Buster Keaton - 3 Films (U.)
Sherlock Jr (1924)/ The General (1926)/ Steamboat Bill Jr (1928.) Available on Blu-ray from Nov 6th in a Limited Edition Boxset from Eureka! as part of their Masters of Cinema series.
Up on the top shelf of the bookcase where I keep all the DVDs and Blu-rays is my Laurel and Hardy – The Collection 21 disc boxset. I had been circling this product for around a decade, from the time in the nineties when they were still asking something in the region of one hundred notes for it, gradually watching the price relent, adjust itself to harsh financial realities. Finally when the price had been hammered down to something like a pound per disc I made my move. And there it sits, because although I did firmly intend to make my way through the entire thing, whenever I feel like a bit of Stan and Ollie I never seem to be able to reach for anything other than Sons of The Desert. Its 68 minutes are such a perfect representation of their genius, so utterly and timelessly hilarious, nothing else is needed.
Now, I don't know if the three films Eureka have gathered together here are all you need to know of Buster Keaton, the Mesut Özil -faced genius of silent comedy, but it covers a lot of ground considering the three films combined have a running length of a little over three hours. (The discs all come with a generous accompaniment of extras.) Sherlock Jr is Keaton at his wildest and his most surreal, full of dazzling bits of invention. The General is the masterpiece, an epic train chase set during the civil war. Steamboat Bill Jr showcases his quieter, character comedy, before unleashing its iconic cyclone finale.
https://youtu.be/4a9VXNW0jjE
The films come from his peak in the mid to late twenties when he was making films independently in his own Buster Keaton Studio. Steamboat Bill Jr is the last film he made before signing for MGM, a decision that would wreak his career, his personal life and his health.
Keaton’s deadpan persona and gymnastic ability are probably the key to his timeless appeal. That he is still appreciated as a giant over a century after his birth is testament both to his wizardry and the failure of anyone to really take his lead. It is depressing how much modern film comedy is really just a matter of pointing a camera at people talking. (Perverse too – at a time when the global market is becoming ever bigger, and the blockbusters that sate it are becoming ever more expensive, they are shunning a cheap universal language.)
How, why and when did we allow slapstick to become the lowest form of wit? I am sure in the seventies slapstick was still held in high regard and performers like Eric Sykes, Benny Hill or The Goodies could concoct some visual hilarity and be acclaimed for it. (Sharp-eyed viewers may notice the origins of some of their routines here.) Now though it is the preserve of Mr Bean or children’s entertainers.
The BFI ran a Keaton season a few years back, accompanied by a Buster Keaton and The Cinema of Today season in which former Time Out reviewer Geoff Andrew, (“Chuckles” to his friends) selected some contemporary films that carry his influence. Some of the choices were clearly stretching – Uzak? The Coen Bros' A Serious Man? - while others are kind of redundant – Bill Murray's stony face turn in Broken Flowers, or Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana from the instinctively deadpan Finn Aki Kaurismaki's. The selection of the Palestinian film The Time That Remains though was spot on (though surely room should have been found for at least one of Roy Andersson’s modern classics Songs From The Second Floor or You, The Living) and illustrates the rather alarming point that Keaton’s spirit can best be found in arthouse cinema.
The only Keatonesque moment in contemporary Hollywood film would be the motorway chase in The Matrix Reloaded and then more in conception than execution: there just aren’t enough wrist jockeys in the world to give Keanu Reeves or Laurence Fishburne Buster’s grace or wit.
Sherlock Jr (1924)/ The General (1926)/ Steamboat Bill Jr (1928.) Available on Blu-ray from Nov 6th in a Limited Edition Boxset from Eureka! as part of their Masters of Cinema series.
Up on the top shelf of the bookcase where I keep all the DVDs and Blu-rays is my Laurel and Hardy – The Collection 21 disc boxset. I had been circling this product for around a decade, from the time in the nineties when they were still asking something in the region of one hundred notes for it, gradually watching the price relent, adjust itself to harsh financial realities. Finally when the price had been hammered down to something like a pound per disc I made my move. And there it sits, because although I did firmly intend to make my way through the entire thing, whenever I feel like a bit of Stan and Ollie I never seem to be able to reach for anything other than Sons of The Desert. Its 68 minutes are such a perfect representation of their genius, so utterly and timelessly hilarious, nothing else is needed.
Now, I don't know if the three films Eureka have gathered together here are all you need to know of Buster Keaton, the Mesut Özil -faced genius of silent comedy, but it covers a lot of ground considering the three films combined have a running length of a little over three hours. (The discs all come with a generous accompaniment of extras.) Sherlock Jr is Keaton at his wildest and his most surreal, full of dazzling bits of invention. The General is the masterpiece, an epic train chase set during the civil war. Steamboat Bill Jr showcases his quieter, character comedy, before unleashing its iconic cyclone finale.
https://youtu.be/4a9VXNW0jjE
The films come from his peak in the mid to late twenties when he was making films independently in his own Buster Keaton Studio. Steamboat Bill Jr is the last film he made before signing for MGM, a decision that would wreak his career, his personal life and his health.
Keaton’s deadpan persona and gymnastic ability are probably the key to his timeless appeal. That he is still appreciated as a giant over a century after his birth is testament both to his wizardry and the failure of anyone to really take his lead. It is depressing how much modern film comedy is really just a matter of pointing a camera at people talking. (Perverse too – at a time when the global market is becoming ever bigger, and the blockbusters that sate it are becoming ever more expensive, they are shunning a cheap universal language.)
How, why and when did we allow slapstick to become the lowest form of wit? I am sure in the seventies slapstick was still held in high regard and performers like Eric Sykes, Benny Hill or The Goodies could concoct some visual hilarity and be acclaimed for it. (Sharp-eyed viewers may notice the origins of some of their routines here.) Now though it is the preserve of Mr Bean or children’s entertainers.
The BFI ran a Keaton season a few years back, accompanied by a Buster Keaton and The Cinema of Today season in which former Time Out reviewer Geoff Andrew, (“Chuckles” to his friends) selected some contemporary films that carry his influence. Some of the choices were clearly stretching – Uzak? The Coen Bros' A Serious Man? - while others are kind of redundant – Bill Murray's stony face turn in Broken Flowers, or Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana from the instinctively deadpan Finn Aki Kaurismaki's. The selection of the Palestinian film The Time That Remains though was spot on (though surely room should have been found for at least one of Roy Andersson’s modern classics Songs From The Second Floor or You, The Living) and illustrates the rather alarming point that Keaton’s spirit can best be found in arthouse cinema.
The only Keatonesque moment in contemporary Hollywood film would be the motorway chase in The Matrix Reloaded and then more in conception than execution: there just aren’t enough wrist jockeys in the world to give Keanu Reeves or Laurence Fishburne Buster’s grace or wit.
