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The Theater and Cinema of Buster Keaton
Famous for their stunts, gags, and images, Buster Keaton's silent films have enticed everyone from Hollywood movie fans to the surrealists, such as Dalí and Buñuel. Here Robert Knopf offers an unprecedented look at the wide-ranging appeal of Keaton's genius, considering his vaudeville roots and his ability to integrate this aesthetic into the techniques of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1920s. When young Buster was being hurled about the stage by his comically irate father in the family's vaudeville act, The Three Keatons, he was perfecting his acrobatic skills, timing, visual humor, and trademark "stone face." As Knopf demonstrates, such theatrics would serve Keaton well as a film director and star. By isolating elements of vaudeville within works that have previously been considered "classical," Knopf reevaluates Keaton's films and how they function.
The book combines vivid visual descriptions and illustrations that enable us to see Keaton at work staging his memorable images and gags, such as a three-story wall collapsing on him ( Steamboat Bill, Jr. , 1928) and an avalanche of boulders chasing him down a mountainside ( Seven Chances , 1925). Knopf explains how Keaton's stunts and gags served as fanciful departures from his films' storylines and how they nonetheless reinforced a strange sense of reality, that of a machine-like world with a mind of its own. In comparison to Chaplin and Lloyd, Keaton made more elaborate use of natural locations. The scene in The Navigator, for example , where Buster brandishes a swordfish to fend off another swordfish derives much of its power from actually being shot under water. Such "hyper-literalism" was but one element of Keaton's films that inspired the surrealists.
Exploring Keaton's influence on Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel, Federico García Lorca, and Robert Desnos, Knopf suggests that Keaton's achievement extends beyond Hollywood into the avant-garde. The book concludes with an examination of Keaton's late-career performances in Gerald Potterton's The Railrodder and Samuel Beckett's Film , and locates his legacy in the work of Jackie Chan, Blue Man Group, and Bill Irwin.
The book combines vivid visual descriptions and illustrations that enable us to see Keaton at work staging his memorable images and gags, such as a three-story wall collapsing on him ( Steamboat Bill, Jr. , 1928) and an avalanche of boulders chasing him down a mountainside ( Seven Chances , 1925). Knopf explains how Keaton's stunts and gags served as fanciful departures from his films' storylines and how they nonetheless reinforced a strange sense of reality, that of a machine-like world with a mind of its own. In comparison to Chaplin and Lloyd, Keaton made more elaborate use of natural locations. The scene in The Navigator, for example , where Buster brandishes a swordfish to fend off another swordfish derives much of its power from actually being shot under water. Such "hyper-literalism" was but one element of Keaton's films that inspired the surrealists.
Exploring Keaton's influence on Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel, Federico García Lorca, and Robert Desnos, Knopf suggests that Keaton's achievement extends beyond Hollywood into the avant-garde. The book concludes with an examination of Keaton's late-career performances in Gerald Potterton's The Railrodder and Samuel Beckett's Film , and locates his legacy in the work of Jackie Chan, Blue Man Group, and Bill Irwin.
- GenresFilmNonfiction
232 pages, Paperback
First published August 2, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 19, 2007
Among Buster Keaton enthusiasts, I've noticed a couple of competing viewpoints. One is that Buster's work had a surreal, absurdist, avant-garde edge to it, while the other emphasizes the humor and entertainment aspects. I myself try to take a more ambivalent approach, since Buster was obviously never exposed to the avant-garde art scene of the teens and 20's, but there's no doubt something distinctly surreal and absurd about his comedy. So I like Kopf's analysis of Buster Keaton's work, though his prose does suffer from being unnecessarily dry. One almost forgets that Buster Keaton was pretty damned funny. Nevertheless, for those who don't mind reading dry film analysis and desire to study Buster Keaton's film work in relation to his background in vaudeville, it's an interesting, quick read.
October 24, 2019
Less a biographical work and more a scholarly analysis of Buster Keaton’s films that examines his influence on classical cinema and surrealist artists and filmmakers. Knopf provides an engaging breakdown of Keaton as an actor, a director and an improviser, tracing much of his skills back to his childhood days as a vaudeville performer.
August 10, 2019
This is short, well-written and very well-researched book that approaches Keaton from 3 different perspectives (Vaudeville, Classical Hollywood and Surrealism), introduces the arguments of the proponents of each way of looking at Keaton, while trying to remain neutral at the same time, and at the end suggests that Buster Keaton was, in fact, a blend of all 3, and shouldn’t be pigeonholed into one category or the other. A pretty good brief intro to Keaton scholarship, if nothing groundbreaking on its own.
March 4, 2024
A truly in depth guide into Keaton’s films. Even detailing his brush with surrealism.
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January 5, 2017Not as dry and academic as the other reviews would have you believe. However, I'm someone who often reads literary criticism for fun so take that with a grain of salt.
I found his analysis of different approaches to Keaton super interesting and his explanation of the 'horizontal' repetitions of narrative versus the interupting and self serving 'vertical' repetitions of gags to be super interesting. It's a concept that I think will stick me when thinking about other comedy in the future.
I found his analysis of different approaches to Keaton super interesting and his explanation of the 'horizontal' repetitions of narrative versus the interupting and self serving 'vertical' repetitions of gags to be super interesting. It's a concept that I think will stick me when thinking about other comedy in the future.
August 14, 2007
This book is more film study than biography, yet it is a worthwhile read or purchase.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews