He was not only a genius, but his athleticism was unbelievable... and countless scenes where he risks his life and yet retains that stoic, deadpanned expression. There will never be another like him. May God bless and keep this man.
Most of the time he looks small and skinny, because of the clothes. But in College, he's wearing athletic vest and shorts, and you an see how built he was; sitting next to a professional athlete on a bench, Buster made him look weedy.
He was this amazing stunt acrobat, much stronger than he looked. He makes the no-hand cartwheels, backwards flips over tables, shoulder spins, etc etc, look effortless
The stunts he pulled off are genuinely mind boggling and he makes it look so easy it takes a minute to realise how dangerous some of them were, today they would never be allowed due to health and safety. His physical prowess is matched only by his sheer bravery and genius in pure visual art. he was light years ahead of anyone no wonder he was so highly regarded.
I can't explain why but when I watch this guy I get tears in my eyes. I find his art so terrific. It's like I'm afraid his films will be lost in time and no longer be remembered.
His films were lost - but never will be lost again. Every few years, new reissues of his films are released on blu-ray, and the quality is getting better with each new restoration. Two new books about him are coming out in a few weeks, and maybe one or even two within a year. He has hardly been given as much attention as he is now, since the 1960s.
share art and it’ll live on forever. I wouldn’t have even known about him if this video wasn’t randomly in my feed , and now I’m on to watch more of him :)
Something tells me as long as Film is around, his art will never be lost. Think about the books and paintings we have from hundreds and even thousands of years ago. In fact, I was thinking that he may become less well known, but never fully obscured, but thinking of my analogy, many masters are often forgotten generations after their time and then often rediscovered and marveled at yet further on. I hope Keaton and Chaplin are two such artists, they helped to define filmography!
It is a divine miracle that most of his films still exist..and the miracles keep happening. His early mentor was Roscoe Arbuckle and they made many one- and two-reelers together. One, called The Cook, was made in 1918 and was presumed lost. A copy in relatively amazing condition was found in a closet in Norway in 2002. 84 years later. You can see it here on UA-cam. I nearly wept with joy to see it.
I've loved Buster Keaton for a long time. I used to work at a retirement home and when I once made a Keaton reference, a man in his 80's said, "that was before your time, how do you know about that?" I had to say, "he was before your time too." We can all appreciate things "before our time," especially since a lot of what we see today is heavily influenced by things before our time.
I will give him the benefit of the doubt and not assume mere senility but assume he meant his remark in the way that it is typically unlikely for people to know about entertainment before their time and he wanted to know how you learned about Keaton, not that he was in disbelief.
@@namanshah8354 I think they're amazed that despite how much humor and sensibilities have changed through the decades, these films are still enjoyable to people all this time later, and not in an ironic sense, either. That's actually pretty amazing, imo.
So true. The American film industry threw him aside after the silent era. Gave him second rate roles. He rose eventually, in prominence, in Europe who appreciated his work. The American film industry, Hollywood, shows no mercy when it comes to sheer talent and genius over profit.
@@the4tierbridge Yes. All the silent actors/comedians were - L&H, Chaplin, Harold Lloyd. They were universal. Chaplin held out on the 'new' talkies for this reason. Wonderful talents and observational insights of human nature that everyone could identify with - timeless - all of them.
The best night of cinema I ever experienced was watching The General (the one with the train in this video) in the back of an Irish pub in south London with a Russian accordian player improvising the score. Incredible!
The buildings were fakes constructed over a bridge in Los Angeles. Buster only fell a few feet into a net but he injured his knees as is evident. He wasn’t nicknamed “Little Iron Man” for nothing.
