But while the movie initially proved to be a commercial disappointment, it was later hailed as a pioneering piece of filmmaking. All three produced, controlled and owned their own films. Keaton was the full force behind the film, writing and directing it. The three top comedians in silent-era Hollywood were Keaton, Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. The lineup also included what is perhaps his finest creation, The General (1927), which starred Keaton as a train engineer in the Civil War. In 1923 Keaton started making full-length features such as The Three Ages (1923) and Sherlock, Jr. In 1920 Keaton struck out on his own as a filmmaker, first with a series of two-reelers that included the now-classic One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921) and Cops (1922). BUSTERS CENTURY Films in this Series Buster Keaton OUR HOSPITALITY Buster Keaton GO WEST -with- ONE WEEK Buster Keaton STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.
I cleared time on my calendar to read it cover to cover. It was an apprenticeship of sorts and through it, Keaton was given full access to the movie-making process. BUSTER KEATON: A FILMMAKER’S LIFE by James Curtis (Knopf)At more than 600 pages, this is not the kind of book one takes up casually. Still, film called to Keaton, and for the next two years, he continued to work closely with Arbuckle for $40 a week. The FilmmakerĮven in his first film, a 1917 two-reeler called The Butcher Boy starring Roscoe ("Fatty") Arbuckle, Keaton was extreme slapstick, with the young actor being subjected to a range of abuses, from being submerged in molasses to getting bit by a dog. At the time, the area had become a destination for vaudevillian performers and the community inspired the young entertainer. "It was the roughest knockout act that was ever in the history of the theater," he later said of the performances he did with his parents.īeginning in 1907, Keaton spent many childhood summers in Muskegon, Michigan, where his father had helped established The Actors Colony.
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