The divine Buster, Steamboat Bill, Jr., 1928.
Palate cleanser
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Thing is, I can’t get into Keaton’s ancient acting style. I much prefer the post-modern comedy of someone like Jackie Chan. Okay, all kidding aside, I take it that you have the Kino Blu-ray for review? May we presume that it’s up to the standards of THE GENERAL and most of the other excellent hi-def releases from Kino so far?
Tres drole, Dr. Roberts. (And just in case anybody’s wondering, I’m not telling anyone to boycott or not see the insouciant Ms. Dunham’s film; I was merely logging a personal reaction that made me somewhat less inclined to see it myself, or at least less inclined to make an especial effort to see it. I’ll get around to it, I promise. Maybe. Whatever.)
This isn’t from the Blu-ray, which I haven’t snagged yet, but from the standard-def two disc set, which I only just got and haven’t looked into in its entirety yet. Icky oldness aside, it looks promising, and I’ll certainly treat the Blu-ray in my July Consumer Guide if I get it in time. I find that even a small dose of Keaton is always genuinely restorative stuff when I get bogged down in nonsense, self-generated or otherwise. A return to first principles, as it were.
Keaton’s brief encounter with the ventriloquist’s dummy in STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. popped into my head early today for no particular reason, as random moments from the Keaton ouvre often will. Just thinking about Keaton’s films invariably lightens my mood. His is a world where man is ultimately able to master technology and nature alike, where the spirit of vaudeville is still alive, and where your chimp sidekick will take over camera duties in a pinch if you’re trying to film a Tong war and things get hectic. Who wouldn’t want to live there?
I remember seeing OUR HOSPITALITY for the first time at Film Forum back in late ’91/early ’92. At the climactic moment where Keaton saves Natalie Talmadge (well, a dummy stand-in) from the waterfall, some guy in the audience spontaneously shouted, “This is as good as it gets!” Brother, did he ever have it right.