― ghost rider, Thursday, 5 April 2007 20:06 (sixteen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:40 (sixteen years ago) link
― gabbneb, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:43 (sixteen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 5 April 2007 21:59 (sixteen years ago) link
― Abbott, Thursday, 5 April 2007 22:25 (sixteen years ago) link
― Casuistry, Friday, 6 April 2007 02:16 (sixteen years ago) link
― ghost rider, Friday, 6 April 2007 06:38 (sixteen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 16 April 2007 15:22 (sixteen years ago) link
If you're a fan who doesn't own The General, you should get the new Kino edition, struck from a camera negative. Clarity is amazing.
http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=936
(there really isn't much to the bonus disc, tho)
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 11 November 2008 17:44 (fifteen years ago) link
Steamboat Bill, Jr. out today on Blu-Ray and standard 2-disc editions.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 6 July 2010 14:53 (thirteen years ago) link
does anyone else find 'the general' to be a little underwhelming? it looks great but i've never really found most of it very funny -- buster's picture of himself with his train excepted.
'sherlock jr' is fantastic, though, and hilarious pretty much all the way through.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 14 July 2010 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
i haven't watched 'the general' in years, but yeah i don't remember it being all that lol...but like more amazing in terms of inventive, intricately timed visual pieces. something like how playtime isn't particularly lol but really cool ne how like miley's upcoming vid
― dell (del), Wednesday, 14 July 2010 17:35 (thirteen years ago) link
The General, and several more classically Busteresque features, are more astonishing than funny, esp on a theater screen.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 14 July 2010 19:52 (thirteen years ago) link
I think my favorite thing ever written about "The General" was a story about some French writer who said that Buster Keaton's intense desire to film in authentic Civil War battle sites led him to make the movie in Orgeon.
― could be a bad day for (Abbott), Wednesday, 14 July 2010 19:59 (thirteen years ago) link
After six years of knowing my husband I figured it was an OK time to try & get him into Buster Keaton. He clearly was not. into. it. I don't think it helped that every time I laughed I would follow it with some smug statement like "ah...true genius" or a trivia about how Buster did that thing. (The film was "Sherlock Jr." btw.)
― Abbbottt, Thursday, 19 August 2010 04:36 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe he's more of a chaplin guy?
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 19 August 2010 16:23 (thirteen years ago) link
or Harold Lloyd?
― The Redd, The Blecch & Other Things (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 19 August 2010 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link
If you can't like Sherlock Jr. on any level I don't know what to tell ya.
― albino python on cocaine (corey), Thursday, 19 August 2010 16:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah we had watched a Harold Lloyd movie w/some success with my brother & his wife back in May, which I think was the trigger for me thinking this could work. OTOH he had been trapped a week with my Mormon family & no entertainment except a very shitty airport book about a megalodon, so maybe the laughter there was just from being shown any entertainment at all.
My brother, and his wife, didn't like Keaton either, but they'd only seen "College" so I was blaming it on that.
― full of country goodness and green pea-ness (Abbbottt), Thursday, 19 August 2010 16:31 (thirteen years ago) link
College is really not that good, but man, the movie theater scene in Sherlock, the pool-playing sequence, the motorcycle, the stunts! Just one amazing bit after another. Incredibly condensed genius.
― albino python on cocaine (corey), Friday, 20 August 2010 03:04 (thirteen years ago) link
I'd never really truly forgotten, but rewatching Shrelock Jr. also reminded me that he's like my all-time best looking guy.
― full of country goodness and green pea-ness (Abbbottt), Friday, 20 August 2010 03:04 (thirteen years ago) link
just for a harold lloyd derail, seeing 'safety last' in a screening room full of jaded students, pretty much all of whom were delirious with joy by the end, remains one of my all-time-favourite moviegoing experiences.
