२८ जानेवारी, २०२२

"Joseph Frank Keaton spent his youth in his parents’ knockabout vaudeville act; by the time he was eight, it basically consisted of his father, Joe, picking him up and throwing him..."

"... against the set wall. Joe would announce, 'It just breaks a father’s heart to be rough,' and he’d hurl Buster—already called this because of his stoicism—across the stage. 'Once, during a matinee performance... he innocently slammed the boy into scenery that had a brick wall directly behind it.' That 'innocently' is doing a lot of work, but all this brutality certainly conveyed a basic tenet of comedy: treating raw physical acts, like a kick in the pants, in a cerebral way is funny. 'I wait five seconds—count up to ten slow—grab the seat of my pants, holler bloody murder, and the audience is rolling in the aisles,' Keaton later recalled. 'It was The Slow Thinker. Audiences love The Slow Thinker.' A quick mind impersonating the Slow Thinker: that was key to his comic invention. The slowness was a sign of a cautious, calculating inner life. Detachment in the face of disorder remained his touchstone.... It was only when Joe started drinking too hard and got sloppy onstage that, in 1917, the fastidious Buster left him and went out on his own. It was the abuse of the art form that seemed to offend him."

From "What Made Buster Keaton’s Comedy So Modern?/Whereas Chaplin’s vision was essentially theatrical, Keaton’s was specific to the screen—he moved like the moving pictures" by Adam Gopnik (The New Yorker).

२५ टिप्पण्या:

Saint Croix म्हणाले...

Buster is the man! From my movie book...

The Navigator (1924) Charlie Chaplin is considered the Artist of the silent era, but I will always be a Buster man. He's funnier than Chaplin, not sentimental at all.

When Buster was two years old, he started acting on the vaudeville circuit with his family. His father sewed a luggage handle onto the back of Buster's jacket so he could cart him around and throw him. People thought that was hilarious.

Buster does all his own stunts, and his timing is impeccable. Lot of sight gags here: cannibals, a fight with an octopus, Buster in a diving suit from the stone age. Buster Keaton is the model for the Hitchcock rule on cinema: put your hero in melodramatic situations and have him underplay his emotions. This style fits Buster like a glove. The situations are extreme, and Old Stone Face takes it all in stride.

Forget his arty reputation. Jackie Chan and Jim Carrey and Three Stooges fans should check out Buster's work. He's a slapstick genius. The Navigator was the biggest hit of Buster’s career. See it and you’ll know why.

Kai Akker म्हणाले...

Joe throws Buster across the stage, off into the physical set construction.

Joe becomes a drunk and gets sloppy and careless.

Buster leaves the act.

Because "the abuse of the art form seemed to offend him."

Adam Gopnik's conclusion is not a good advert for reading the full article.

David Begley म्हणाले...

Buster Keaton in The New Yorker? Did they run out of Trump stories?

Saint Croix म्हणाले...

Spite Marriage (1928) Buster again. This was his last silent film, it's so good I watched it two days in a row, giggling all the way through it. It's a shame Buster didn't make the transition to sound. He has a wonderful voice, full of gravel and rocks. Here Buster is funny from beginning to end. The small, quiet bits are some of the funniest. When he tries to put on a fake beard. Or when he tries to put his new wife, passed out from alcohol, in bed. His co-star (Dorothy Sebastian) is amazing. Her comedy is very physical and sexual. At one point she seduces four men in a row so that Buster can knock them out with a wine bottle. She's funny as a drunk, putting her hand on a waiter's face and shoving it. (That's how you do it, Cagney). And she's like a lump of potatoes when Buster tries to put her in bed. She doesn't hold back at all, unusual for the era. She and Buster had an affair and dated for years, and she would act in three more movies with him. Most of Keaton's movies have one or two wild outlandish scenes that are unforgettable. This film is not as wild as some of Keaton's other work, but it's funnier, and more satisfying. And the score is pitch perfect.

Saint Croix म्हणाले...

