Buster Keaton

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I saw Buster Keaton's The General on TV when I was a kid, probably in a butchered version; broadcasters in the 1960s were not kind to silent films. But some of Keaton's masterworks reappeared in theaters in the 1970s, in Raymond Rohauer's wonderful prints, and I saw as many as I could. I listed Sherlock Jr. as my favorite film if anyone asked and named my cat Buster (jocularly, Buster Kitten), although he was as clumsy as his namesake was deft. The San Francisco Silent Film Festival showed a lot of Keaton in 1995, including a dozen shorts I had not seen before. My list of films I have seen in theaters since 1982 includes 20 separate Keaton items as of November 2011.

When Keaton was the featured star of the month on Turner Classic Movies in October 2011, I recorded everything they showed: 46 items, about 33 hours of material, including 5 early two-reel shorts Keaton made with Roscoe Arbuckle (1917-1919), all 19 of the Buster Keaton Productions shorts (1920-1923), all 13 of Keaton's silent features (1920-1929), 8 talkies (starting 1929), and a documentary about Keaton's MGM years. In November 2011, I resolved to watch all this material (plus three later films) in chronological order and to reread my half-dozen books on Keaton, while recording my impressions for this page. It's a work in progress; to date I've written 5 reviews.


Online references:

My Keaton books:


Click on a heading below to sort the list accordingly. Click on a review date to show the review. Click here to show all the reviews.


Title Year Director Stars Time Silent Short Reviewed Comments
Battling Butler 1926 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton 61 silent
Li'l Abner 1940 Albert S. Rogell Jeff York
Martha O'Drisoll
78
What - No Beer? 1933 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton
Jimmy Durante
65
The Cameraman 1928 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton 76 silent
College 1927 James W. Horne Buster Keaton 65 silent
The Boat 1921 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 26 silent short
The Balloonatic 1923 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 27 silent short
Spite Marriage 1929 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton 76 silent
The Play House 1921 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton 22 silent short
The Scarecrow 1920 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 19 silent short
Our Hospitality 1923 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton
Natalie Talmadge
73 silent
Parlor, Bedroom and Bath 1931 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton
Charlotte Greenwood
Reginald Denny
73
My Wife's Relations 1922 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton 30 silent short
Neighbors 1921 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 18 silent short
The Frozen North 1922 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 17 silent short
Speak Easily 1932 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton
Jimmy Durante
Ruth Selwyn
81
The Electric House 1922 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 19 silent short
Free and Easy 1930 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton 93
Doughboys 1930 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton 80
Day Dreams 1922 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 18 silent short
Cops 1922 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton
Virginia Fox
19 silent short
Sherlock Jr. 1924 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton
Kathryn McGuire
44 silent
The Three Ages 1923 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton
Wallace Beery
63 silent
The Sidewalks of New York 1931 Jules White Buster Keaton
Anita Page
74
The General 1927 Buster Keaton
Clyde Bruckman
Buster Keaton
Marion Mack
75 silent
Convict 13 1920 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 20 silent short
The Goat 1921 Buster Keaton
Malcolm St. Clair
Buster Keaton 27 silent short
The Navigator 1924 Donald Crisp
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Kathryn McGuire
60 silent
Sunset Boulevard 1950 Billy Wilder William Holden
Gloria Swanson
110
One Week 1920 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 25 silent short
Go West 1925 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton 69 silent
The Paleface 1922 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton 21 silent short
Hard Luck 1921 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 22 silent short
The Passionate Plumber 1932 Edward Sedgwick Buster Keaton
Jimmy Durante
74
The Haunted House 1921 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 21 silent short
The Saphead 1920 Herbert Blaché Buster Keaton 77 silent
The High Sign 1921 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton 21 silent short
Seven Chances 1925 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton 56 silent
Steamboat Bill Jr. 1928 Charles F. Reisner Buster Keaton 69 silent
She Went to the Races 1945 Willis Goldbeck James Craig
Ava Gardner
Buster Keaton
86
Limelight 1952 Charles Chaplin Charles Chaplin
Claire Bloom
137
So Funny it Hurt 2004 Kevin Brownlow
Christopher Bird
Buster Keaton 38 documentary; color
The Blacksmith 1922 Buster Keaton Buster Keaton 21 silent short
The Love Nest 1923 Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Virginia Fox
20 silent short
Coney Island 1917 Roscoe Arbuckle Roscoe Arbuckle
Buster Keaton
Al St. John
26 silent short 11/06/11
The Bell Boy 1918 Roscoe Arbuckle Roscoe Arbuckle
Buster Keaton
Al St. John
20 silent short 11/07/11
Good Night, Nurse 1918 Roscoe Arbuckle Roscoe Arbuckle
Buster Keaton
19 silent short 11/10/11
Back Stage 1919 Roscoe Arbuckle Roscoe Arbuckle
Buster Keaton
17 silent short 11/11/11
The Garage 1920 Roscoe Arbuckle Roscoe Arbuckle
Buster Keaton
25 silent short 12/27/11