(also: the original 'to be or not to be' in a crowded, uproarious left bank paris theater)
― the disappearance of apollo creed (s1ocki), Friday, 20 August 2010 03:18 (thirteen years ago) link
"It's hard to think of another creator of mass entertainment who has been such an inspiration to artists (a word he refused to apply to himself) — including Federico García Lorca, Luis Buñuel, and Samuel Beckett — yet cared only for making people laugh."
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/09/genius-buster-keaton/
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2011 04:12 (twelve years ago) link
FYI, if you are in NYC the Film Forum is having a Keaton series over the next few Mondays.
― MrDasher, Friday, 27 May 2011 14:00 (twelve years ago) link
I have all those at home, of course
planning to visit his grave this summer tho
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2011 14:12 (twelve years ago) link
college was just being watched by me via streaming netflix yesterday - as HE predicted would one day happen
― Latham Green, Friday, 27 May 2011 16:14 (twelve years ago) link
I like him in the movies he did with Fatty Arbuckle.
― MrDasher, Friday, 27 May 2011 16:16 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, he even smiles a few times.
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2011 16:25 (twelve years ago) link
in those days no one was ashamed to be fat - they hailed it as a crowning victory! You would never see a "Fatty Rosseane Barr" today - instead they take a vacuum cleaner to their thighs
― Latham Green, Friday, 27 May 2011 17:14 (twelve years ago) link
my scholarly silent-comedy friends refer to Arbuckle as "Roscoe"
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2011 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
there was also a crude but hilarious silent trio known as both Ton o' Fun and The Three Fatties
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 May 2011 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
and lest we forget laurel and hardy. They should be on our money. not Tommie Jefferson
― Latham Green, Friday, 27 May 2011 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
so Kino has remastered the silent starring shorts and put em out on DVD and Bluray:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/buster-keaton-the-short-films-collection-1920-1923/2070
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 August 2011 15:23 (twelve years ago) link
Are any of these not in the box set? I think all of the titles I saw in that article are.
― bamcquern, Thursday, 18 August 2011 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
yes, they are, but they look (a little bit) better now, with some new music. The supplements are new.
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 August 2011 15:46 (twelve years ago) link
they've been doing the same thing w/ the features for awhile.
The John Bengtson book Silent Echoes is a must for buffs --- tracing BK's shooting locations in LA by frame analysis.
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 18 August 2011 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
Sherlock Jr. is number one and the best, of course, but I have a soft spot for The Navigator - the his reaction to the coffee the girl makes with sea water is one of my favorite moments from his entire canon. also I find the term "sea tuxedos" endlessly amusing.
― the tingly effervesence of a thousand tiny butterfly farts (jamescobo), Thursday, 18 August 2011 19:21 (twelve years ago) link
is Buster's appeal/iconic stature fading, and is that why Sarris checked out?
http://www.fandor.com/blog/video-andrew-sarris-on-buster-keaton
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 August 2012 18:12 (eleven years ago) link
where Buster met Fatty
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/dec/07/manhattans-forgotten-film-studio/
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:29 (eleven years ago) link
Mother Keaton's vaudeville scrapbook now online via the Academy
http://digitalcollections.oscars.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15759coll8/id/417
― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 1 June 2013 03:49 (ten years ago) link
wtf zero votes for "Our Hospitality"? That is clearly the funniest.
― the strange and important sound of the synthesizer (Treeship), Saturday, 1 June 2013 03:55 (ten years ago) link
it's up there.
i stan for the navigator.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 1 June 2013 04:56 (ten years ago) link
wow, morbz, that's amazing, thank you!
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Saturday, 1 June 2013 05:01 (ten years ago) link
Fantastic link; cheers.
― etc, Saturday, 1 June 2013 11:21 (ten years ago) link
I just watched 'Our Hospitality'. No one put his body on the line for his art like BK.
― cajunsunday, Monday, 24 June 2013 11:47 (ten years ago) link
Chan has been injured frequently when attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God, when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, Chan has dislocated his pelvis and also broken numerous parts of body including his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle, and ribs.
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 24 June 2013 11:52 (ten years ago) link
he's Keaton's closest match, p much, but yes had bigger medical bills.
― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Monday, 24 June 2013 11:55 (ten years ago) link
Wow. How is he still alive?
― cajunsunday, Monday, 24 June 2013 12:04 (ten years ago) link
unfortunately he died in 1966 :[
― daft on the causes of punk (schlump), Monday, 24 June 2013 20:32 (ten years ago) link
He steppedbefore a film camera for the first time 100 years ago today
http://binniebooks.com/first-picture-the-butcher-boy/
https://gracekingsley.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/keaton-met-the-camera-today/
https://gracekingsley.wordpress.com/2017/03/19/correction-keaton-met-the-camera-on-march-21st/
http://binniebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Keaton-Datebook-March-1917_Butcher-Boy_cropped-First-Picture-2ab-2012-AMPAS.jpg
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 14:34 (seven years ago) link
if you aint had the pleasure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxQveXScnbY
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 20:20 (seven years ago) link
one of the coolest nights ever was going to see The General performed with live organist accompaniment at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. the organ rises out of the floor. it was amazing.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 21 March 2017 22:10 (seven years ago) link
a gravestone for dad
http://www.busterkeaton.org/joe
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Monday, 7 May 2018 18:47 (five years ago) link
Chapter 1 of a new book: "Buster Keaton's Climate Change," on STEAMBOAT BILL JR.
https://fqtemporary.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/fay-inhospitable-world-page-views.pdf
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 22:01 (five years ago) link
attention, LA, it's Keaton Weekend. Alas many events are full.
http://www.busterkeaton.org/weekend
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Friday, 15 June 2018 15:39 (five years ago) link
A friend mentioned this and I hadn't heard -- Peter Bogdanovich has made a feature doc about Keaton, The Great Buster, which showed in Venice. Early word is not the greatest! But I suppose I'll eventually want to hear what Dick van Dyke and, uh, Johnny Knoxville have to say...
http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2018/lineup/venice-classics/great-buster-celebration
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 10 September 2018 17:15 (five years ago) link
Michael Nordine, lukewarm:
https://www.indiewire.com/2018/08/the-great-buster-a-celebration-review-peter-bogdanovich-buster-keaton-documentary-1201997753/
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 10 September 2018 17:19 (five years ago) link
I suppose I'll eventually want to hear what Dick van Dyke and, uh, Johnny Knoxville have to say...
Coincidentally, Paul Scheer and Amy Nicholson covered The General in their new podcast about the AFI top 100 list, and their interview segment that week was with Jackass director Jeff Tremaine.
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Monday, 10 September 2018 17:36 (five years ago) link
it's his 123rd
A scantily clad, beer-gutted Buster Keaton, later in life, surveys with pleasure (?) his Lionel train set. pic.twitter.com/ghfoDqRMVO— 𝕿𝖗𝖔𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖊 𝕰𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝕯𝖆𝖞 (@NickPinkerton) October 4, 2018
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 4 October 2018 19:15 (five years ago) link
Just bought three Kino Blu-Rays of Keaton stuff: 2-disc sets containing The General and Three Ages and Steamboat Bill Jr. and College, and a 5-disc set containing all his shorts, including the early ones with Fatty Arbuckle. I watched One Week earlier today and laughed my ass off.
― grawlix (unperson), Friday, 5 October 2018 00:27 (five years ago) link
I just watched the Kino The General last night. I've seen that movie 5 times at least and still find it astonishing.
― jmm, Friday, 5 October 2018 00:34 (five years ago) link
https://scontent.fnyc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/40477603_10156485320404000_7344300914024382464_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&oh=b8bfe6f135f7fa5e33a5f31764fbe9e6&oe=5C4B5753
― Accattony! Accattoni! Accattoné! (j.lu), Friday, 5 October 2018 00:46 (five years ago) link
Was watching the Criterion commentary for It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World yesterday. Don't think I even noticed Keaton the first time around - think the movie's sledgehammer approach to comedy had already defeated me by then - but once you notice it's him it's amazing how all that grace is still there, for the two seconds that he is onscreen.