College (1927) Buster has a little guy persona. He's an athlete, but he's also a little guy, and he works it. When Buster gets in a fight with somebody, it's always a big guy, and the fight is so uneven, it's always funny. Here Buster's character is a scholar and a bit of a mama's boy. One of the pleasures of Buster's cinema is to watch him vanquish bigger, larger foes through pure tenacity and determination. It's uplifting. Here Buster tries to prove his manhood to a girl through competitive sports, with disastrous results, but he keeps trying and trying and finally winning. One of the few stunts Buster did not do was the pole vault through the window. He got an Olympic pole-vaulter to do that one.

Saint Croix म्हणाले...

Sherlock, Jr. (1924) Buster again. Here he plays a projectionist, and the coolest part of the movie is a nightmare sequence. Buster is trapped in a movie, and the background keeps changing behind him, from one movie to the next. Buster's timing is impeccable, he gives you the illusion that he is actually transported along with the background. I also dig the bit when Buster rides through crowded streets on top of handlebars of a motorcycle nobody is driving. Hey, that looks dangerous. Buster's films often finish with a whirlwind, amazing climax. Here we see the most amazing stunts Buster ever did. Wow. Wow wow wow.

Saint Croix म्हणाले...

Seven Chances (1925) Buster is really a modernist. What other silent film gets remade in the modern era? That lame-ass Irishman, Chris O'Donnell, starred in The Bachelor in 1999. You’re a sad, lost soul if you've seen that movie and not this one. Buster will inherit seven million dollars, but only if he gets married by seven p.m. Various women get wind of his predicament, and offer to help him out. By the end of the movie Buster is chased by a thousand women in bridal dresses. Is it misogynist? I don't know, but it's damn funny.

Not to go all Freudian on you, but many of us men have a hidden fear of you women. You remind us of this giant woman who gave birth to us. Freaky, man. What if you swallow us up again? Yikes. And Keaton taps into this secret man fear, of the rapacious woman who wants you so bad. No, sorry, the thousand rapacious women who want you so bad. In bridal dresses. The bridal dresses crack me up.

Saint Croix म्हणाले...

Go West (1928) Once more into the Buster well. If it seems like I'm a little biased, yeah, okay, I am. But also Buster was pretty damn prolific. Chaplin waits five years in between movies. Buster would make two, three movies a year, and when he was bored he would do stunts for other people just for kicks. Boy that would piss MGM off. I bet I haven't seen half of Buster's oeuvre, man. You know the story about a bull in a china shop? Buster's like, hey, let's put a bull in a china shop. We've got an entire stampede of cattle, chasing Buster through a city. Too funny. Not as funny as brides, but pretty funny. You know the wild endings of Animal House and Blazing Saddles, with all the chaos? Buster topped 'em, with endings that are so chaotic and cool you won't believe it.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Aruistotle Onassis looked at buying Keaton's home. Aristotle contemplating the home of Buster.

gilbar म्हणाले...

When i watch a Buster Keaton movie, my first thought is ALWAYS
"WOW! special effects were AWESOME back then! That really looked Real!"

William म्हणाले...

I recently saw The General. It's got quite a wow factor. Those stunts weren't CGI. He actually did them and lived them. It's quite a feat to work without a net on the high wire, but it's even more impressive to do pratfalls and low comedy. on the high wire. Booze, cigarettes, and crazy stunts. He was lucky to break seventy.... Sadly though, in the movie Buster not only fights for the Confederate side but the Confederates are portrayed in a sympathetic manner. I'm afraid this movie has to be taken out of circulation. It triggers too many unwelcome responses.

Grant म्हणाले...

I recently watched A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and I thought Keaton’s performance was sad and dispiriting, out of sync with the rest of the cast. But after reading this article it seems the director may have gotten exactly what he was after. I’m not sure it worked, but it makes more sense to me now.

Lloyd W. Robertson म्हणाले...

Great stuff. When I google "The Slow Thinker" and vaudeville, I get ethnic stereotypes: the recent immigrant, in more ways than one a "little guy," struggling to get ahead, using his wits. Sometimes a "Negro" recently arrived from the South--there is no reference to race in the Gopnik/New Yorker piece. I like the idea that the Marx Brothers were the struggling, witty immigrants, and even Chaplin the Cockney played this card, but Buster was the man of older WASP stock threatened by the "new America." The cities, technology--it all threatens to become too much. Yet the movies are also new technology, and you can see a love for much of this, or a sense that it is hard not to fall in love with it. Sherlock Jr. is incredible--a movie within a movie. Some things Buster did have been imitated, but not improved upon.

