Buster Keaton on DVD

[domino harvey]

The Stolen Jools is on many DVDs of public domain Laurel & Hardy material. No doubt most of the transfers would be horrendous, and incomplete (the little bits of song from “Maurice Chandelierâ€

I watched this fundraiser short today, though the copy I saw was clearly cut in some places (the first stanza of Barbara Stanwyck’s poem is missing and all but a brief shot of Chevalier remains). I think I liked this way more than most, but it helps the enjoyment level to be able to ID the insane run of cameos in this thing (some of which are completely forgotten today, even by those with strong knowledge of the era). But I was surprised at how funny it was— if anyone watching doesn’t crack up at the excellent opening sitcom skit of Wallace Beery as a corrupt LA cop answering distress calls, you might as well hit stop right away. It may be a mess, but compared to Hollywood’s other contemporary attempts at this like the Hollywood Revue of 1929, it’s practically Lubitsch

[Calvin]

Anybody know why Le roi des Champs-Élysées has never seen a release? It seems to have got a French VHS release but nothing since.

[Revelator]

There must still be some rights issues, since Le roi des Champs-Élysées is a no-brainer for release--a long-"lost" Keaton feature that's better than his MGM talkies. But I was glad that Keaton's other hard-to-find French film, Un duel à mort, was finally released on Kino's 2019 edition of Our Hospitality.

[swo17]

But I was glad that Keaton's other hard-to-find French film, Un duel à mort, was finally released on Kino's 2019 edition of Our Hospitality.

Thanks for pointing this out, I hadn't noticed!

[domino harvey]

Wrapped up my Keaton viewings this weekend with my remaining unseen silent features-- Seven Chances, Go West, Battling Butler, and Steamboat Bill Jr-- and I think watching these in close quarters exposes some of the flaws that prevented Keaton from surviving the transition to sound. Namely that I don't think it's that his persona couldn't translate, but that these later films are already running on fumes a bit. I liked three of the four, but only just "liked" and I don't think any of them compare in any way to his best works. I think the big problem that prevented Keaton from succeeding is that he's better suited to a short format-- even his best feature Sherlock Jr is practically a short, after all.

It doesn't help that three of these four movies are structured exactly the same, with few of the physical gags one expects and all energy seemingly saved for the grand scale of the finales, none of which I found funny in the slightest. Like, the spectacle of a bunch of cattle roaming LA is a funny idea but people being surprised by seeing cattle and running away over and over is not my idea of comic genius. Speaking of, I'd rank Go West as the worst of this quartet, because outside of Keaton's love of a cow that anticipates Nell's love of a horse, there doesn't appear to be any jokes. And Keaton being shit on over and over in these movies quickly wears thin as well.

Battling Butler was my favorite of these four but ironically though it was the only of the four without one, it probably could have used a manic epic ending instead of the rather deflating backstage boxing round. I was not surprised to learn Keaton tried to adapt it into a remake in the 40s, because the set-up is pure screwball and it's not hard to imagine a remake with a star even more ill-equipped to be a boxer (like, picture someone like Melvyn Douglas in this and it immediately gets much funnier) expanding the middle section

It is odd to me that no iteration of Seven Chances's source material that I've ever seen seems to fully exploit the comic potential of the scenario, which shouldn't be that hard. Imagine a film that leans into the impossible frustration of something which should be very easy (Convincing a stranger to marry you for part of a large fortune) by not turning to humiliation as shown here but instead a loony impenetrability to listen to reason on the part of all possible brides. And the film is rather mean-spirited to boot, with all the ugly crones gathering in the finale and the excessive, even for the time, racial-driven gags

Steamboat Bill Jr was a totally laugh-free affair for me but I was suitably impressed by the finale's series of stunts and it won me over in to the plus column by virtue of its excess, though these again seem more like victories of set design and special effects than the kind of creative physical comedy I crave from Keaton

I think the discs of Keaton's "Elmer" shorts will remain unwatched from me, as I don't want to remember him lower than these, and my understanding is that those are far, far beneath even the most wretched of his earlier works

[Drucker]

Revisited all of these over the last few years when the Masters of Cinema sets came out and I mostly agree with you, Dom. I love Steamboat Bill, but you're right it's probably one of the Keaton's I laugh at least, and the finale holds up the film. My most recent re-watch of Butler I enjoyed a great deal, and I don't remember much about Go West in all honestly.

However, I always ranked Seven Chances very highly, probably just a notch below my other favorite of full-length films. I never objected to Keaton's awkwardness being presented as the reason he seems to be offending women, and it seemed to me as always a situation of morals and "proper"-ness of the era. I love the scene of the women filling up the church while he is asleep there, and I think the boulders rolling down the hill scene is one of his best and exactly the kind that makes me laugh out loud.