Vancouver, BC:
Bruce Calvert
In conjunction with The Divine Comedy, the Pacific Cinematheque will present
three nights of film by legendary silent film star Buster Keaton, including some
of his finest feature films and most memorable “two-reelers,” from February 26
to 28, 1131 Howe Street, Vancouver.
http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca/JanFeb04/keaton.html
In conjunction with the Vancouver Art Gallery’s “The Divine Comedy” exhibition,
Pacific Cinémathèque is pleased to present three days devoted to the very best
of Buster Keaton’s remarkable cinema. Comprised of three of his finest feature
films and three of his most memorable short-form “two-reelers,” this series
showcases the towering talents of an artist who ranks with Charlie Chaplin as
one of the great comic geniuses of the silent era, and who “must be reckoned
among the great figures in the arts of the twentieth century” (David Robinson).
Keaton, like Chaplin, was a brilliant performer. Unlike Chaplin – whose
wonderful films are essentially filmed records of his great comic persona –
Keaton was also a consummate filmmaker. Keaton insisted that comedy should be
founded in dramatic logic and integrity, and grounded in character, plot and
credible narrative. His work as a director is inventive and polished, displaying
innovative use of camera and props, amazing “comic trajectories” (the extended,
elaborate, exhilarating comic sequences that are Keaton’s trademark), and
daring, often dangerous physical comedy. His mature work, in particular, is
distinguished by a general technical virtuosity: pictorial beauty, fluid
editing, detailed production design, and impressive use of locations.
This short series, drawing from one of the most entertaining and comically
convulsive bodies of film work ever produced, captures one of cinema’s great
geniuses at the peak of his achievement.
The Divine Comedy at The Vancouver Art Gallery January 24 - April 25, 2004
Beginning January 24, 2004, the Vancouver Art Gallery presents The Divine
Comedy, an exhibition of diverse works of art exploring the relationship between
comedy and violence, laughter and tears. It brings together the work of three
artists representing dramatically different historical periods and artistic
backgrounds: Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya, silent film comedy
legend Buster Keaton, and contemporary South African artist William Kentridge.
From the 19th century Spanish court to the psychic landscape of post-apartheid
South Africa, these artists explore the changing social and political landscapes
of their times through satire, dark comedy and the absurd. For more information,
please visit www.vanartgallery.bc.ca.
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The Navigator
USA 1924. Directors: Buster Keaton, Donald Crisp
Cast: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom, Noble Johnson, Clarence
Burton
The biggest commercial success of Buster Keaton’s career is also one of his
finest and funniest works, and features what is the biggest and most elaborate
prop in the amazing Keaton canon. Buster plays spoilt millionaire Rollo
Treadway, so pampered and helpless he can’t even shave himself. Kathryn McGuire
is his estranged sweetheart, equally spoilt, equally helpless – she doesn’t know
how to boil water. When circumstances conspire to strand the two rich kids on a
deserted ocean liner adrift at sea, the stage is set for a series of hilarious,
brilliantly inventive misadventures, as the huge ship proves to have a
malevolent mind of its own. The Navigator’s central prop is an actual ocean
liner rescued from the scrap heap by Keaton and his technical director Fred
Gabourie; the film was written around their serendipitous discovery. Keaton is
said to have regarded The Navigator as second only to The General amongst his
work. “One of the greatest comedies ever made” (Pauline Kael). “One of the
masterpieces of silent-film comedy. Certainly its theme – man at the mercy of
The Machine – is even more pertinent today than it was in 1924” (Rudi Blesh).
B&W, 35mm, silent with music track. 63 mins.
preceded by
ONE WEEK
USA 1920. Directors: Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline.
Newlywed Buster spends seven disastrous days attempting to build a
do-it-yourself house, with surreal results. Often cited as Keaton’s first
masterpiece, it was also the first of his solo two-reelers to be released.
“Beautifully composed . . . an accelerating merry-go-round of catastrophes”
(David Robinson). B&W, 35mm, silent with music track. 20 mins.
Thursday, February 26 – 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 28 – 9:15 pm
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The General
USA 1926. Directors: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
Cast: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Frederick Vroom
Buster Keaton’s The General stands, with Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, as one of the
two great comic epics of the silent era; some hold it to be the best screen
comedy ever made. The film is set in the American South during the Civil War,
and features the Great Stone Face as a civilian train engineer, wrongly accused
of cowardice, who rescues a locomotive hijacked by Union agents. Keaton’s gift
for complicated – and often dangerous – physical comedy was never more
astonishing, and the film has been praised as masterful on virtually every
level, including its Mathew Brady-like evocation of the Civil War. Brilliant.
B&W, 35mm, silent with music track. 85 mins.
preceded by
THE BOAT
USA 1921. Directors: Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline.
One of Keaton’s best, this work of “incomparable comic gloom” (Tom Dardis)
features Buster, a boat, and a string of sidesplitting disasters. “Rank[s] with
the great feature-length comedies . . . No Keaton film previous to The Boat was
quite so sustained in its melancholy; or provided such continuous laughter”
(David Robinson). B&W, 35mm, silent with music track. 20 mins.
Thursday, February 26 – 9:10 pm
Friday, February 27 – 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 28 – 5:00 pm
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Steamboat Bill Jr.
USA 1928. Director: Charles Reisner
Cast: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Tom Lewis, Tom McGuire, Marion Byron
Keaton’s last independent feature (his production company was subsequently
acquired by MGM), Steamboat Bill Jr. has Buster as a college-educated sissy
reunited with his father, a gruff, burly, Mississippi riverboat captain deeply
disappointed by his diminutive son’s foppish ways. The film’s striking technical
polish and beautifully detailed, authentic depiction of small-town Southern life
are characteristic of Keaton’s finest work. One particularly memorable comic
scene – “peerless and much imitated” (Pauline Kael) – has Keaton hilariously
trying on a series of hats. The delirious, death-defying cyclone climax is one
of most celebrated sequences in Keaton’s work – and “surely one of the most
fantastic dithyrambs of disaster ever committed to film” (Rudi Blesh). “Stands
comparison with The General for invention and symmetry, and the great whirlwind
and flood finale marks the apogee of Keaton’s most spectacular work with props”
(David Robinson). B&W, 35mm, silent with music track. 70 mins.
preceded by
COPS
USA 1922. Directors: Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline.
An epic, comic, Kafkaesque tale of a lone man pitted against fate – and hordes
of policemen – Cops is one of Keaton’s most celebrated two-reelers, and
demonstrates the dark edge that makes his work still seem so modern. “One of
Keaton’s greatest achievements” (Tom Dardis). B&W, 35mm, silent with music
track. 20 mins.
Friday, February 27 – 9:30 pm
Saturday, February 28 – 7:30 pm
Bruce Calvert
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http://home.comcast.net/~silentfilm/home.htm
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