Thinking about Buster, The General in particular is truly spectacular and, like the Harold Lloyd features, is made to be seen on the big screen with an SRO audience. It's noteworthy that none of the Keaton silent or sound feature films actually lost money, just that some were massive box office smashes and others were modest hits that did not make a huge profit.
Specifically for this year's blogathon, Silver 17 Productions produced a trailer based on the 1918 film The Cook, one of the very successful Comique Productions "knockabout comedy to outdo all competing knockabout comedies" short subjects starring Roscoe Arbuckle, Buster Keaton and Al St. John, all somersaulting their way through the 20 minute running times. Yours truly remembers classic movie buff Johnny Carson running clips from this on The Tonight Show way back when!
Here's a rundown of the scholarly, enjoyable and well-written posts about The Great Stone Face that were posted in The Sixth Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon. Enjoy reading them!
Ben Model’s Blog | Buster Keaton Inspires Don Lockwood and Undercranking Study: Buster Keaton Trails a Suspect
Big V Riot Squad | The Saphead
Cameras Against Humanity | Keaton and the Kuleshov Effect
Century Film Project | Convict 13
Critica Retro | Sherlock Jr
The Everyday Cinephile | The Cameraman
Groovy Like a Silent Movie | Essay on Buster’s fandom
Kino Joan | Sherlock Jr
Movie Crash Course | The General
MovieMovieBlogBlog II | The General
MovieRob | The Stolen Jools
Silent-ology | Reviewing all of Buster’s 1930s Educational shorts
Talk About Cinema | The Railrodder and Buster Keaton Rides Again
Taking Up Room | In the Good Old Summertime
Thoughts of One Truly Loved |The Navigator
Way Too Damn Lazy To Write a Blog | Speak Easily
The Wonderful World Of Cinema | Day Dreams
This writer is floored about so many things regarding the cinema icon, not the least of which that a quarter of a century after his biggest box office hits on the silver screen, Buster worked and worked and worked and then worked some more through the television era and right up to his passing in 1966. It is rare to find an appearance of Keaton's that is not touched by his comic genius and astonishing talent for acrobatics. Am always stunned to find yet another film or TV show Buster appeared in that I had never seen or heard of.
Buster was nothing if not prolific!
In case any non-Damfinos, non-silent cinema or non-classic movie buffs somehow find their way to this very under-the-radar blog by mistake, here are books we highly recommend for more info on Buster's silver screen legacy :
Buster Keaton's Silent Shorts: 1920-1923 by James L. Neibaur and Terry Neimi
Buster Keaton The Persistence Of Comedy by Imogen Sara Smith
The Great Movie Comedians by Leonard Maltin
There is also a new book by Steve Massa about Roscoe Arbuckle the director.
Mr. Arbuckle, during his "William Goodrich" years, directed complete films and sequences of films starring his Comique Productions mates Buster Keaton and Al St. John through the 1920's and early 1930's.
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