Art of Buster Keaton [11 Discs]Art of Buster Keaton [11 Discs]

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MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

    Buster Keaton is arguably the greatest silent film comedy director. His work continues to have an influence on filmmakers almost a century after it first appeared. This startlingly comprehensive 11-disc set features a vast number of the great stoneface's best work. The films in this collection include The Saphead, The High Sign, One Week, Three Ages, The Goat, My Wife's Relations, Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, The Boat, The Love Nest, Seven Chances, Neighbors, The Balloonatic, Go West, The Scarecrow, The Paleface, Battling Butler, The Frozen North, The Haunted House, The General, The Playhouse, Cops, College, The Electric Horse, The Blacksmith, Hard Luck, Steamboat Bill Jr., Convict 13, and Daydreams. Each film is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. In addition to all those films, the discs include shorts, television appearances by Keaton, commercials, and rare home movies and photos. This is an important set of discs that should be seen by anyone with an interest in film. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

DVD FEATURES:
  • Number of Discs: 11
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope), 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
  • Screen: Pan and Scan, Black and White, Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
  • Features:
    • [None specified]
AWARDS
  • Library of Congress
  •     Won U.S. National Film Registry - 1990
  •     Won U.S. National Film Registry - 1988
  • Telluride Film Festival
  •     Film Presented - 2003
  •     Film Presented - 1997
  • Toronto International Film Festival
  •     Film Presented - 2004
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
REVIEWS:
  • Though it was not his first multi-reel movie, Buster Keaton hit his feature-length stride with this period comedy. Set in the carefully recreated 1831 South and shot on location near Lake Tahoe, the film turned the legendary feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys (re-named the Canfields and the McKays) into a send-up of Southern politeness. Two exterior sequences became vintage Keaton. Precisely duplicating one of the first-ever trains (the "Stephenson Rocket") and hiring his vaudevillian father to play the engineer, Keaton turned the crudeness of early train travel into a dreamlike and hilarious trip southward over rough yet beautiful forested terrain. And the final river rescue showcased Keaton's agility, as he snatches his beloved (played by then-wife Natalie Talmadge) from a waterfall; it also inadvertently revealed the risks of Keaton's drive for authenticity, as he almost drowned on camera. The potentially lethal work paid off, as Our Hospitality became a box office hit and confirmed Keaton's talent for integrating comedy into a larger narrative rather than simply stringing together gags. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • Among the great silent-era comedians, history has been much kinder to Buster Keaton than it has been to his peers such as Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd. Part of that lies in the bestowment of the genius label that Chaplin accepted quite a bit too earnestly in his lifetime and, while it is certainly merited, it has the side-effect of playing up the genius of Keaton as well, who relied on his films rather than self-promotion to lay his claim. Keaton's success lay in his never-breaking deadpan expression and the sincerity that his characters always seemed to have, regardless of the situations they found themselves in. The Navigator, while not remembered with the same reverence as his later classic The General, nevertheless is an excellent example of the Keaton magic at work. The premise is fairly simple. Keaton and Kathryn McGuire are stranded alone on a 500-foot yacht and must learn to co-exist with each other in the middle of the high seas. There are, naturally, dozens of non-stop laughs, many involving Keaton's unique brand of physical humor. Of particular merit is the scene where he tries towing the yacht from a small dinghy and the scene where he is adorned in a deep-sea diving helmet, forgetting that he is smoking a cigarette and thus cutting off his air. The film also pokes fun at the idle rich, as both Keaton and McGuire's characters are established as spoiled members of that class. One reason the film holds up so well, as do most of Keaton's films, is that even when he establishes himself as a figure to be ridiculed or held up in scorn, he's just so darn likable. Hopefully viewers for many generations to come will make the same realization. ~ Dan Friedman, All Movie Guide
  • Considered one of Buster Keaton's greatest works, and his most (gasp) avant-garde feature, Sherlock Jr. centers on movie illusion itself, hilariously filtered through the dreams of Keaton's sad-sack projectionist. Showcasing both Keaton's interest in filmmaking technique and his repertoire of vaudeville physical gags, the film comically riffs on such visual tricks as superimpositions and editing, as a ghostly "Keaton" exits his sleeping body and walks into the screen, only to face repeated peril as one background cuts to another. The movie he finally joins becomes, naturally, an ideal fantasy world in which Keaton, as a suave detective, phlegmatically rights the wrongs that he has just suffered in reality. French director René Clair likened Sherlock Jr. to Luigi Pirandello's classic self-reflexive play, Six Characters in Search of an Author, for its surreal take on the relationship between viewer and medium. Should this comparison put in question Keaton's overriding desire to create comic mass entertainment, Sherlock Jr. also contains the railroad stunt that literally broke Keaton's neck. Combining comic physical prowess with smart visual wit, Sherlock Jr. confirms Keaton's place as the most imaginatively cinematic of the silent film comics, and it inspired Woody Allen's fantasy, The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), as well as countless other directors and sequences. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • Buster Keaton's fifth feature proved once again that, regardless of his virtuosity with trains, boats, and houses, Keaton's greatest comic prop was his own body. Keaton initially thought the 1916 play about a young man who stands to inherit $7 million if he marries by 7 p.m. that day was not right for him, but, when he accidentally dislodged a couple of rocks during the climactic chase, he literally stumbled on one of his funniest and astonishing flights of slapstick. Reshooting the scene with hundreds of fake boulders ranging from one to eight feet in diameter, Keaton slid and somersaulted down a steep hill, forced to dodge the rocks as well as hundreds of wannabe brides. Even with Keaton's reservations, the rest of Seven Chances is replete with comic and surreal Keaton moments, such as a church filling with potential mates while an unaware Keaton sleeps in the front pew, and a turtle that latches onto Keaton's tie during the chase. With the boulder slide added after a disappointing preview, Seven Chances succeeded with audiences; and it was feebly remade with Chris O'Donnell in 1999 as The Bachelor. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • To look at Go West, like the much more celebrated The General, is to see one of the glories Buster Keaton's silent period -- and realize what the movies lost when MGM took over his career. Not that everything he did during this period was perfect, but as Go West -- one of his (undeservedly) less celebrated films of this era -- demonstrated, at least he knew what he was aiming for when he directed his own movies. And here, he achieved something special in terms of mixing comedy and pathos, working with a plot that reached out to the western genre, and back to D. W. Griffith's rural dramas, and all of it shaped to Keaton's special screen persona, amid physical oomedy, sight gags, and a cliffhanger plot element (will he save his beloved cow?). It's a movie whose achievements seem all the more impressive over time, even with the oft-parodied elements present, because Keaton's presence, behind as well as in front of the camera, gives it the spark that keeps it seeming fresh and bright, and funny, across eight decades. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
  • {$Buster Keaton}'s fifth feature proved once again that, regardless of his virtuosity with trains, boats, and houses, {$Keaton}'s greatest comic prop was his own body. {$Keaton} initially thought the 1916 play about a young man who stands to inherit $7 million if he marries by 7 p.m. that day was not right for him, but, when he accidentally dislodged a couple of rocks during the climactic chase, he literally stumbled on one of his funniest and astonishing flights of slapstick. Reshooting the scene with hundreds of fake boulders ranging from one to eight feet in diameter, Keaton slid and somersaulted down a steep hill, forced to dodge the rocks as well as hundreds of wannabe brides. Even with {$Keaton}'s reservations, the rest of {#Seven Chances} is replete with comic and surreal {$Keaton} moments, such as a church filling with potential mates while an unaware {$Keaton} sleeps in the front pew, and a turtle that latches onto {$Keaton}'s tie during the chase. With the boulder slide added after a disappointing preview, {#Seven Chances} succeeded with audiences; and it was feebly remade with {$Chris O'Donnell} in 1999 as {#The Bachelor}. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • Though it was not his first multi-reel movie, {$Buster Keaton} hit his feature-length stride with this period comedy. Set in the carefully recreated 1831 South and shot on location near Lake Tahoe, the film turned the legendary feud between the {%Hatfields} and the {%McCoys} (re-named the Canfields and the McKays) into a send-up of Southern politeness. Two exterior sequences became vintage {$Keaton}. Precisely duplicating one of the first-ever trains (the "Stephenson Rocket") and hiring his vaudevillian father to play the engineer, {$Keaton} turned the crudeness of early train travel into a dreamlike and hilarious trip southward over rough yet beautiful forested terrain. And the final river rescue showcased {$Keaton}'s agility, as he snatches his beloved (played by then-wife {$Natalie Talmadge}) from a waterfall; it also inadvertently revealed the risks of {$Keaton}'s drive for authenticity, as he almost drowned on camera. The potentially lethal work paid off, as {#Our Hospitality} became a box office hit and confirmed {$Keaton}'s talent for integrating comedy into a larger narrative rather than simply stringing together gags. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • Buster Keaton perfectly balanced romance, action and comedy in his most admired film and personal favorite, a Civil War story about an engineer and his eponymous locomotive. Based on a true incident involving a hijacked Confederate train, Keaton strove to make the film as authentic as possible, shooting on location in Oregon to get the proper track gauge and sinking an actual locomotive engine at the film's climax (in reportedly the most expensive single take for a silent film). The lighting and composition recall Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs, while tracking shots following Keaton's locomotive adventures further displayed his technical expertise. The train became Keaton's supreme comic prop in the two intricately devised, and narratively mirrored, chase sequences involving his efforts to elude Union pursuers; the humorous business accompanying Keaton's retrieval of the General, and girlfriend, sent up romantic fantasies and war heroics. The effort seemed to be for naught when The General received negative reviews in 1927 and failed to make a profit. The General's reputation, along with Keaton's, however, was resuscitated in the 1950s; The General became Keaton's masterpiece, joining Charles Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) as one of the greatest silent comedies ever made. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • Buster Keaton once claimed that Battling Butler was his favorite out of all the films he made, but at the time he said it, he was an aging, bitter man whose career was at its nadir. Before his death in 1966, Keaton would finally get the credit he deserved as one of silent comedy's greats, and Battling Butler wasn't one of the films that got him there -- especially when compared to his best work, such as The Navigator, The Cameraman and, of course, The General. But neither is Battling Butler a bad film -- it's far more amusing than Keaton's weaker silent features, such as Seven Chances and The Three Ages. Battling Butler was based on an English musical comedy -- not the most promising start for a Keaton picture. But Keaton was able to adapt it to his own style and he wholeheartedly threw himself into the role of the coddled rich boy turned fighter -- he actually trained hard to prepare for the ending scene in which he fiercely battles the real "Battling" Butler (Francis McDonald). In fact, Keaton's appearance in boxing getup almost gives things away -- instead of the smooth, flabby body expected of the wimp he plays, he displays a small but well-muscled physique. To the trained eye, he looks fitter than McDonald's pugilist! Although the film's power is contained in the intensity of the climax, where the two Butlers battle it out, Keaton's fine comic touches throughout are its soul -- for example, his character's idea of "roughing it," which includes valet, gourmet meals and a different outfit for every hunting and fishing occasion, or his woefully inept attempts at training (he can't even enter the ring without getting tangled up in the ropes). Keaton's valet/sidekick -- the little, funny-faced Snitz Edwards -- also adds a lot of humor, and while Sally O'Neil (like most of Keaton's leading ladies) doesn't have a lot to do, she's pleasantly spunky. Even if this isn't one of Keaton's finest pictures, it's still far better than most comedies of its day, and it grossed more than any of his other films in the 1920s. In fact, its success enabled Keaton to later spend the large amounts of money it took to make The General such a timeless classic...and if Battling Butler really did hold a special place in his heart, perhaps that's the reason why. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
  • Considered one of {$Buster Keaton}'s greatest works, and his most (gasp) {\avant-garde} feature, {#Sherlock Jr.} centers on movie illusion itself, hilariously filtered through the dreams of {$Keaton}'s sad-sack projectionist. Showcasing both {$Keaton}'s interest in filmmaking technique and his repertoire of vaudeville physical gags, the film comically riffs on such visual tricks as superimpositions and editing, as a ghostly "{$Keaton}" exits his sleeping body and walks into the screen, only to face repeated peril as one background cuts to another. The movie he finally joins becomes, naturally, an ideal fantasy world in which {$Keaton}, as a suave detective, phlegmatically rights the wrongs that he has just suffered in reality. French director {$René Clair} likened {#Sherlock Jr.} to {$Luigi Pirandello}'s classic self-reflexive play, {+Six Characters in Search of an Author}, for its surreal take on the relationship between viewer and medium. Should this comparison put in question {$Keaton}'s overriding desire to create comic mass entertainment, {#Sherlock Jr.} also contains the railroad stunt that literally broke {$Keaton}'s neck. Combining comic physical prowess with smart visual wit, {#Sherlock Jr.