@@mel_bee thank you! I now have pretty much every buster Keaton movie on DVD, and I watch it on a white fixed screen with a projector, it is cinema paradise in your own home. Any other suggestions is I love his films? I also have Metropolis and Safety Last. I've seen some Chaplin, but it was a while back, any that are must haves in yalls opinion? (Thinking modern times and the Great Doctator, but I'm sure he has some older goodies)
The main reason Buster was so adept at this extreme physical comedy is that his parents literally flung him around violently from when he was a small child, as part of their on-stage vaudeville act. So he was doing this stuff right from the beginning, and carried it on into the movies.
@@101Volts Actually Buster broke his neck and didn't know it. He staged a gag where he released a huge torrent of water from an elevated tank. The water knocked him down flat on railroad tracks, with his neck being smashed against one of the tracks. He had a severe headache afterward but kept working. Some years later his neck was x-rayed and he was told one of his vertebra was cracked / broken. It was just luck that this injury didn't paralyze or kill him.
@@hebneh Yes, but my initial reply was referring to when he was flung around by his parents. No contest that he broke his neck in "Sherlock Junior," because he did.
the train gag in The General is possibly one of the most seen scenes in the silent era, and it was absolutely real. If you walk along the creek-shores in Cottage Grove Oregon, you can still find the odd piece of the train, still, sitting in the bottom of the river to this day
I was at a silent film festival a while back and they were playing The General for the grand finale of the whole festival, with a jazz-funk band playing the score. I had no idea who Buster Keaton was, but holy shit. I've never heard that much roaring laughter take place in a cinema before, and I've never seen stunts so ambitious and ahead of its time. Eventually, I found this video after restlessly searching for more of his movies and you hit the nail in the head when you say that you can really see his influences in a lot of today's directors.
Buster was one of the originals , he set the pace. Educated lifelong in the art of entertainment through Vaudeville. An education that would be against the law nowadays. The likes of Buster will never be again. Unfortunately.
the scene where the building collapses you can actually see his arm jerk from the rush of wind passing him as the building crashes. That kind of stuff tells you it is real without you even thinking about it, it is better than any CGI stunt - because you can always see the uncanny valley of faked computer effects.
I think that a lot of the Wow! is because these stunts were done for real; no CGI, no green-screen. There may have been camera angles and camera tricks, but the actors really put themselves in harm's way - Keaton actually broke his neck on one stunt, but carried on working. He didn't find out he'd broken it till an x-ray years later showed that it had broken and fused back together again. Incredible man.
The train collapsing the bridge and falling into the water was the most expensive stunt ever done in movies up to that time--over $20,000. The movie is The General and can be seen here on the Tube or even on Wiki sans musical accompaniment. A really great movie that showcases his brilliance as a visual comic and his incredible, absolutely fearless stunt work. I highly recommend.
@@vjm3 Yup in the movie The General. I just watched it on youtube, it's a true masterpiece, funny and inventive as hell (the cigare hole, the bag... ) go watch it now if can. You will not be desappointed.
@@vjm3 - he didn't drive it himself! There's a Keaton DVD bio "A hard act to follow", narrated by Lindsay Anderson; they found people who had seen this sequence filmed when they were children - luckily this was the silent days because everyone screamed when the engine started to fall into the river and the figure at the controls was seen to move; they thought it was a real person - it was a dummy. They also show how he did the hanging-upside-down-over-a-waterfall in Our Hospitality. I don't know if they're on UA-cam, but I do recommend Paul Merton's Silent Clowns: he covers Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy, with interviews with professional comedians, musicians - and stuntmen! Vic Armstrong, who doubled for Indiana Jones, goes over the falling-house sequence and says almost frame by frame
I was gifted a few buster keaton movies years ago and they have just been sitting here in my library. Just checked and have The General. I think i might watch all of these
I've bought The General three times, and the best one is the first I bought, on video. They tinted it sepia to match the old Civil War photos - I was a bit wary, because I've seen a "colorized" film and it was awful [It's A Wonderful Life; the "color" was either washed out to muted shades or painfully overdone - I'm not used to seeing Jimmy Stewart with a bright pink face], The tinted General, however, was the only one available at the time so I chanced it. Glad I did. Keaton's direction to his set design team was: "make it so real it hurts". It IS Civil War photos brought to life. The two DVDs are ok, but I'm so used to the sepia version that black-and-white looks odd - only in this film, I have no problems with b-w in his others. And the music is right, too; Civil War tunes to fit the time and the mood. I think it's called the 1995 version; there's a clip of it on one of the DVDs, but again, I'm so used to that music that a full orchestral score on the others leaves me unsatisfied.
