ending is a madcap chase through a house that ends rather abruptly. It made me wonder if a few frames were missing, but no one reports such a thing so I guess that’s the way it was intended. The Blacksmith (1922)What an odd, random film. There is one inspired bit, where Buster shoes a horse as if it were a human in a shoe store. The rest of it though is all about destruction! Keaton comes off uncharacteristically brainless when he sets a car to ruin. These scenes are almost Sennett-like. Not clever, not inventive, it’s just devastation run amok. Then it closes with an out of tone ode to marriage. Buster has often shown the bleak and humdrum aspects of the institution, but here it really feels scattershot in this scattershot short. One of Buster’s weakest. The Frozen North (1922)Sadly this one only survives in fragmentary condition. Who knows what laughter we’ve lost (ahh, all the lost film from this era, early Lloyd, later Langdon – even suspense master Hitchcock has lost a movie or two). What we have here is choppy but delightfully absurd an unexpected… SPOILER ALERT! Watch short first before reading!…as Buster goes around killing people. It’s hilarious though, we see him enter a house to find his wife with another man. Tears stream down Keaton’s face for a spell. He then pulls out a gun and shoots them both. He goes over to the bodies, stops and exclaims, “I made a mistake, this isn’t my house or my wife!” I just about fell over from laughing so hard. It completely caught me off guard. I was enjoying Buster as a bad guy so much that I was disappointed by the ending (although expecting some kind of cop out). Fatty Arbuckle worked on this one, it’s a parody of William S. Hart films. Hart, who didn’t know Arbuckle, slammed the comedian during his trial. This might have been the duos way of slamming him back. With this film “Comique Film Corporation” officially became “Buster Keaton Productions” The Electric House (1922)It’s graduation day, but when diploma’s get switched around, botanist Buster winds up with a degree in electrical engineering and is hired to build an electric house. Of course this scenario fit Keaton like a glove and he has fun with all the gadgets (including a bookcase that hands you the book). There are several bug but it’s okay… until the real engineer shows up to sabotage it all. Production of this funny short was put on hold when Keaton’s slap shoes got caught up in the moving stairway and he broke his ankle. Daydreams 1922Harold Lloyd was so impressed with this flick that he used the letter-writing structure in his film “Safety Last”. This super sharp short has Buster off to make good. He sends letters to his love telling her of his exploits. She imagines great things – we then are shown the –not so spectacular- reality. It does culminate with yet another big run from the cops, but there are transcendent moments (Buster caught in the wheel of paddleboat) that more than make up for it. Sadly there are missing scenes, replaced by still photos. The Balloonatic (1923)Great title and a few funny bits, but overall its lesser Keaton: A random series of gags that results in romance at the end. One thing I’ve noticed in these shorts is that Buster’s characters often do stupid things (drilling a hole in the bottom of a boat, or shooting at a bird resting on your hot air balloon). While he can be clever and inventive -unlike Lloyd’s go-getter glasses character who came up with workable “Johnny on the spot” fix its- not every invention works and often leads to disaster for Buster (here he cooks fish on a tennis racket in a canoe, which goes up in flame). The Love Nest (1923)Continuing the nautical theme, broken hearted Buster sets sail to forget his love and winds up on a whaling ship, lead by a cold hearted Captain. Keaton is later used for target practice by the Navy. I don’t feel this was his best, it didn’t light a great fire under me… though there are highlights, as when he seals a farewell letter to his ex with his tears and the cute twist ending. Buster in a promotional shot for “The Scarecrow” That's Fatty Arbuckle's dog, Luke
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 17, 2009 0:22:43 GMT -5
The Feature Films Though he wanted to get into features as early as 1920, producer Joseph Schenk said no, wanting Keaton to prove himself with less expensive 2 reelers first. Therefore, Buster was the last of the top comedians to make his own independently made feature length film. A few folks feel that unlike Harold Lloyd, who blossomed in his features, Buster’s best work was with his shorts. I don’t completely agree, while Buster himself said that he didn’t do as many of the wild, cartoon gags with his 6 reelers, he still managed some stunning, huge and costly gags/stunts and filmed many classic features. Three Ages (1923)Keaton’s (sort of) parody of D.W Griffith’s “Intolerance” Here he looks at parallel romances. It’s Buster vs. Wallace Beery in the Stone Age, Roman times and the