Buster Keaton
(To order eMail CHAFIN@COMCAST.NET)
The astonishing career of Buster Keaton - from vaudeville to silents, through talking pictures and television - spanned more than 60 years. One of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the 20s, Keaton has been rediscovered by new generations, and hailed as a comic genius. His films have been recognized as classics.
Buster made his screen debut in 1917. With his deadpan expression and incredible stuntwork, he quickly became an audience favorite. He soon moved from costarring roles in two-reelers to feature-length comedies. By the mid-20s he claimed his place with Charlie Chaplin as one of the masters of screen comedy. Successful, wealthy and world renowned, Buster Keaton was one of the top stars of the 20s. He released his comic masterpiece The General in 1926, the film he was more proud of than any other in his career. But when his contract was sold to MGM and he lost creative control of his films, his fortunes began to slip. Fights with his producers and marital problems pushed him over the edge into alcoholism and unemployment. Keaton returned to MGM in the 30s as a mere gag writer, but rediscovery by film critic James Agee in 1949 transformed his life, sparking a revival of his films, and a series of guest shots and special appearances on television. In 1959 he received an honorary Academy Award, and continued appearing in films until his death in 1966. Being called a "genius" made him uncomfortable... "I never realized that I was doing anything but trying to make people laugh," he said.
On this special page devoted to the great Buster Keaton, we offer in DVD ntsc Region 1 and VHS many of his most popular and critically acclaimed movies. They are all in the public domain. In DVD or VHS the first one is $14.99... then each additional movie is $9.99. US media shipping per DVD or VHS is $2.23 - priority is $4.80.
(SPECIAL PRICING is available to EDUCATORS of English, Drama, Film... eMail us for details)
The
Balloonatic
1923 ~ B&W ~ 22 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
Buster, the city slicker, is carried into
the wilderness by a rogue hot air balloon. Written and Directed by Buster
Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also features Phyllis Haver.
The
Blacksmith
1920 ~ B&W ~ 20 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
In this parody on rural efficiency,
Buster plays a blacksmith who applies assembly line tactics to the outfitting of
horses. Written and Directed by Buster Keaton and Mal St. Clair.
The Boat
1920 ~ B&W ~ 20 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
Buster and his family are reduced to a
primeval struggle to survive aboard a nightmarish vessel, the infamous "Damfino."
Written and Directed by Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also
features Sybil Sealey.
Boom In The
Moon
1946 ~ B&W ~ 83 minutes ~ Sound
The
one and only "Great Stone Face" gets shanghaied to fly a spaceship to
the moon. English dubbed. Dir. Jaime Salvador. Buster
Keaton, Angel Garasa, Fernando Soto.
The Buster
Keaton Show
This rare piece is a kinescope of a live
production that was produced by the California Studebaker dealers and
stars the lovable stoneface. On this one Buster learns the hard way not to be
seen with the wife of a boxer, particularly when he has to climb in the ring
with him. Features the original live car commercials. B&W ~ 30 minutes ~
1950s.
College
1927 ~ B&W ~ 65 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
Buster plays Ronald, a college freshman
who, in order to impress the girl of his drams, tries out for all college
sports, producing a series of hilarious funny athletic failures and a triumphant
finale. Directed by James W. Horne. Also features Ann Cornwall, Snitz
Edwards, Harold Goodwin.
Cops
1920 ~ B&W ~ 18 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
The most famous Keaton short is an epic
straight-out chase in which hundreds of uniformed police join in hot pursuit of
the elusive Buster. Written and Directed by Buster Keaton and Eddie
Cline. Also features Virginia Fox.
Daydreams
1920 ~ B&W ~ 18 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
Buster copes with an animal hospital, a
steamboat paddle wheel and an army of pursuing policemen. Written and Directed
by Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also features Renee
Adoree.
The Electric
House
1922 ~ B&W ~ 27 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
A botanist who is mistakenly awarded a
degree in engineering, Buster agrees to install electricity in a millionaire's
house. Written and Directed by Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also
features Virginia Fox.
The General
1927 ~ B&W ~ 107 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
The greatest of Keaton films. Both a
dramatic comedy and an authentic-looking period drama. Buster plays an engineer
whose love is divided between his girl, Annabellle, and his locomotive, The
General. Written and directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman.
Also features Marian Mack.