At age 70, he made his last film: "The Railrodder", for the National Film Board of Canada. In that film, he demonstrated the same natural athleticism, timing and comic genius which he had first brought to the silver screen starting in 1917. In addition to his early 1950's TV show, during the early 1960's (I was around 12 years of age, at the time) there was a 1/2-hour long TV show on Saturdays (it may have been local to just SoCal) which featured Buster Keaton's shorts, and that TV show formed my introduction to Keaton's remarkable silent films.
He made the Railrodder in 1965 - I've just looked it up. When did he have a 'cameo' role in 'A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum'? (He appears endlessly running across the Apennine hills, going nowhere) . If my memory is right he died shortly afterwards. "But now it's just another show, you leave them laughing when you go.'
@@johndavies9270 1966. He played a character called Erroneous, looking for his daughter throughout the film I think. The young and handsome Gerald Potterton who directed The Railrodder is still alive and well in Canada aged 89 I believe. Check out 'Buster Keaton Rides Again' if you haven't already. It's a companion documentary made alongside The Railrodder.
I've actually never seen a Buster Keaton movie, and after watching this I feel like a criminal. These shots are just... astonishing. I have no idea how some of these are even remotely possible, it's absolutely fantastic. And your commentary was excellent, too. Really loved this video!
The Navigator, The Scarecrow, and The Playhouse-- a feature and two shorts --have some of his best innovations imo, especially the shorts. (Fyi, The Purple Rose of Cairo was based loosely on Sherlock, Jr.)
In my opinion Buster Keaton was a genius on the same level as Van Gogh or Beethoven. Buster is beyond perfection and reached in his Medium a level of pure magic, a sort of timeless visual poetry.
What I love about this video is that with it you might be introducing a new generation of kids to the silent classics. In this very comment section I'm reading some posts saying, "I've never heard of this Buster Keaton guy but now I'm going to check him out". You can consider these videos you doing your own little bit to preserve film history.
He does a similar thing in Steamboat Bill Jr; his fatehr objects to his beret and buys him a "proper" hat; they go outside the shop, the wind takes the hat straight off, and the next time his fatehr turns round he's wearing the beret again. In a sequence before this, they're in the hat shop choosing hats. The scene is played straight to camera as if it's a mirror - Keaton poses and rearranges the hats while looking at the "mirror" At one point the shop assistant puts Keaton's trademark hat on Buster's head, he looks at the "mirror", does a double-take, and quickly whips the hat off and hides it.
There's a Swedish cartoon from maybe 1902 on the same theme. Everyone on a boat holding their hats except our protagonist. When his blows off, he produces a spare hat from under his coat, when he runs out of hats, he grabs one from his neighbour.
He was so committed to his art. He endangered his own life to produce works of art that will never be surpassed, ever. One of a kind he was. Bless him and his legacy.
It is far harder to make a human being happy and cheerful, than it is to put him through the same skullduggery as the rest of his life. Indeed, I consider proper comedy to be a much higher level of artistry than most modern Oscar winners.
I've never heard Keaton's voice, so it's strange to hear it. Didn't expect it to be this deep, but then again, the guy had bigger balls than most, so it makes sense :D. Great vid.