modern era. Hilarious anachronisms abound (eat your heart out Shrek). This film was saved just in time; some frames are in such bad shape they wouldn’t have lasted much longer. It’s one of Keaton’s finest, his official first full-length feature produced by his own studio – I especially love him as a Caveman, looking like a Beatle in that wig. The famous shot from this film was Buster riding a dinosaur in claymation. Of note: One real life misstep made it into the film, when Buster failed to make the leap from one building to another. He later added a scene that showed him falling through awnings, grabbing a pipe and sliding inside through a window. The gag offered up one of the biggest laughs in the movie. An example of how much Buster wanted his gags to look as real as possible and not be aided by edits (though that wasn’t always possible). The scene where Keaton uses his club like a baseball bat and hits a thrown rock that bounces back and strikes the throwee… It took 61 takes before he was able to get the shot. But he was bound and determined he wasn’t going to fake it. Though the scene isn’t in the movie, this promotional shot captures the spirit of the film to perfectionOur Hospitality (1923)Buster was having a difficult time in his marriage to Natalie Talmage (of the famous acting family), he loved his children (one of whom can be seen here, playing Buster at age 1) but his interfering in laws (who looked down on him because he was a lowly comic) made life hell. Was Buster taking out his frustrations with this story? In this story, Keaton inflames an old feud when he falls for a woman (Talmage) from the other side of the fence. The woman’s father and brother are intent upon killing Buster, who has to think fast to stay alive. I don’t know if any director/writer enjoyed using trains as much as Buster (Maybe Hitchcock?) and here we get an odd little carriage train that bounds over crooked pathways and around uncooperative mules, it’s like a ride at Disney Land. This movie also features the famous waterfall rescue and nearly saw the drowning of Keaton in reality. When Buster was floating in the rapids, the tether holding him broke. The camera man knew he was never to stop filming until Buster said cut, well poor Buster can’t yell cut because he’s fighting to stay above water, all of this is captured on film and is in the picture! I feel though the story moves at too languid a pace; there are many wonderful moments and it is a favorite among fans. On a sad note: Longtime co-star Joe Roberts suffered a heart attack midway through production. He was able to return and finished the film but a month later had another attack and died. They called him Big Joe Roberts
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 18, 2009 0:32:11 GMT -5
Sherlock Jr. (1924)Buster is a film projectionist who longs to become a great detective. After being wrongly accused of theft, he falls asleep on the job and dreams himself into the movie he’s playing. Some critics at the time said this lacked creativity and ingenuity. Were they high? This film is one of the most imaginative and ingenious I’ve ever seen. The technical hurdles tackled when Buster enters the actual movie showing at the theater, is enough on its own to level those critics’ claims as spurious. This classic is loaded with imaginative and memorable moments. Of all of Keaton’s pictures, none, not even the General, offer up as many winning clips as this one. That I’ve seen practically all of the film from 'clip shows' illustrates this to be true. From Buster leaping from a window and coming out the other end dressed as a woman (and this is done is a full frame shot with the building cut away, so you see it all seamlessly, it’s a not a -cut away with an edit- job) to the bit where Buster keeps handing out dollar bills. Sherlock Jr. is a wonderful picture, with a sweetness to it as well. It’s one of his all-time best and highly recommended. Notes: The only negative on this disc was the score (It’s a Kino release). It’s got a modern flavor (there’s even a brief James Bond flourish added in) and it’s as intrusive and grating as anything I’ve heard. The sequence at the pool table was like fingernails down a chalkboard. * Buster was seriously hurt during the Train waterspout bit. He didn’t expect the water to be so strong and he banged himself up pretty badly. * Keaton doubles as a stunt man for the actor playing the motorcycle cop. When that cop hits a bump and falls from the bike that was Buster in costume. * In his autobiography, Buster admitted that he hired Fatty Arbuckle to direct the picture. But Roscoe had become so belligerent and difficult to work with, still stung by the aftereffects of his trial that Buster had to ease him out of the production. What we have then is mostly Keaton’s direction. The Navigator (1924)The Navigator is basically an extended short, loaded with gags. The story is straight foreword and simple: Keaton and his love are stranded