Buster Keaton

[movieman1957]

I had some time to kill yesterday so I watched College. Someone was right when they said earlier that Buster's heart wasn't in it. There's not really much of a narrative to it because it is mostly a series of different sports gags. Frankly, I think that you have to be a pretty good athlete to make one look that bad at sports. (But then it is all just a build up to the final scene.)

One gag shows Keaton's genius for tricks and that is where he is being tossed in the air from a blanket. During the time he manages to get an umbrella and on his descent he uses slow motion action to show the parachute effect the umbrella causes.

Some fun stuff here and there but not the inspired work that so many of his other films from that period are. Charley Hall of L&H fame has a bit as a very "sleepy" member of the rowing team.

[JackFavell]

I like College, when you think of it as a response to Harold Lloyd, it's amazing there was anything left to mine from the tired plot. I always think of Buster running the bases in that incredible pullaway shot. I know he LOVED baseball, and it never fails to impress me.

[Gary J.]

If you had just finished working the past two years on a couple of classic comedies (THE GENERAL, STEAMBOAT BILL) only to be be dismayed to learn that the movie-going public was slightly less than inclined to flock to them, and then you were told to make your next film on a much lower budget and make sure that it had popular appeal like Lloyd's films attract - well......you wouldn't be totally inspired to make that movie either.

As a stand alone item COLLEGE is a very funny and entertaining silent comedy and anyone coming to Keaton for the first time will have a great time watching it. However, to devotees of Keaton who savor everything he has ever done, it is hard not to see this quiet, gentle little movie as a bit of a disappointment after all of the greatness that had proceeded it .

[movieman1957]

I did fail to mention that one of the nice things about the film is the romance. Buster pretty much changes up everything he was about in high school all for the love of the girl. I think the last few seconds of the film are especially poignant because it shows that his love really is for life as the shot of the pair of headstones shows just before the end.

I agree that on its own it's a fun film. I guess I was comparing it to what came before and after.

[JackFavell]

Keaton not at the heights is still better than just about anything.

[Gary J.]

Keaton's attitude toward his love interest in COLLEGE pretty much follows his template of his other features. Chaplin would openly woo his romantic interests. Langdon would gain sympathy from his girls just by his unique, comic strangeness, while Keaton is always working hard to impress the girl (that is one trait that he shares with Lloyd).

I have never heard of the final moments of COLLEGE described as poignant until now. It is usually singled out as one of the true Keaton moments in the film. His resentment over the budget and time constraints that were imposed on him to make the movie seem to had boiled over and instead of a traditional happy ending fade out, the filmmaker in him composed a montage showing what he really thinks of Hollywood's 'happy ever after' motif. If you notice the fleeting shot of the aged couple right before the gravestone fade out, the two of them are bitterly snapping at each other. Critics have also seen this as Keaton's comment on marriage alone (Especially at this time in his life). But I find it interesting that you can look at the same clip and find it rather sweet.

Film can create many different interpretations, can't it?

[charliechaplinfan]

The ending is quite unexpected and quite quirky, at least that is what I thought until I found out more about Keaton's life than I saw it in a different light, that said it hits the right note with his comedy, he's not Lloyd or Chaplin who would live happily ever after, he's Buster Keaton, even with the girl life will offer it's troubles and tribulations, more so because his girls usually do, he'll stick with it but it won't be the bed of roses afforded to the other two.

College was the first Keaton film I ever saw, I didn't like the Freshman but I really did like College, as my first introduction, Keaton dripping wet with his mother to super athlete, instead of Lloyd's cockiness we have Keaton's determination against all the odds, I prefer Keaton's take on the college story. That said, after I watched College I went on to watch his masterpieces and College is small fry by comparison.

[JackFavell]

I feel the same way too, Alison, I didn't like the Freshman, but did like College, and I think it was my first Keaton as well, my sister having a projector and super 8 film.