Go f*** your country and go f*** your oil and f*** off and don't talk to me anymore and quit watching our United States videos you f****** d****** piece of s*** c*********** magnet
This fills me with emotion-Buster’s love for his art, Tony’s deep appreciation of it, and Tony’s expert way of communicating what he can see with his professionally-trained eye to the rest of us, just to make us a little sharper ourselves...it’s beautiful! Thank you so much Tony!
keep in mind the first part of the video where it talks about framing and how if something isn't seen than it doesn't exist, at least as far as the audience is concerned.
Yup. Buster claimed to have broken nearly every bone in his body throughout his career. One of the riskiest was in "Steamboat Bill, Jr." when the wall fell down with the open window passing around him. It weighed somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds. If he'd been off his mark by more than a couple of inches, he would have been killed. Supposedly this happened around the time that his marriage to Natalie Talmadge was dying, and allegedly he didn't care whether he lived or died.
Sunwakka Every earlier actors risked their lives to make such a good gag but have you ever wonder about modern actors (such as Tom Cruise, Nicholas Cage, etc.) can jump into CGI and wires to safety.
It sounds like a very simple stunt, but in The General when Buster is depressed and sitting on the bar that moves the train, he was told that, as this was an actual train from the period(he was very insistent that everything be true to the period) and it was impossible to control, if they let out too much steam to power it, it could move too quickly and injure or kill him. But of course, he did it anyway.
When I was a kid back in the 70's, our local library let us check out 8mm film reels. Not many to choose from old silent movies and cartoons. But Keaton movies (& Felix the cat) were the ones I checked out weekly.
Growing up on stage doing prat falls in the family act... He realy didn't know fear when he started, but as he grew he learned exactly how precise the timing and placement had to be. When the stuio was taken over and he was no longer allowed to do his own stunts, his act lost some of its magic. Te stuntmen weren't as good.
He took a bad fall once during a shooting and took the next day of , on account for his sore neck. The next day , filming continued. Years later , when he was about to retire , he went for a full physical examination. The doctor finished with a look at the x-rays and asked ”when did you break your neck?”
+Derek Louster You fairly new around here? EFAP is a channel that takes time to upload, usually a month or two at minimum. There is always a ton of love and effort in each episode and it shows in the quality. I wouldnt have it any other way, EFAP is easily in my favorite channels.
+MasterofPuberty Exactly. How could they get it so wrong? There are several reasons why I think most of the falling facade-jokes just don't work as well as the original. 1. In the original, the facade looks hefty. That thing looks like it could have genuinely crushed him. All the tributes used flimsy materials, typical Hollywood plywood fakery with a lot of safety for the actors. And I get it, safety is important and I wouldn't want them to be in danger - but it looks much less impressive. 2. They all see it coming, they all react before it happens and thus the characters know what's coming. That was the heart of the joke! Keaton's character didn't see it happening, he didn't know it was happening and he reacted only after it happened. This reaction is what sells the joke. How could the others so completely MISS the joke? 3. Keaton didn't flinch! This may seem like a repetition of the second argument, and yes they are related, but I can't help but stress how impressive that is for an actor to pull off. Not only his character didn't know what was happening - he as the actor knew but still managed to remain visibly unaffected by the risk he was in. I guess the reason why most tributes have the actor turn around and face the house is because the actors would flinch anyway, so better give the character a reason to do so, right? And that (imho) is why none of the tributes ever came close to the original (at least of this gag).
also keaton looks so dumbfounded afterwards. he is like fuck. man, fuck. how, fuck? man. I feel that the next thing he'd want to do is go to a bar and tell someone
Paying homage doesn't mean you reproduce the gag in its entirety. It's a visual callback, designed to make fans of the original smile. It's visually similar- it doesn't mean the gag should necessarily have the same place in the context of the story.
I can't speak for the rest, but in the case of Arrested Development, the character (who is funnily enough named Buster) deliberately stands in front of the falling house to get himself injured. Completely different joke, yet definitely an homage/callback.