on a dilapidated ship that has been set adrift – how they deal with this situation and the dangers that lie ahead provide fuel for the humor. Buster’s imagination is in evidence during the underwater sequence as he uses a lobster to cut a line and engages in a sword fight with a swordfish. The best gag according to Buster was cut! (and yes that was Keaton himself in that suit, doing all that underwater work for the 4 days of filming) He spent days creating a school of fish that would interfere with his work, so he took to directing them like traffic. It was taken out of the movie because he felt it interrupted the narrative flow (natives on ship were menacing his love interest – audiences wanted him up top helping, not directing traffic down under) Great fun, this film was a huge hit and put him up there with Chaplin and Lloyd in terms of bankability and popularity. It is one of Keaton’s all time best (he ranked his as his second favorite behind the General)
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 19, 2009 0:13:34 GMT -5
Seven Chances (1925)He didn’t want to do this one, but he owed the producer money so he was forced to take the job. After a lukewarm preview, Buster went back and filmed the classic boulder scene and that saved the picture for him. The story is about a guy who is about to inherit $7 million by 7 PM, but he must be married to receive the money (which sounds like the plot to a more recent movie?). Though Buster called it his least favorite silent film, it is, as Jim Kline stated, “A delightfully funny and funny work, totally undeserving of his disparaging opinion”. I agree, Chances is an enjoyable romp that only improves with each viewing. It’s highlighted by top-notch character interplay (Snitz Taylor as particularly good as the Attorney) and along from the uproarious chase with the jilted wanna-be brides at the end, it’s worth watching to see all the different ways, and women, Buster proposes to. Note: There’s one gag that will make no sense to modern audiences, but if you watch it, know this – Julian Eltinge was a famous female impersonator. * Another wonderful shot – Buster jumps in his car to drive off to Mary’s house, the car doesn’t move but the background slowly dissolves - from country club, to suburban home. This offhanded dreamlike sequence is Keaton’s surreal magic at its finest. Go West (1925)The story of a boy and his… cow? Buster was sending up Chaplin in this one. Adding mock sentimentality to this tale of “Friendless” the ultimate outsider who works for a ranch and finds love, with a cow named Brown Eyes. Keaton even mirror’s Chaplin’s classic “walk away from the camera, then fade out”, when he and Brown Eyes walk away in the wild. He also teases his own image during a poker game when he catches a guy cheating, and the guy snarls, “When you say that, smile!” The camera lingers on Buster deadpan for a spell, before Keaton uses his fingers to force that smile. This hilarious film ends with Buster leading the cattle through a busy city. When they don’t move he needs to find something red to attract them… the only thing he can find is a devil costume. This leads to an uproarious bit where the cows go on a mad chase to catch to devil dressed Keaton (And it also exposes another lie in Walter Kerrs book… he states that the scene doesn’t work because the cows aren’t running, while Keaton is perspiring trying to get away from them. No – There are no close-ups on Keaton sweating and YES, the cows are running. Later on they speed up the film to make it appear that they are running faster, but they do give chase even at regular speed. It’s another example of Kerr’s half-truths and exaggerations) Note: It’s rumored that Arbuckle is dressed up as a woman in the dept store scene. Battling Butler (1926)Buster plays Alfred Butler - a wealthy, spoiled young man who goes on a hunting trip and falls for a mountain girl. To win her father’s approval he poses as a boxing champ (who shares his name). You don’t hear too much about this movie today, but it was another big hit for the comedian, making the most money of Buster's silent features. Like “Seven Chances” it’s based on a stage play and has a lot of dialog, though I didn’t enjoy Butler nearly as much as Chances. I agree with Jim Kline who offers that the gags are too sedate and lack the sparkle and outrageousness of Keaton’s better films. The hunting trip early on was funny (and feisty leading lady Sally O’Neill was cute in these scenes) and later some of the training sequences earned laughs. But after a good start, there are stretches where it’s a bit too wordy and dry. Plus I didn’t like seeing Buster get punched and picked on by that bully fighter at the end. It was too abruptly real, with no spirit of comic fun (at least he got his shots in at the end). Never the less, there are wonderful Keaton directorial touches (Buster leaves his new bride to go training, and she is framed by the back window as he pulls away).