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 5 October 2018 09:40 (five years ago) link
I love ‘One Week’ - usually what I show to sceptics/young people.
― Leaghaidh am brón an t-anam bochd (dowd), Friday, 5 October 2018 11:46 (five years ago) link
yeah, when he scoots around those cars it couldn't be anyone else xp
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 5 October 2018 12:00 (five years ago) link
AFI Silver's 2018 Silent Cinema Showcase will feature a number of Buster Keaton restorations. I'm making my plans; is anyone else interested in going?
― Accattony! Accattoni! Accattoné! (j.lu), Friday, 5 October 2018 12:25 (five years ago) link
This looks dreadful but I'm surprised by how lovely Keaton's speaking voice is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWEDF4FdgxQ
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 5 October 2018 12:43 (five years ago) link
Keaton's MGM talkies are largely dreadful. And while I wouldn't describe his voice as "lovely," it does fit his persona and physique remarkably well.
― Accattony! Accattoni! Accattoné! (j.lu), Friday, 5 October 2018 14:05 (five years ago) link
Ok maybe not "lovely" but a lot of marble-y character - he sounds great 30 years later on Buster Keaton Rides Again, too
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 5 October 2018 14:28 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQgTirVhdY&index=2&list=PL67E56794F9608FDA&t=0s
― Dan Worsley, Friday, 5 October 2018 20:27 (five years ago) link
Try again...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQIJZ5zX6nw&app=desktop
― Dan Worsley, Friday, 5 October 2018 20:29 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQIJZ5zX6nw
― Dan Worsley, Friday, 5 October 2018 20:32 (five years ago) link
In the Gilbert Gottfried podcast w/ James Karen that was recommended after JK's death last week, Karen describes Joe Keaton tossing Buster into the wings and occasionally into the audience in the family act (when BK was 5 or 6). He quoted Buster: "The old man wasn't so bad... Before he threw me into the audience he'd say, 'Better tighten up your asshole, Bus.' "
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 17:01 (five years ago) link
The Bogdanovich documentary opens here over Christmas. Keaton died in '66, which leaves the window open for some "Buster and I" anecdotes. I'll see it anyway.
― clemenza, Sunday, 16 December 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link
Caught the last screening of The Great Buster. Well intentioned, but I don't think Bogdanovich does Keaton any favours. He makes this odd decision to save the 10 features--"The Keaton decade"--for the end of the film. So you get his life story up to 1921 or so, brief mention of what comes next ("But we'll get to that later"), then the story picks up as sound comes in and Keaton's career starts to fall apart. My guess is that Bogdanovich wanted to end with the period of triumph rather than the checkered rest of his life; there also may have been the assumption that anyone seeing this knows the films and the life story well already. Maybe--I have to believe some people will see The Great Buster knowing very little about Keaton, and how do you give full weight to his appearances in Sunset Boulevard and Limelight without the context of those 10 features? I also thought that maybe Bogdanovich the film critic would have all these insightful things to say about the films being saved for the end. No: he offers plot summaries and assertions ("one of his funniest scenes," etc.). The interview subjects are a mixed lot. Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, absolutely. Werner Herzog and Tarantino--sure, why not. But the director of the Jackass films gets more screen time than any of them (or anybody else, I think). If you go for the clips, there are lots of them; if you're looking for more, be forewarned. (Big surprise: Orson Welles gets worked in towards the end.)
― clemenza, Friday, 4 January 2019 04:26 (five years ago) link
watched the great buster on a flight today. it was pretty wack ... as clemenza mentioned above the structure just didn't make any sense, and the people being interviewed were really hit or miss. It would have been better, i think, to have told his life story in chronological order, peppering in some notable gags and maybe interviews with those who actually knew him. it was obviously the narrators passion project, and that intensity did show through in a nice way at times. still, it was a bizarre hodge-podge tbh
― boobie, Monday, 4 March 2019 04:53 (five years ago) link
BK Day next Monday on TCM. Kinda mean to show Doughboys? As is showing the Lost Horizon remake on Liv Day.
http://summer.tcm.com/
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 12 August 2019 15:32 (four years ago) link
BK's MGM talkies leave much to be desired, but Doughboys is hardly the worst of the lot. How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, OTOH....