Fandor म्हणाले...

Keaton endures from the early days and comes out on top. Chaplin was the genius of the era. Harold Lloyd was the most popular in the 20s. Harry Langdon (with Frank Capra's direction) had a brief rise. Raymond Griffith, the silk hat comedian, was brilliant and has yet to be rediscovered.
The so called silent era is full of visual treasures.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

The day-to-dayness of Vaudeville really helped cement in a performer's mind what works with an audience. Kind of like the Day-to-dayness of a blog.
Althouse as the Buster Keaton of blogging, I guess.

Gerda Sprinchorn म्हणाले...

Lot of sight gags here: ... Buster in a diving suit

Buster in a diving suit wearing a straw hat

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/da/5d/49/da5d498528622fd9f8b4f735617124a8.jpg

Fandor म्हणाले...

Rhardin...ha, ha! Good one!

David Bakin म्हणाले...

My absolute favorite: One Week (1920) - it's short so watch the whole thing: One Week on youtube. The whole thing is hilarious but wait for the bang ending!

rcocean म्हणाले...

Keaton was a comic genius. He signed up with MGM and they ruined his art by turning him mainstream and interfering with him.

As for Keaton v. chaplin v. Harold Lloyd. I like chaplin the least. In fact, except for "city lights" and "Limelight" and don't really care for his movies. Each one has some very funny SCENES, but other 60-70 minutes usually bore me. Keaton is always inventive and the best at pure comedy. Lloyd, I like best, since he is not only funny, he keeps the humor coming and the non-humor scenes are usually well done.

Also, Keaton and Lloyd wanted to make you laugh. Chaplin wants to preach at you. capitalism bad. Fascism bad. HUAC is bad. Big Business is just like murder. Etc.

Aggie म्हणाले...

Keaton's life is a study of early Hollywood - the making of startdom and the seamy backstories. He led a modest life after the silent films and you could see his hunger to work when he got the occasional bit part in more modern films, or was interviewed. He was just a highly talented, highly creative, hard-working guy. He didn't think of himself as a star or as somebody special. There was no glamour to him - just working-class genius. The Gershwins were the same way, busting ass and being geniuses at the same time.

PM म्हणाले...

Thank TCM for periodically running Keaton's work as well as a great doc about his career. "The General" is just stupid great. Locomotive, bridge, river + + + more.

Tom T. म्हणाले...

Much later, Keaton had a role in a comical episode of the Twilight Zone.

His problem was that he was typecast as himself. He couldn't show up in a more modern project without audiences thinking, "there's Buster Keaton!"

Saint Croix म्हणाले...

My absolute favorite: One Week (1920) - it's short so watch the whole thing

Agreed! One Week is amazing. Buster made a lot of shorts. Movie lengths had a lot of variety back then. Two of the best shorts I've ever seen are One Week and W.C. Fields in The Dentist.

Both of those guys (along with the Marx brothers) went from vaudeville to Hollywood. I've never seen Fields in a silent movie, I don't think that form would work for him very well. Or the Marx brothers either, for that matter.

Buster made a lot of shorts. Made some with Fatty Arbuckle. This was before Arbuckle was arrested and charged with murder. (I've been meaning to read Room 1219 about that crime).

Anyway, Fatty does not seem particularly funny to me, but Buster makes me laugh out loud (of course).

One Week is still the best Keaton short I've seen. Cops is funny, too, although not quite as sublime as One Week.

grimson म्हणाले...

Both "Film" and "Notfilm" are currently streaming on the Criterion Channel. "Film" is a Samuel Beckett short film with Keaton; you should expect a Beckett experience instead of a Keaton one. More interesting to me was "Notfilm," a video essay about both Keaton and "Film."

Kai Akker म्हणाले...

I had 15 minutes so I read the NYer article. I can see why none of the comments here relate to it. I don't know where the line gets drawn between commenting and sh*tting on the post. But that guy is tedious! To be sure. So tedious! Ow, it hurt to read his thickened porridge. One man's reaction.