Review: Buster Keaton – The Complete Short Films 1917-1923
Blu-ray: Review: Buster Keaton – The Complete Short Films 1917-1923
Unfortunately for me, it’s very difficult to write a review of this really wonderful boxset without it turning into a ‘History of Cinema’ lesson. Mainly because (in my opinion) you can’t compare these films to contemporary films, despite them being ‘movies’ they come from a different time and were made for a different audience. I’m sure a lot of people my age will be somewhat familiar with Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chapin and the great Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, because as kids, part of our children’s TV scheduling was a lot of cartoons; The Singing Ringing Tree and silent Black & White films starring the aforementioned list. My 25 year old son would have no idea who Buster Keaton is and have no desire to watch anything contained in this wonderful boxset from Masters of Cinema. Now that’s a real shame because he is (and many others) missing out on a true comedy genius. I was enraptured by these films and it was a joy to watch them all. Interestingly for me, I had never seen a Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle film as an adult, so seeing his performance and comic genius was a revelation, especially knowing how his career was ruined by scandal (google him, it’s a very sordid and sad story, a man ruined by the press and gossip). So without giving a verdict on each film, I urge any film fan who remembers Buster to take a look at this set of films.
All of them looking like they were filmed yesterday (100 years ago in fact) and all of them poignant, important and most of all damn funny, the set contains thirty-two films (with a running time of over 720 minutes) this collection documents Buster Keaton’s short films between 1917-1923. It shows us Keaton’s first steps in front of a camera and his early association with mentor and ex-Keystone Kop Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle through to starring in, headlining and directing his own box office smash hits. Using Chaplin’s old Hollywood studios in 1920, Keaton’s sophisticated technical inventiveness coupled with his haunted-yet-handsome ‘Stone Face’ persona
Featuring: The Butcher Boy (1917), The Rough House (1917), His Wedding Night (1917), Oh, Doctor! (1917), Coney Island (1917), Out West (1918), The Bell Boy (1918), Moonshine (1918), Good Night Nurse (1918), The Cook (1918), Backstage (1919), The Hayseed (1919), The Garage (1919), The “High Sign”* (finished 1920, released 1921), One Week* (1920), Convict 13* (1920), The Scarecrow (1920), Neighbors (1920), The Haunted House (1921), Hard Luck (1921), The Goat (1921), The Playhouse* (1921), The Boat* (1921), The Paleface (1922), Cops* (1922), My Wife’s Relations (1922), The Blaksmith (1922), The Frozen North (1922), Daydreams (1922), The Electric House (1922), The Balloonatic (1923), The Love Nest (1923)
Special Features:
- * Audio Commentary available
1080p presentations from new restorations - Multiple scores on selected shorts
- Audio commentaries by Joseph McBride on The ‘High Sign’, One Week, Convict 13, The Playhouse, The Boat, and Cops
- Newly discovered version of The Blacksmith containing four minutes of previously unseen footage
- Alternate ending for Coney Island
- Alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations
- That’s Some Buster, a new exclusive video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns
- An introduction by preservationist Serge Bromberg
- The Art of Buster Keaton, actor Pierre Étaix discusses Keaton’s style
- Audio recording of Keaton at a party in 1962
- Life with Buster Keaton (1951, excerpt) – Keaton re-enacts Roscoe Arbuckle’s “Salomé dance”, first performed in The Cook
- PLUS: A 184-PAGE BOOK containing:
- A roundtable discussion on Keaton by critics Brad Stevens, Jean-Pierre Coursodon and Dan Sallitt
- A new essay and detailed notes on each film by Jeffrey Vance, author of Buster Keaton Remembered
- A new essay by Serge Bromberg on the two versions of The Blacksmith and other discoveries
- The words of Keaton
- Archival imagery
Review by Tina (co-host of 60 Minutes With) from discs kindly supplied by Eureka Entertainment.