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The Art of Buster Keaton (The General / Sherlock, Jr. / Our Hospitality / The Navigator / Steamboat Bill Jr. / College / Three Ages / Battling Butler / Go West / The Saphead / Seven Chances / 21 Short Films) Posters
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The Art of Buster Keaton (The General / Sherlock, Jr. / Our Hospitality / The Navigator / Steamboat Bill Jr. / College / Three Ages / Battling Butler / Go West / The Saphead / Seven Chances / 21 Short Films) DVD
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Rating:  -
I know spending $100 seems expensive when you can buy an Asian copy on eBay for $30 or $40. But when you do that, nothing is going to David Shepard to compensate him for acquiring these films, transfering them to video, doing some restoration, and adding a sound track. Even if these films are in the public domain, they don't save themselves. It takes time and money to do that. Please help preserve our rapidly disintegrating silent film heritage and buy the DVDs produced by the people doing the work of preservation.
Rating: -
Buster Keaton still remains among the most reduced and even exigent list of the greatest exponents of the comedy genre.
It has been a common place to establsih the comparison between his craft and Charlot, and in this particular if I was inquired, I would say the main virtue of Keaton's grandess and obviously his personal landmark, is the kaleidoscopic vision he always around the characters and situations; while Charlot turned around the sentiments and the hope for a new and promising future, Keaton showed a demolishing narrative speech, hovered by a corrosive humor, deeply human but extremely devastating.
On the other hand, the resource economy and the emblematic expression of his facial grimace was another engaging tool to captivate the audiences.
I admire both of them and consider they represent the two sides of the same coin. Humanity above any other artistic considerations or sharp differences, was in last instance, the common denominator around these two genius of the intelligent humor.
A must for the hard collectors.
Rating:  -
First off, Keaton is one of the great artists of all times, and it's a joy to have such a complete collection of his silent work. (His last few silents, The Cameraman and Spite Marriage, and his sound films are a far cry from Keaton's best, and I suggest leaving them alone unless you're the absolute completist.) Kino has done a superb job on the features, restoring them to the best they've looked in decades and adding funny, unobtrusive musical scores. A perfect 5 here.
So what's not to like? I am saddened by the treatment of the shorts on these discs. They have *not* been restored, and my impression is that they were taken from 16mm prints with wildly variable (and often quite poor) soundtracks. Keaton's shorts are every bit as wonderful and fascinating as his features, and for Kino to foist these second-rate prints off on us makes me sad.
If I could, I'd give 4.5 stars for this collection. Be prepared for a bit of a disappointment when running the shorts.
Rating: -
Before anything else, I agree with those who say that Keaton's shorts are all good; but I strongly disagree with those who say that they are better than his better features. What usually happens with comedy is that people sit down before the screen and just say: OK, make me laugh. Keaton's features are funny -but they are also, and more important, beautifully shot, superbly acted and perfectly structured -which is something only the best actors/directors can put all together. There are no cheap sets like in most movies of the 20's. Keaton's characters move in the real world, with real things, and that's part of what makes them lasting and unique.
In your shelves, Keaton shouldn't share his place with the Marx Brothers, but with Orson Welles (who called The General the best movie ever made about the Civil War) and Martin Scorsese (who said he watched over and over the final fight in Battling Butter -which, by the way, is not supposed to make you laugh, but to surprise you with it's realism)
Now, this are the complete contents of this DVD set. Aside from it, you should check out The Buster Keaton Collection, which includes THE CAMERAMAN, SPITE MARRIAGE and FREE AND EASY - and then you are done. Well, you could also read the only book he wrote -My Wonderful World of Slapstick. (June '06 Update: "Industrial Strength Keaton"(DVD) just came out. The set includes rare industrial films, promotional films, commercials, TV appearances and outtakes.)
The Saphead: 1920
Includes the shorts ONE WEEK (1920) and THE HIGH SIGN (1920)
The Three Ages
Year: 1923
Including THE GOAT (1921) and MY WIFE'S RELATION (1922).
Our Hospitality / Sherlock, Jr.
Year: 1923/1924
The Navigator
Year: 1924
Includes shorts The Boat (1921) and The Love Nest (1923).
Go West
Year: 1925
Includes THE SCARECROW (1920) and THE PALEFACE (1921).
Seven Chances
Year: 1925
Shorts: Neighbors (1920) & The Balloonatic (1923)
Battling Butler
Year: 1926
Includes THE HAUNTED HOUSE (1921) and FROZEN NORTH (1922).
The General
Year: 1926
shorts: The Playhouse (1921) and Cops (1922)
College
Year: 1927
Includes THE ELECTRIC HOUSE (1922), HARD LUCK (in this version the ending is missing; but the complete version is found in the disc called Keaton Plus) (1921) and THE BLACKSMITH (1922).
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Year: 1928
shorts: Convict 13 (1920) and Daydreams (1922)
Keaton Plus
Year: 1920-2001
Color home movies, complete short HARD LUCK, two Shorts from the 30's, commercials, TV shows and appearances. But best of all, Orson Welles talking about Keaton and The General.
Rating: -
Prices for this set vary (and even the lowest asking price isn't cheap), but any way it's a major bargain, considering how many discs and how much material you're getting out of it. You get 11 feature-length films (although some of the features, like 'Sherlock, Jr.,' are under an hour long), 19 shorts, and an awesome bonus disc featuring commercials, later (sound) short films, a few introductions to some of his films from when they were aired on various television programs dedicated to silents, some of the silent shorts that were on the other discs but in more complete versions (thanks to missing footage that was discovered after they were initially reissued!), home movies (unfortunately the two sound-era ones have the audio cut off), photo galleries, and a whole lot more, adding up to over 3 hours total. It's certainly saving money in the long run, given how much more expensive it would be to acquire all of these discs separately (though I do sympathise with those who are upset they paid the regular price for them only to later have this boxed set come out).
For the most parts, the prints used are great, although there are moments I noticed on some of the shorts where there were some frames of less-than-stellar quality. However, given the age of the films involved, even if a first-class remastering team had worked with them, there's only so much they can do, and wouldn't you rather see some frames of sub-par pictorial quality than have these films lost like too many other films of this era are? I also agree that some of the musical scores weren't the most ideal (particularly the ones that made liberal use of annoying sound effects), but it was nothing unlistenable or that wildly inappropriate. I had only seen a few of Buster's features and shorts before buying this set, and made the plunge because the more I had seen of him, the more I'd liked and loved him. I love and relate to all of the major silent clowns (and some of the silent clowns who are no longer as well-known as they once were, like Max Linder and Charley Chase) in different ways, but if I had to pick a special favorite, the one I loved most, I would certainly pick Buster.
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