Li'l Abner
1940 ~ B&W ~ 90 minutes ~ Sound
The most eligible bachelor in Dog Patch,
Li'l Abner, is being chased by sweetheart Daisy Mae who wants to marry
him. Features Granville Owen, Martha Driscoll, Buster Keaton,
Kay Sutton, Edgar Kennedy, Lucien Littlefield. Directed by Marcel
Pagnol.
The Love Nest
1923 ~ B&W ~ 20 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
In a dream Buster enjoys adventures in
the high seas and under them only to wake up moored safely to the dock in his
small motor boat. Written and Directed by Buster Keaton.
My Wife's
Relations
1922 ~ B&W ~ 30 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
A biting comedy of domestic turmoil that
seems to reflect some of the tensions between Keaton and the Talmadges, his real
life in-Laws at the time (Natalie, his wife, and her sisters Norma and
Constance, the matriarchal Hollywood clan of the day). Written and Directed by Buster
Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also features Kate Price.
The Paleface
1923 ~ B&W ~ 20 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
Thanks to asbestos underwear, Buster is
accepted by rampaging Indians as a minor god. He becomes top brave and a target
of pursuit by rival Indians and land-grabbers. Written and Directed by Buster
Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also features Joe Roberts.
The Playhouse
1920 ~ B&W ~ 22 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
Keaton plays the audience, the orchestra
and the performers of a small playhouse, an aggregate of about two dozen
characterizations in this brilliant tour de force. Written and Directed by Buster
Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also features Virginia Fox.
Steamboat
Bill Jr.
1928 ~ B&W ~ 69 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
Filled with hilariously innovative sight
gags, this is undoubtedly Keaton's most accomplished performance. A bit of
Americana about two feuding riverboat owners and focusing also on the father-son
relationship between tough, burly Captain Bill Canfield and his long lost son.
Directed by Carl Harbaugh. Also features Ernest Torrence, Marion
Byron, Tom McGuire.
Three Ages
1923 ~ B&W ~ 63 minutes ~ Silent with Musical Score
A brilliant historical satire teeming
with inventive flourishes, this is a silent comedy of truly epic proportions.
This clever parody of D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance" follows
Buster's hard-luck romantic misadventures throughout world history: from the
dawn of man in the Stone Age, through the gladiatorial arenas of Ancient Rome to
the streets of the American Jazz Era. By flavoring the ancient stories with bits
of modern comedy (like the spare tire with which Buster repairs his chariot),
Keaton forged an original approach to history, humor, and cinema that
foreshadowed the Mel Brooks and Monty Python films that followed half a century
later. Directed by Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline. Also features Wallace
Beery, Margaret Leahy, Joe Roberts.
The above, on DVD or VHS the first one is $14.99... then each additional movie is $9.99. US media shipping per DVD or VHS is $1.84 - priority is $3.85.
(SPECIAL PRICING is available to EDUCATORS of English, Drama, Film... eMail us for details)
Buster
Keaton
A Hard Act To Follow
A Documentary
This is the excellent,
highly acclaimed, very rare documentary on Buster Keaton commissioned by
the BBC in 1987. Running 156 minutes in color and black and white, the
documentary is divided into three parts:
From Vaudeville To
Movies
Includes rare footage and scenes from "The
Butcher Boy" (1917), "One Week" (1920), "The Playhouse"
(1921), "Sherlock Jr." (1924), "Our Hospitality" (1923 and
"The Navigator" (1924).
Star Without A Studio
Rare footage and Scenes from "Seven
Chances" (1925), "The General" (1926), "Free and Easy"
(1930), "Speak Easily" (1932) and "Grand Slam Opera" (1936).
A Genius Recognized
Rare Footage and clips from "Hollywood
Cavalcade" (1939), "The Buster Keaton Story" (1957), "The
Railrodder" (1965), "Film" (1965) and "A Funny Thing
Happened On The Way To The Forum" (1966).
Recorded from BBC
Television, Out of Print. DVD ntsc Region 1 (US). Narrated by Lindsay Anderson, Music by Carl Davis,
Written and Produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill. Made in association
with Raymond Rohauer.
156 Minutes.
To order please email: chafin@comcast.net
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(SPECIAL PRICING is available to EDUCATORS of English, Drama, Film... eMail us for details)
PayPal welcome or send Money Order or Check to: Al Chafin, 116 Bay Hill Ct, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082-3602.
This Site Was Last Updated 05/13/2008