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 19, 2009 17:23:28 GMT -5
And now, the greatest silent film ever! Author Walter Kerr wrote that the silent era produced only 2 comedy epics. Chaplin’s Gold Rush and Keaton’s General. And I can’t argue with that. The General So where does love blossom? I was in my College phase, you know –where you are exploring who you are, what you believe… you stretch yourself intellectually, artistically and otherwise. I was a cinephile so that meant I HAD to watch certain films. On a trip to the library I came home with several of these types – Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries”, Weirs “Picnic at Hanging Rock” and Keaton’s “The General”. Quite a triple feature and all were great. But there’s this thing you do at this age where you kind of force it. You want to be well read, wise and worldly, so you make yourself appreciate things. I tried to resist this temptation – if it didn’t work so be it. Still, that need to “get it” would creep in. I think that is what I felt when I sat down with the General, I’m “supposed to like this”. 10 minutes into it, “supposed to” no longer applied. The genius of the picture easily captivated me. I adored this movie from its first frame. I laughed but it wasn’t the funniest comedy I’d ever seen. I loved it for the simple but wonderful story (based on a historical civil war event. Buster plays a Southern engineer who loves 2 things, his girl and his train. When Northern spies steal both, he’s hell bent to catch ‘em!). I loved it for the character and that damned suspense. I just watched the Rifftrax “Fast & Furious” and for all that films noise, and special effects, those care chases come nowhere near to thrilling me, or making me bite my nails, than the General did. And this is done with stops and starts with the chase being conducted by 2 vehicles that are stuck on a track! They can’t spin around each other, and yet I felt suspense! As with films such as “The Seven Samurai” I never wanted it to end and when it did, I had that “great movie afterglow” where you just bask in the experience. On that day I became a Keaton fan. I wanted to know everything about the man who made this film and I needed to see more of his work. With “The General”, Buster cements his reputation as the master of the traveling shot. Keaton’s direction and the camera work are impeccable (No one in silent comedy, not Chaplin, not Capra or McCarey, not even a dramtists like D.W. Griffith could match Buster’s technical proficiency as a director). The timing… Perfection. It’s comedy, sure, but epic comedy. It featured the most expensive shot of the silent era (the train crash on the bridge). 6 cameras covered the civil war battle. The scale was such that injuries abound (there was no CGI, much of these stunts had to be done practically), Keaton himself was knocked unconscious during a bit with a cannon. Amazingly, this universally hailed classic received lukewarm notices upon its release and it didn’t cover its cost at the box office. At the time people expected lightweight or fluffy entertainment from their comedians and while Keaton delivered the laughs, he also delivered a movie that Orson Welles hailed as the greatest civil war story ever filmed. Might it have been too mature a comedy for audiences or critics in 1927? Who knows - at least it’s respected today. I know this wasn’t so much a critique, than it was a love letter. I wont read Kerr’s (or other’s overly extensive) analysis, I’m sure it’s pin point and brilliantly written. And the General certainly lends itself to analyzation. But I find sometimes when you over analyze something, all you manage to do it pick it clean to the bone, leaving nothing but skeletal remains. You kill the magic. The General is like a sunset. I don’t need to know the science behind the sunset to know that it's beautiful. Beauty and wonder is enough on its own. Oh and what happened to the train Buster dumped into the river? It sat there as a tourist attraction for years. Until WWII when it was dismantled and used for scrap.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 21, 2009 8:57:04 GMT -5
