Buster Keaton is still regarded as one of silent cinema’s iconic figures of fun. With his classic romantic looks and deadpan delivery the diminutive genius entertained generations of pre, post and interwar filmgoers with his charismatic brand of slapstick charm that encompassed breathtaking stunts and visual wizardry. Keaton was a box office and critical success and the first actor to be paid a million dollars a year.
When walking down Broadway one day he happened to meet director Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle who invited him to the Colony Studio where the famous duo struck up a working relationship that continued even after Arbuckle’s career ended tragically, with Keaton supporting him as repayment for giving him a break into show business.
Directed by Fatty Arbuckle BUSTER KEATON: THE SHORTS COLLECTION is an elegant 2K restoration that includes all 32 of Keaton’s extant silent shorts (thirteen of which were produced in collaboration with comedians Arbuckle and Al St. John) and offers the definitive compendium of Keaton’s early career. The films in this collection are presented with orchestral scores by Frank Bockius, Neil Brand, Timothy Brock, Antonio Coppola, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Dennis Scott, and Donald Sosin. MT
NOW OUT ON BLURAY FROM 25 JULY 2016
· Multiple scores on selected shorts
· Audio commentaries by Joseph McBride on The ‘High Sign’, One Week, Convict 13, The Playhouse, The Boat, and Cops
· Newly discovered version of The Blacksmith containing four minutes of previously unseen footage
· Alternate ending for Coney Island
· Alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations
· That’s Some Buster, a new exclusive video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns
· An introduction by preservationist Serge Bromberg
· The Art of Buster Keaton, actor Pierre Étaix discusses Keaton’s style
· Audio recording of Keaton at a party in 1962
· Life with Buster Keaton (1951, excerpt) – Keaton reenacts Roscoe Arbuckle’s “Salomé dance”, first performed in The Cook
· PLUS: A 184-PAGE BOOK containing a roundtable discussion on Keaton by critics Brad Stevens, Jean-Pierre Coursodon, Dan Sallitt; a new essay and detailed notes on each film by Jeffrey Vance, author of Buster Keaton Remembered; a new essay by Serge Bromberg on the two versions of The Blacksmith and other discoveries; the words of Keaton; and archival imagery. MT
