Tonight's Buster Keaton Double Feature at CSUN was "College" (1927) and "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (1928). I had seen "College" once before, way back in 2003. Back then they had a Dollar Dvd Bin at the 99 Cent Store, and it wasn't all pro wrestling stuff or Truck Pull Outtakes. Dvds were semi-new in those days, and so they were selling a lot of "public domain" movies that were fairly well known. That's where I got my copy of "The Ghoul" (recently reviewed) and a whole lot of other horror, as well as some film noir oldies and other stuff, and also my copy of "College". It was the first time I'd ever seen Buster Keaton as a young man, in the format that made him famous - Silent Films.
Something I noted at the time was that "College" was filmed largely at USC, way back in 1927. Thinking back, I enjoyed the film, but mostly as an artifact, something from a bygone era. Seeing it again tonight, and by now as a Full Fledged Buster Fan, it has some very funny moments but does not stand at quite the level of his classics like "The General" or "Seven Chances". Basically, Buster is once again playing The Wimp, this time who has graduated high school at the top of his class. He is headed off to "College" but the girl he fancies is infatuated with the High School Jock. An age-old story, right?
So of course once he gets to college he tries out for every sports team they have. The movie goes through it's paces this way, presenting Buster's tryouts for all the teams (baseball, football, track, rowing), and as you would presume, Fiascoes Ensue Each Time. But naturally Buster is determined. The goal in almost every film is To Win His Gal, and he is gonna show up The Jock no matter what.
"College" most definitely has laughs, and should be seen after a viewer has already been exposed to the real insanity that Keaton Is Kapable Of. It's not a classic in his repertoire, but because it's Buster, it's a must see anyway, mostly for his antics on the various athletic fields of 'SC, and at the Los Angeles Coliseum which was brand new then, built in 1923.
Then there is "Steamboat Bill, Jr", which is regarded as one of his best films, and one which I had not seen before tonight. Buster plays a young man from the East Coast whose father left when he was a baby. Now, however, they are about to be reunited, which was his mother's dying wish. Buster - as usual - is a suit-and-tie wimp (just like Chaplin was always "The Little Tramp") - and is entirely unsuited to work on a steamboat, of which his Dad is the Captain. The key to Keaton is that he is always a fish out of water, and he is always out to show his girl that he isn't a wimp. In this movie, he doesn't have a girl until he starts work on his father's boat. Then he meets a cutie whose Dad owns a brand new and rival riverboat (gotta Google where the movie was filmed). Her Dad doesn't approve of Buster (who woulda thunk, am I right?), and from there, things play out.
There are all kinds of things happening in "Steamboat Bill, Jr.", including a long sequence when his Dad goes to jail and Buster tries to bust him out. There are hijinx on the boat, and in a hat shop, among others. But the #1 reason that this movie ranks so high - not just as a Buster Keaton film but in the history of cinema, is in the last 15 minutes. Professor Tim showed a short documentary piece on "the making of", and we saw very brief clips of how some of the scenes were executed......but still...
The only way to appreciate it is to see it for yourself. It is one of the very great climactic sequences in movie history, and to think that they did it all in 1928 makes it that much more amazing. This dude was something else. ////
That was all the news for the day. No hike - Pearl's car was in the shop, so I walked home this afternoon, and then walked down to pick it up when they called me. That took care of my miles for the day. Played guitar in between. Looking to maybe spring for a new acoustic pretty soon.
See you in the morn.
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