Showing posts with label Buster Keaton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buster Keaton. Show all posts
4/1/10
12/1/09
Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau was one of those nasty poseur types that infects too much of the arts. A failure as a poet and a filmmaker, he was not even original in his failure, with his films recycling many a gag that Buster Keaton perfected in the silent era. Cocteau, of course, never hit Keaton's heights.
Here's a documentary on the man.
11/30/09
Buster Keaton Montage
Although Charlie Chaplin had more depth in his art, as well more pathos, Buster Keaton was likely the more inventive filmmaker.
9/6/09
Cocteau's Shit
A clip from The Blood Of A Poet. If you watch enough Buster Keaton silent shorts, you see just how derivative the Frenchman was of Keaton- from Sherlock Jr. to The Electric House to Steamboat Bill.
Not only was Cocteau derivative, but he was inferior in terms of the special effects, even though his film came a decade after Keaton made it big.
5/27/09
Buster Keaton
Here is a classic short. Keaton was a master at reaction comedy, later embraced by Bob Newhart.
5/26/09
The Charlie Chaplin Festival
My mom died yesterday, on Memorial Day, and she was born in 1922. I don't think she was a big moviegoer, but she did mention seeing some Chaplin as a girl.
While not the best quality, these 4 shorts are vintage Tramp.
In recent decades, it has become chic to put Buster Keaton and even Harold Lloyd ahead of Chaplin in the Silent Comedy Trinity of greats. And, I love all three, having seen them all on the old Joe Franklin tv show in NYC, in the 1970s- along with the Keystone Kops, Fatty Arbuckle, Laurel and Hardy, etc. But, in truth, most of this is a backlash against Chaplin's supposed sentimentalism. Yes, The Great Dictator ends in a sappy fashion (however well wrought the final speech is).
The shorts show an almost vicious Tramp, and, while Lloyd was the more thrill seeking of the trio, and Keaton the more cerebral, they all played off of Chaplin's virtuoso schticks and balletic moves.
Chaplin was king, for a reason- he was simply better at more comedic things than anyone. As proof, of the Holy Trinity, only his career did not tank in the sound era. He was versatile, as well as funny.
While not the best quality, these 4 shorts are vintage Tramp.
In recent decades, it has become chic to put Buster Keaton and even Harold Lloyd ahead of Chaplin in the Silent Comedy Trinity of greats. And, I love all three, having seen them all on the old Joe Franklin tv show in NYC, in the 1970s- along with the Keystone Kops, Fatty Arbuckle, Laurel and Hardy, etc. But, in truth, most of this is a backlash against Chaplin's supposed sentimentalism. Yes, The Great Dictator ends in a sappy fashion (however well wrought the final speech is).
The shorts show an almost vicious Tramp, and, while Lloyd was the more thrill seeking of the trio, and Keaton the more cerebral, they all played off of Chaplin's virtuoso schticks and balletic moves.
Chaplin was king, for a reason- he was simply better at more comedic things than anyone. As proof, of the Holy Trinity, only his career did not tank in the sound era. He was versatile, as well as funny.
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