College (1927)Buster the scholar is off to College where he tries to impress a girl by taking up sports. Though it’s nowhere near as well a told story or as funny as the film it apes, Lloyd's Freshman, there are memorable moments (as when Buster’s clothes shrink from the rain). After the General lost money due to cost overruns, producer Joe Schenck hired a supervisor, Harry Brand, to watch over things. Despite this effort, College was another failure at the box office. Along with Battling Butler, this is my least favorite Keaton movie. For one it’s impossible not to compare it to The Freshman, and in that light it comes up a pale copy. It doesn’t have the same depth of character, there’s a distance to it that keeps me from getting invested with the story or the people involved. It doesn’t help that Buster’s bleak view of marriage closes the film. As the young lovers are seen years later, bitter and distant… a truism but still a downer - especially after the rousing scene where Buster rushes off to save the girl from the cad. Note: One stunt he could not do, though he tried again and again, Buster couldn’t pole vault into the girls room and had to hire Olympian Lee Barnes to do the scene. It’s one of the only times I can think of in his silent career that he used a double. Our next movie features one of the most impressive endings in film history - with this stunt an iconic one for Buster… as well as dangerous. Had he been off his mark by a foot, this heavy set would have killed him.Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)Rival riverboat captain’s feud while their children fall for each other. This movie has a hint of that Harold Lloyd style story development with a touch of sentiment as well. The opening scenes are not riddled with big gags, but they are funny and establish character much the way Lloyd did with “The Freshman” (The scene where Bill Sr. catches Bill Jr. dancing, singing and playing a ukulele to try and calm a crying infant, is hilarious and sets up the rocky the relationship between father and son). Unfortunately the Lloyd-formula didn’t work for audiences and this proved to be a box office bomb. It was expensive to make and lost money. Considering the quality of the films (College=okay, The General/Steamboat Bill Jr,=both genius) it’s amazing to think this was his 3rd failure (money wise) in a row and lead to his contract being sold to MGM… which spelled the end for great comic. The expense of the movie wasn’t all Keaton’s fault. Keaton had originally planned a flood as the film's climax instead of a cyclone, but he was talked out of because they said it would be insensitive to people who lost loved ones in recent floods. Buster countered with an argument he recounts in his autobiography, My Wonderful World of Slapstick – “I pointed out that one of Chaplin's greatest successes was 'Shoulder Arms,' a picture making fun of the war and everything connected with it. 'Chaplin made that movie in 1919, the year after the World War ended,' I said. 'Nobody objected to it. And that includes the gold-star mothers who lost their sons in the war.'" Buster lost this argument and a whole new set was built. I think most of us are glad he lost that debate. Though costly and ultimately ruinous to his career, the ending is one of filmdom’s most spectacular. It’s rife with big gags, amazing effects but also some truly nail biting suspense and drama that furthers the story and characters. The film gets mixed notices - Some folks can’t get into the opening acts of the story, they find it dry. I side with those that strongly disagree. There are laughs and setting the table this way makes the big payoff at the end even more poignant and hilarious and awe inspiring. I like character and story in my comedies, to go along with the gags. IMHO this is one of the all time great movies - of the silent era and beyond. Notes I also need to say a word about petite, bubbly and cute as button Marion “Peanuts” Byron, who played the love interest. This was her film début and she is one of Keaton’s most memorable and likable leading ladies. Byron did pretty well during the talkies, but she is also noted for a 3 film, silent era teaming with Anita Garvin, who many called the female Laurel and Hardy. I’ve never seen or have been able to locate these movies (nor do I know if prints exists) but a female comedy duo? How often do you see that? I think it deserves some mention as a historical milestone. Some fav scenes: The “Trying on hats” sequence. At one point they put Buster’s traditional pork pie hat on him, but this character looks horrified by it and quickly tosses it aside. LMAO at that. The first time Buster & Marion see one another they are in barber chairs. This is a short but very sweet scene, and well directed by Buster. The confrontation on the boats with son and daughter caught in between quarreling fathers. The title card… “I’ll wait around until he’s famished” and the rest of the bread scenes And of course, that breathtaking, cyclone finish!