} confirms {$Keaton}'s place as the most imaginatively cinematic of the silent film comics, and it inspired {$Woody Allen}'s {\fantasy}, {#The Purple Rose of Cairo} (1985), as well as countless other directors and sequences. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • To look at {#Go West}, like the much more celebrated {#The General}, is to see one of the glories {$Buster Keaton}'s silent period -- and realize what the movies lost when {@MGM} took over his career. Not that everything he did during this period was perfect, but as {#Go West} -- one of his (undeservedly) less celebrated films of this era -- demonstrated, at least he knew what he was aiming for when he directed his own movies. And here, he achieved something special in terms of mixing comedy and pathos, working with a plot that reached out to the western genre, and back to {$D. W. Griffith}'s rural dramas, and all of it shaped to {$Keaton}'s special screen persona, amid physical oomedy, sight gags, and a cliffhanger plot element (will he save his beloved cow?). It's a movie whose achievements seem all the more impressive over time, even with the oft-parodied elements present, because Keaton's presence, behind as well as in front of the camera, gives it the spark that keeps it seeming fresh and bright, and funny, across eight decades. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
  • {$Buster Keaton} perfectly balanced romance, action and comedy in his most admired film and personal favorite, a Civil War story about an engineer and his eponymous locomotive. Based on a true incident involving a hijacked Confederate train, {$Keaton} strove to make the film as authentic as possible, shooting on location in Oregon to get the proper track gauge and sinking an actual locomotive engine at the film's climax (in reportedly the most expensive single take for a silent film). The lighting and composition recall {%Matthew Brady}'s Civil War photographs, while tracking shots following {$Keaton}'s locomotive adventures further displayed his technical expertise. The train became {$Keaton}'s supreme comic prop in the two intricately devised, and narratively mirrored, chase sequences involving his efforts to elude Union pursuers; the humorous business accompanying {$Keaton}'s retrieval of the General, and girlfriend, sent up romantic fantasies and war heroics. The effort seemed to be for naught when {#The General} received negative reviews in 1927 and failed to make a profit. {#The General}'s reputation, along with {$Keaton}'s, however, was resuscitated in the 1950s; {#The General} became {$Keaton}'s masterpiece, joining {$Charles Chaplin}'s {#The Gold Rush} (1925) as one of the greatest silent comedies ever made. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
  • {$Buster Keaton} once claimed that {#Battling Butler} was his favorite out of all the films he made, but at the time he said it, he was an aging, bitter man whose career was at its nadir. Before his death in 1966, {$Keaton} would finally get the credit he deserved as one of silent comedy's greats, and {#Battling Butler} wasn't one of the films that got him there -- especially when compared to his best work, such as {#The Navigator}, {#The Cameraman} and, of course, {#The General}. But neither is {#Battling Butler} a bad film -- it's far more amusing than {$Keaton}'s weaker silent features, such as {#Seven Chances} and {#The Three Ages}. {#Battling Butler} was based on an English musical comedy -- not the most promising start for a {$Keaton} picture. But {$Keaton} was able to adapt it to his own style and he wholeheartedly threw himself into the role of the coddled rich boy turned fighter -- he actually trained hard to prepare for the ending scene in which he fiercely battles the real "Battling" Butler ({$Francis McDonald}). In fact, {$Keaton}'s appearance in boxing getup almost gives things away -- instead of the smooth, flabby body expected of the wimp he plays, he displays a small but well-muscled physique. To the trained eye, he looks fitter than {$McDonald}'s pugilist! Although the film's power is contained in the intensity of the climax, where the two Butlers battle it out, {$Keaton}'s fine comic touches throughout are its soul -- for example, his character's idea of "roughing it," which includes valet, gourmet meals and a different outfit for every hunting and fishing occasion, or his woefully inept attempts at training (he can't even enter the ring without getting tangled up in the ropes). {$Keaton}'s valet/sidekick -- the little, funny-faced {$Snitz Edwards} -- also adds a lot of humor, and while {$Sally O'Neil} (like most of {$Keaton}'s leading ladies) doesn't have a lot to do, she's pleasantly spunky. Even if this isn't one of {$Keaton}'s finest pictures, it's still far better than most comedies of its day, and it grossed more than any of his other films in the 1920s. In fact, its success enabled {$Keaton} to later spend the large amounts of money it took to make {#The General} such a timeless classic...and if {#Battling Butler} really did hold a special place in his heart, perhaps that's the reason why. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
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