I didn't see The Great Buster when it was in theaters, and I have no intention of watching it on TCM. Bogdanovich's reputation for Golden Age brownnosing put me right off. I almost wish Jeff Tremaine, or other people doing contemporary physical comedy, had made the documentary and interviewed Bogdanovich.
As for the 1970s version of Lost Horizon, I saw on TCM.com requests--presumably from authentic watchers--that it be screened. Between the fans and the aficionados of flop films, there's an audience.
― Anne Hedonia (j.lu), Monday, 12 August 2019 16:43 (four years ago) link
afaik I haven't seen Doughboys. I suppose it can't be worse than the Durante teamings.
I've been looking at some of the shorts with Arbuckle that I realized I'd never seen (or had forgotten): Out West, Moonshine, The Rough House, Oh Doctor1 etc. Still strange to see him pulling faces, crying, and all that. In Out West he's kinda like Deadwood's Al Swearengen.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 12 August 2019 17:01 (four years ago) link
TCM is mercifully omitting Free and Easy (the final musical number...). Although I wouldn't mind seeing Estrellados, the alternate Spanish-language version.
― Anne Hedonia (j.lu), Monday, 12 August 2019 17:14 (four years ago) link
Adam Gopnick:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/what-made-buster-keatons-comedy-so-modern-biography-james-curtis-dana-stevens
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 21:50 (two years ago) link
Oh, is that bio out now? Thought about ordering a copy.
― Tapioca Tumbril (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 21:59 (two years ago) link
I leafed through Stevens' on my Sunday bookstore run; got it reserved in the library after Gottlieb's Garbo bio.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 22:02 (two years ago) link
Oh, I only knew about the Curtis one.
― Tapioca Tumbril (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 22:09 (two years ago) link
Oh, I see. The Stevens is out, but not the Curtis until next week.
Wonder if James Karen is interviewed.
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 22:17 (two years ago) link
but the Roman sequences are done with even more panache than Mel Brooks’s “History of the World, Part I.”
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 22:26 (two years ago) link
Have you read the book about Dietrich by her daughter, Maria Riva?
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 February 2022 23:16 (two years ago) link
https://filmforum.org/series/busters-century
― Solaris Ocean Blue (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 28 February 2022 02:10 (two years ago) link
Would be nice to go to see James Curtis introduce.
― Solaris Ocean Blue (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 28 February 2022 02:11 (two years ago) link
Autographed copies of the Dana Stevens at MoMI.
― Gary Gets His Tonsure Out (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 4 March 2022 23:45 (two years ago) link
Nice article by Geoffrey O’Brien in current NYRB.
― Misirlou Sunset (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 4 October 2022 12:54 (one year ago) link
Actually I didn’t read the article yet, just the email about it which also mentions and links to several other relevant articles from yesteryear.
― Misirlou Sunset (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 4 October 2022 12:59 (one year ago) link
Have both the Curtis and Stevens books, the latter is shorter so I will try that one first.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 19:25 (one year ago) link
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n02/john-lahr/puzzled-puss
― conrad, Monday, 16 January 2023 19:30 (one year ago) link
I read the Stevens and enjoyed it very much. A good biography interspersed with many interesting diversions about the times Buster lived and worked in. I started the Curtis but felt like I was getting pummeled with biographical minutiae and didn't get very far.
― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 06:33 (one year ago) link
Sounds about right, thanks.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 10:49 (one year ago) link
yeah i just finished the Stevens and it was good but does zigzag around quite a bit
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 13:00 (one year ago) link
Miniseries from Blank Check on Keaton’s movies.. starts here
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/three-ages-our-hospitality-with-dana-stevens/id981330533?i=1000612019681
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 21 July 2023 11:35 (eight months ago) link