THIS PAGE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY PICPAL.COM THE PICTURE PALACE

Title Search:

Site Search:

Synopses | Article | Bibliography | Other Media | Home
Buster broods...

The Kino Collections

Note: The Railrodder/Buster Keaton Rides Again is now available. Look for it and other silent and sound films on video or do a name search with our new shopping cart at our database collection.
The filmmaker's hundredth birthday was big news, commemorated in a three-part series of releases called The Art of Buster Keaton! These are three boxed sets, though each tape is available individually as well. Prices vary for the sets because two volumes contain three tapes apiece, while the other contains four tapes. All films are silent with new sterling black-and-white digital masters and specially commissioned scores, from orchestral to experimental jazz. The breakdowns are as follows:

The Art of Buster Keaton Volume One

Single Cassettes: $29.99

Boxed Set (all 8 films on 3 tapes): $79.99

Remember, these are live stunts captured onscreen, and they are breathtaking. Watch Buster crack up against a brick wall in The Three Ages, break his neck in Sherlock, Jr. and practically drown in Our Hospitality - what a stubborn guy!

Our Hospitality

Buster plays a Northern suitor caught up in a Southern family feud. The wackiest character is a little local train resurrected as a period piece, on tracks that just won't go around what they can go up-n-over!
Sherlock Jr. debuts as the second feature and it proves worth the long, long, wait. A smalltown projectionist reads a manual on detective work, gets lost in thought and then lost inside the film he's showing. The tricks in this film were so intricate they had to be plotted out with surveyor's instruments! (appx. 119 min. total running time)

The Saphead

Everything was riding on this first feature, since Buster had to show he could carry more than two-reel gagfests. But the little "Stoneface" took over the lead role from Doug Fairbanks, and proved he could be a romantic hero, too.
Also on tap: One Week stars the pivoting house, with a carousel organ score by Gaylord Carter. Plus: you haven't seen the banana peel gag done to death 'til you've seen The High Sign! (appx. 118 min. total running time)

The Three Ages

Keaton thumbed his nose at D.W. Griffith's self-important "Intolerance" with three tales from the Stone Age, the Roman Empire and the Roaring Twenties. Wallace Beery is Bluto to Keaton's Popeye.
The Goat is another loose improvisation with Buster on the lam, without quite knowing why. Plus: Keaton was Irish, Cherokee and maybe a few other things, but he couldn't resist race jokes and they abound in My Wife's Relations. (appx. 111 min. total running time)

The Art of Buster Keaton Volume Two

Single Cassettes: $29.99

Boxed set (all 12 films on 4 tapes): $109.99

The Navigator

Buster got himself a ship and wandered around for awhile. Then he came up with this marvel, just off the top of his head; his personal favorite. The technical gags grew so involved that the famous deep-sea diving sequence had to be cut. Screening audiences were so involved in the story in this feature, they had no patience with Buster directing underwater traffic. Also on hand are two other nautical tales, The Boat and The Love Nest, which were both short subjects filmed in the very early 20s.

Seven Chances

This feature was also changed after early screenings. It was a cute series of mishaps and mistaken identities, but it lacked the rollicking final scene Buster wanted. When the first audience cracked up after Buster slid on a few rocks, he got the idea for the ultimate chase sequence. The would-be groom, who needs to marry by 7 PM in order to snag an inheritance, tries to evade a wave of volunteer brides -- only to run smack into an onslaught of boulders! Two shorts are included here, The Baloonatic and Neighbors, a little love story that makes ingenious use of fire escapes and other urban architectural details. (appx. 114 min. total running time)

Go West

Well, yeah, there's a girl in this movie, too, but the romantic lead is actually a heartsick cow. Watch what happens when all her bovine friends raise a ruckus! This film has the famous scene of Buster trying his darndest to smile, at gunpoint. He doesn't! You also get The Scarecrow (1920) and The Paleface (1921), two of his earliest shorts. (appx. 116 min. total running time)

Battling Butler

The fight sequence in this film is as ugly as anything in "Raging Bull" but without all that slo-mo. It scored at the box office better than any other of Keaton's features, probably because it followed its story right down the line. Alfie Butler must prove his love by winning a boxing match, but his training is full of goof-ups. With two shorter films, The Haunted House and The Frozen North. (appx. 115 min. total running time)

The Art of Buster Keaton Volume Three

Single Cassettes: $29.99

Boxed Set (all 10 films on 3 tapes): $79.99

The General

His best known film is accompanied by two spooky shorts, the hallucinatory The Playhouse and hundreds and hundreds of rampaging Cops! (appx. 120 min. total running time)

College

This is a studio film, alright, but it contains priceless sequences of Buster as a brilliantly inept soda jerk. The real find in this collection is Hard Luck, a short unavailable until the late 1980s! Also on hand are the The Electric House and The Blacksmith. (appx. 130 min. total running time)

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Hard luck in a high wind - watch out for that falling windowframe...and the wall attached to it! Daydreams brings those cops back from their lunch break and Convict 13 is simply unnerving. (appx. 115 min. total running time)
If you're a real nut for Buster, there are other less carefully preserved examples of Keaton's later work, especially from the sound era.
Last updated May 26, 1998.
back through exhibitup in hierarchydown in hierarchyforward through exhibit