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 23, 2009 0:47:05 GMT -5
The Cameraman (1928)Buster’s first film with MGM is bittersweet. As it was a quality film, but the beginning of the end of his independence (it’s said that both Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd warned him about signing the deal with MGM. And Keaton himself had misgivings but was persuaded by his former producer to take the deal). The movie made money, but instead of giving him more control, MGM tighten the belt and took away more of his creative freedom. Buster plays a tintype photographer who realizes the way to a woman’s heart is as a newsreel cameraman. After a creepy Torgoesque moment -where sniffs a ladies hair when the two and smooshed together by a crowd- Buster buys him self a camera and goes looking for adventure. Course with his poor finances all he can afford is an old broken down piece of junk. Though he had a producer looking over his shoulder and didn’t direct this one, he did managed some to improvise a few scenes that got into the film (The baseball & piggy bank sequences) and there are classic Keaton moments (The scene where he runs up and down the stairs waiting for a call from his girlfriend – the bit where he hitches a ride on a fire truck). It’s not his funniest film, but it is probably his most romantic, has a winning leading lady in Marceline Day (star of “The Boy Friend”, another lost film from the silent era) and is an overall nice story. Note: This film, like the above mentioned “Boy Friend” was almost lost forever. A fire destroyed the original print. Fortunately, through a convoluted series of events, this film was reconstructed from several sources and a new negative was formed. * If you look close, at about the 3-minute mark as Keaton -with his tintype camera- is swarmed by a crowd, he’ll spin and you can see him flashing a quick, spontaneous smile. That deadpan cracks. Also, it was either this film or the next, where MGM wanted Buster to smile at the end. He reluctantly did so, but in early screenings the audience didn’t like it and they went back and re-shot the scene with his famous expression.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 24, 2009 1:49:48 GMT -5
e Spite Marriage (1929)His final silent film (Keaton wanted to make it a talkie. Unlike others like Chaplin and Garbo, he was eager to embrace and experiment with this new technology. But MGM had only one soundstage equipped for sound, had other films booked and said no. Despite The studio’s increasing interference, which saw all but 2 of his regular crew banished from this production, this does sport some vintage Keaton moments (ala the classic bedroom scene with the drunk wife, which Keaton had to fight tooth and nail to keep in the picture) and he did have a lot of say in regards to the script. Buster plays a hapless dry cleaner that has the hots for an actress (Dorothy Sebastian – with whom Buster had a long on & off relationship with in real life). He follows her around and goes to all her performances. When the actress’s boyfriend starting fooling around with another woman, the actress marries Buster to spite her former beau (she thinks Keaton is a millionaire BTW). Though not highly regarded and is seen as a definite backslide after The Camerman, I thought there was much to enjoy. I liked the story and think it would have worked as a talkie. It also has many a funny sequence. Buster trying to put on an actors beard had me in stitches. Sebastian is a strong leading lady (and very different for a Keaton film – she’s not just window dressing or a prop, and she’s not very likeable at the start). It might not be his best movie, but it’s worth watching. Note: * If you look close at the newspaper at the end, the full name for Buster’s character is “Elmer Gantry”, which was the title of a best-selling novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1927 about an ambitious, money hunger, womanizing Evangelist. It was later made into a classic film starring Burt Lancaster. * This film was released theatrically with a viatphone disc that included the music and sound effects. Buster didn’t like sound effects for his silent films and I must admit, it’s kind of distracting, especially the canned laughter. The DVD included that original vitaphone soundtrack. * I adore Buster’s subtle comic gestures. Here -as Buster is trying to escape the stage crew and actors- he climbs up the side of a building, when he does this his hat falls off and he snatches it from mid air as he slips inside a window. That’s tougher than it looks and done so quick you might never notice it. On a personal note – I named one of my bands (and later used it as the title of a CD) “Trilby Drew”, which was the name of the love interest here. After this film Buster had a small part in the MGM promotional talkie film “Hollywood Revue of 1929” in which he didn’t speak. Buster’s segment sees him doing a little dance.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 25, 2009 23:52:07 GMT -5
Though I’m focusing on the silent era, with Keaton and Lloyd I’m going to delve deeper into their talkies as well.
Free and Easy (1930) Buster’s First talkie was a half million-dollar production for MGM with plenty of guest stars. Keaton plays Elmer, manager of a sweet small town girl who is nearly corrupted by a Hollywood actor (Robert Montgomery). The agent accidentally winds up a star, while his charge Elvira, confesses that she has no desire to be an actress.
As was the vogue for comedies at that time, there are musical numbers shoe horned in (though the stage play they are doing is a musical, the music often slams the story to a halt) Buster did like getting to sing and dance. But apart from a few decent scenes; this production represents a loss of genius. F&E has twisted Buster’s character from an enterprising man who triumphed against all odds, to a ill fated buffoon - just another bumbling clown in a sea of bumbling clowns
Free and Easy is often a frustrating film to watch. There is this forced sentimentality that he strove so hard for years to avoid (Buster said he never wanted to ask for sympathy. If the audience felt it, so be it. But he didn’t want to force it). The movie offers up at least 1 entertaining moment for Keaton’s fans: the scene where he fumbles the line “The Queen has swooned” is cute. And there are solid chuckles sprinkled here and there, mostly in the first half - as it goes to crap at the end (seeing Buster in clown get up, bounced around on strings was just, sad).
Critics dismissed the movie but fans did go out and see it, which only cemented MGMs mindset that they were using Buster the right way. Because of that, our Buster was lost to us; while there will be laughs - we will never again see a movie that showed off his vision and directorial talents to the full.
That flabbergasts me – MGM had one of the most inventive minds in comedy, not just a brilliant performer, but one of cinema’s genius directors… and they fail to utilize those skills, fighting with him tooth and nail when he’d dare think for himself.
Doughboys (1930) Based loosely on Keaton’s WWI experiences, Buster plays a rich guy who accidentally enlists in the army. While Buster had some input on the story, the film is too sedate and only occasionally shows those Keaton signature moves. Oddly he shows off more of those Harry Langdon moves (even though I’ve just watched these all again, I didn’t pay attention to when Buster first started doing those childlike hand gestures. Did Langdon borrow them from Buster or did Buster start employing them after Harry showed up on the scene? Regardless, in bits and pieces it’s funny but here he leans on it too much and I found it off putting)
The movie doesn’t have a lot of life and it’s not the military training etc that sparks it up, but rather the intimate bits and the musical sequences. His rapport with ukulele playing Cliff Edwards was a highlight (the 2 would become close friends – Edwards is best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney’s “Pinocchio”) and the scene where they duo plays and scats on a number was enjoyable. Later on Buster dresses as a woman and shows off his signature acrobatic flips and flops. Other than that it’s pretty blah, though it does introduce Buster’s signature line “How about a little dinner and a show?” Spoken to a woman who shows no interest in him.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Sept 28, 2009 14:04:45 GMT -5
Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931)This was a farce and Buster didn’t like farces. They start with one misunderstanding that increases and becomes shriller with each one. It bugged Keaton’s brain, all one character had to do was give one explanation and it would all be cleared up. Despite Buster’s complaint, “Parlor, Bedroom & Bath” is quite entertaining and is one of his funniest talkies. Based on a Broadway hit – It concerns a man who wants to marry, but his gal wont agree to this until her older sister is wed first. After hitting Buster (a lowly poster tacker) with his car, he also hits upon the idea of having Keaton pretend to be a rich womanizer to woo and wed the older sister. The movie starts off slow, undone by its wordy nature, but eventually Buster’s style comes to the fore and brings with it many uproarious sequences. Buster had been unsuccessful in his attempt to get MGM to see his side of things. Talk for talks sake was stupid – let me do my character, he implored, and let sound accentuate, not dominate his movies. They never listened but on occasion Keaton could squeeze in his classic self. When Buster was allowed to be Buster these talkies could be quite hilarious. “Oh my darling, I love you madly, I can not live without you, you must never leave me!” – the way Buster voices this line is sooo funny and the scenes that go with it -Buster kissing every girl who enters the room- had me doubled over with laughter. Sidewalks of New York (1931) Never saw this one – Buster hated it and hoped it would flop so that MGM wouldn’t put him in similar films. It was a huge hit, which baffled the comic. It was directed by Jules White (3 Stooges) Buster didn’t like his over the top style The Passionate Plumber (1932) I’ve never been able to track down this one either, but many feel it’s the worst movie he did with MGM. The first of 3 films he was forced to make with obnoxious Jimmy Durante, a worse comedic pairing if ever there was one.
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