I recently watched the Freshman and liked it.

[charliechaplinfan]

Maybe I should try The Freshman again, it just doesn't sit as well with my British soul but perhaps on second viewing I might feel differently. I think College will always win out, Buster and Charlie have captured a special place in my heart that Harold Lloyd hasn't been able to get near. Not knocking Lloyd who is good, the other two just hit an extra spot.

[Gary J.]

Then give THE KID BROTHER (27) a try. It's Lloyd's take on Cinderella - with no cocky traits at all. Or Hot Water (24), where he plays a harried married man trying to cope. In fact, Lloyd was savvy enough to alternate different aspects of his personae with each film, in the same way that Keaton would alternate tales in which he played his effete rich men as opposed to his more common everyman.

[MichiganJ]

If you had just finished working the past two years on a couple of classic comedies (THE GENERAL, STEAMBOAT BILL)...

Of course College comes between these two, Steamboat Bill being Keaton's last independent feature.

The first time I saw College, before knowing anything about Keaton's personal life, I found the ending to be arbitrary and not fitting with the film. Unlike Cops, which also ends with a tombstone, College is relatively upbeat, so the ending, for me, is jarring and not really funny.

[JackFavell]

I liked Dr. Jack, he was very nice in that one. but feel exactly the same about Lloyd as you do, Alison... I've been trying a little at a time to watch more of his movies, to see if I can like him any better. Don't force yourself, you'll never like him if you HAVE to watch his movies.

[charliechaplinfan]

Then give THE KID BROTHER (27) a try. It's Lloyd's take on Cinderella - with no cocky traits at all. Or Hot Water (24), where he plays a harried married man trying to cope. In fact, Lloyd was savvy enough to alternate different aspects of his personae with each film, in the same way that Keaton would alternate tales in which he played his effete rich men as opposed to his more common everyman.

I like The Kid Brother and Girl Shy, Safety Last is a classic, I tried Hot Water but got bored half way through, something I could never imagine with the other two. However tastes do sometimes change, maybe someday I'll be more in tune with him.

[Gary J.]

Right I after I wrote my suggestions I started thinking that maybe you are familiar with all of Lloyd's
films and there are some that just don't appeal to you. I understand that. I get a partial enjoyment
from Will Hay's comedies of the 30's but I would never go out of my way to watch one. And I get
absolutely nothing out of the Crazy Gang. I had 2 or 3 of their films TiVo'd for quite some time and
I could never get through an entire viewing. Their name belies their abilities.

[MichiganJ]

Keaton's follow up to Our Hospitality was his homage to movies. Sherlock Jr. was Keaton's worst received film, at least as far as box-office, but of course has now risen to the top of Keaton's "best" list, often beating out The General as Keaton's number one masterpiece. As much as I admire the film, and never tire of seeing it, and as much as the basic premiss of a guy entering a projected movie is pure genius, I'll confess that I don't find Sherlock Jr. all that funny. It's brilliant. The camerawork is impeccable and the effects and stunts are superb. Maybe they are too good, because even now, when Keaton enters the screen or dives through the window, I find myself focussing on the stunt and effects, and not paying attention to the gag as a gag. While many Keaton films have a discernible distance about them, for me Sherlock Jr. is the hardest to get invested in. Perhaps by design (or the fact that because of poor previews, Keaton edited the film to within an inch of its life), all of the characters are one dimensional and the plot itself is wafer thin. In short: it's a short. Or two shorts, time wise. (Still trying to figure out why Sherlock Jr. is considered a feature at 45-minutes but Chaplin's Shoulder Arms, at 40-minutes, is a short.)

Sherlock Jr. looks gorgeous on blu-ray. I'd thought the added detail might detract from some of the effects, but it's quite the reverse: I wound up being more engaged and impressed. Regardless of how many laughs it might get, Sherlock Jr. was amazingly ambitious, hugely influential and is clearly a masterpiece.