I saw a documentary of him once, where they were saying how his timing was so good that they showed him stepping off the back of a train that was stopping. As he got off, he reached back and grabbed the rail as the train came to rest and it looked as if he had stopped the train with one hand.
it's so god damn humbling to know how everything has basically been discovered before we were born and we just never knew it. These people are legends for a reason. We just need to be reminded of it occasionally.
"These people are legends for a reason." - So you are making the same mistake you advocate for not making by assuming people like Keaton "discovered" stuff? 😉 There is a saying about art that is also very good for spiritual ponderings: "Everything is derivative."
I was in love with Buster Keaton when I saw him on black & white tv as a child in the 50's. It didn't matter that in real life he was already an old man. He was captivating and handsome on film!
I've never seen anything with Buster Keaton, never seen a silent film nor even knew what he looked like but I realise now that I've missed out on a lot of fantastic cinema and storytelling, this is absolutely fantastic thank you for putting it together. It is remarkable how much Hollywood owes to the legacy of this guy and you're right, his ethics and dedication to his work is still to be applauded to this day.
a man, a legend, a myth and an institution. We teach Buster Keaton in our filmmaking courses and trust me, every time I watch his movie I learn something new, I discover something new. One of the greatest of all times.
My name is Tony, and I have to thank you for paying homage to this brilliant comic. Seems like Chaplin has gotten the lions share of the spotlight and Keaton not near enough credit for his incredible body of work. These were the days before screen stars became pampered brats... These guys played for all the marbles. So thanks again for this great compilation of sight gags from a true master, Buster Keaton.
@AlphonsePride Nah, I don't believe Chaplin was a Jew - but even if he was, so what? Who do you think were the cornerstones of the first major Hollywood Studios (Universal, Paramount, MGM, etc.)? Jewish immigrants who became self-made millionares. But Chaplin wasn't one of these "big-studio" moguls; he had his own small company and did it all HIS way.
Actuality we need both shots, but cut them with an overlapping action and correct timing to convey the gig in the best way . Unfortunately/ fortunately , Keaton never thought them that way !
@@XY4X its hard to see that such people still exist these days, especially when being a german. History has taught us that you cant judge anyone by their Religion and here we are, in the 21st century, people are still blaming jews for everything.
@@zleep9182 Also, The General had the biggest budget of any film within the silent era up to that time, so it was either get the gag right the first time or he would be completely bankrupt lol.
@@Burtonesque413 What's more, "The General" was not a box office hit and it was savaged by critics. The financial failure of this movie is said to have led to Buster making the biggest mistake of his life, by signing a contract with MGM to do movies their way, rather than his way. Since then "The General" has gone on to be considered one of the greatest motion pictures of all time -- an assessment I heartily agree with.
What a genius! What an artist! The one thing that should be added is Keaton's attention to the aesthetic quality of his craft. His work is not just funny but also incredibly beautiful! Thanks for sharing this
@@bjarnejakhelln-semb73 Ikke så mye. Jeg var på hytta til onkelen min, og vi så en dokumentar om Buster Keaton. Så måtte jeg ta en titt på denne videoen. Han er rå!
I've noticed - and this is a good thing - that lots of the things you say in videos contradict things you've said in other videos. Here you applaud Keaton throwing away a gag that didn't work right to make another one while in another you applaud Jackie Chan doing hundreds of takes to get a small detail right. In the Lynne Ramsey video you describe details being eliminated from the frame as a good thing while in the Geometry of a Scene video you describe Kurosawa's decision to include the entire dynamic of the conversation in the frame without leaving anything out as a good thing. In the David Fincher video, you emphasize the genius of conveying broad changes in character's relationships with the smallest of moves while in the Akira Kurosawa video you emphasize the genius of communicating changes in character by exaggerating them with movement and mobs of people. It goes to show the diversity of perspectives you can have on filmmaking, and that whichever one you choose, improvisation or perfectionism, simplification or clarity, minimalism or exaggeration, you can still manage to make a damn good movie.
+John Doe Yeah, basically this channel shows how things are done right in various ways, sometimes opposite ways. The two common elements I see are awareness and control. Buster was aware of the effect of realism, Jackie is aware of the effect of framing and cutting a fight effectively, Kurosawa was aware of how to convey emotion through space and movement, etc... They are all *aware* of what works and they *control* it.
+John Doe The gist I got from this video is that Buster wanted the stunt to look _improvised_. So he wasn't afraid to just scrap whatever he'd been working so hard on and just wing it. Jackie Chan, on the other hand, wants his fights to look like perfect, choreographed dances. Absolutely flawless. See? Not a contradiction, just a different vision.
Yeah, it's better to analyze different approaches than to just stick with one. I love Chris Stuckmann's "The Problem with Action Movies Today", but it caused viewers to think that his viewpoint is the only way to go. For example, he said that the most important element of a great action scene is the vulnerability of the hero. Prompting many to criticize action films that portrayed invincible protagonists. What he fails to realize is that Bruce Lee made an iconic career out of dominating his opponents. His characters could easily take on 30 opponents at once without getting hit. It's a different approach but done correctly. People should realize that doing the same approach would only make the genre predictable and stale.
+John Doe By one take he means without editing cuts. Both Keaton and Chan make the improbable look easy by not cutting away, so they practice until the final shot is one take. If they could never get it down after a certain amount of attempts, then they would give up rather than trick the viewer by cutting away. During the process other gags would be invented on the spot. I can see you're trying to break down what makes a film work. Try not to think of it that way. People don't want to see construction steps, they enjoy creativity. They don't want to see someone fall off a ladder, they want to see how they fall off a ladder. Sometimes this could mean wildly exaggerated or cutting the fall out altogether, letting the viewer decide. Both ways end up the same way - showing someone falling off a ladder.
+LaMaisondeCasaHouse Yeah there was a net, and the building wasn't as high as you might think. It was located on top of a hill (maybe Bunker Hill?). What you see in the background is the bottom of the hill, so it makes the building appear significantly taller.
Thank you so much for this. ANYTHING that helps the world see that Buster Keaton did it first, and usually much better. Making a film work visually is so much better. Comic filmmakers are so much lazier today, and they think their words are so funny, but unless you're working with master wordsmiths, the jokes just fall flat. Buster was the master at visual comedy.
I really appreciate your videos Tony, it's nice to see everything on a particular topic summed up so clearly. Now I can finally explain to my friends why some filmmakers are simply the best at their craft.
An 'Every Frame a Painting' episode about the Great Stone Face? This is officially my FAVORITE thing on the internet. And whoa, I thought this video was less than 2 minutes long! Absolutely captivating editing - superb work as usual!
Keaton was, and is, amazing. He did things before that we would only see with CGI now, and all of it real. But in addition to all that he was a cinematic genius, screen writer, director, film maker, and a great actor. I have never seen a better performance by anyone than his "Johnny" in The General. What an inspired artist he was.
Buster Keaton was always my favorite of the three silent comedy icons (ironically my two favorite Chaplin's are talkies, i.e. Limelight and Monsieur Verdoux). It's a tragedy that he was essentially not allowed in the directors chair after 1929. This video gave me even more respect for his work, and now I just want to go out and rewatch all of his best work. P.S. On a sidenote, if you are not familiar with him the surviving work of Max Linder, who has been claimed to be the original to all three, you need to. His only features know to still exist are Seven Year Bad Luck (1921) and The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922) are both brilliant, among the best and most innovative comedies of their time.
To me, the biggest difference in the buster gags from 100 years ago is that you know/feel there is incredible stakes to most of these gags going wrong. The train, the house, etc., if something goes sideways, Buster is toast. Jackie Chan comes close, but Buster’s stunts and gags can’t be replicated today (and for good reason!). Thank you for creating this video. I have a much more understanding for an artist that I now admire greatly for his courage and creativity.
Hi Tony, Hi Taylor, I discovered your work years ago but never dared to say thank you before. Thank you for sharing your cinema knowledge, editing expertise, clearcut understanding of visual language, mouvement and timing. Thank you for sharing your discernment and love of cinema, and making us love the intelligence and the beauty of cinema through your video essays. Thank you for caring about "good" over "cheap" and "fast". Every Frame a Painting stands among the very few UA-cam channels that actually elevate and qualify viewers consciousness. Thank you.
@@lawrencelewis8105 Harold Lloyd was amazing. He lost his thumb and forefinger on his right hand in an accident with a "prop" bomb, that turned out to be live during a photo shoot! So with this handicap his later films, including the famous clock stunt, he was truly dedicated and was a proof of his strength of character to achieve all he did subsequently. Huge kudos to Harold. (Observant viewers of many of his films will show he wore gloves to hide the injuries).
@@julioj3841He was also a pretty good businessman. Do you remember Jack Woltz's house in The Godfather? that was Harold's house and he lived there when they filmed that movie. Looks like he did OK.
@@lawrencelewis8105 No I din't know that, thanks. All I really know is he had a huge Christmas tree displayed all year round and covered in decorative baubles he collected. Buster's Italian mansion can be seen in Parlor, Bedroom and Bath - 1931 which he lost during his divorce a year later along with practically everything else he had earned.
I actually felt scared for him at many points while watching these stunts, something that I rarely feel in most movies today. Excellent video! Love this channel to death
+BKMPictures Understandably! He really was putting himself in danger. He actually broke part of his spine while shooting Sherlock Jr., and didn't even realize it until a few years later when he started developing serious problems because of it.
I discovered Buster as a child due to a 30 minute television show in which he stared in the 1950's Later I would attend screenings of his films by organist Gaylord Carter. Still a fan.
I hope this channel does well enough that you can devote yourself to it full-time. You really have a gift for pointing out the nuances of film. Even if others disagree with you, they cannot simply dismiss your observations. Looking forward to more!
I just introduced my 8 year old daughter to I Love Lucy a couple days ago and she loved it and wanted to see more stuff like it. We watched The Goat this morning and were so engrossed in it that we got her to school late lol.
Pirates of the Caribbean used the water wheel gag. The first time I saw Buster was on TV while flipp'n channels one weekend in the 90s, and I was blown away!! I was laughing like mad but also being amazed by his acrobatics and stunts and I yelled out, "Why have I never seen these before?!!!" I thought I'd seen nearly everything before, at least, everything worth seeing. I had watched Chaplin as a kid as he was on sometimes in between saturday morning cartoons, but I never found him funny at all, his gags were like kindergarten gags -- stuff we kids did ourselves at the age of 5, so they just were not funny to anyone over the age of perhaps 4. Buster, on the other hand, wow, just comedy gold and I can see why Jackie Chan always mentions that Buster and Bruce Lee were his two major influences -- he literally combined Buster and Bruce to make Jackie -- that's some genius right there too. In fact, the very first Jackie Chan movie I watched, he fell from a building and down down down through window awnings just at Buster did at 6:48
Been a silent fan all my life I think-- 46 now --but it wasn't til October 4th, 1995 that I became laser-focused; AMC was doing a 100th anniversary birthday tribute for BK that day, and I was hooked for real. Laughed my ass off at everything they showed.
You must remember, however, that Harold Lloyd did many of his stunts with only one thumb! He blew his thumb off when a "fake" bomb went off unexpectedly.
It is quite impressive how his stunts are done without any "background" that every stunt man has nowadays. Never seen this before, thanks for the good video.
At 2:35, you say that the second shot works better, but I disagree. I think the first shot works better as a joke because we know what he's doing, but we can't see the punchline coming. The second shot reveals the joke from the start and our expectation of events isn't subverted, thus it isn't as funny.
+JamEngulfer Oh you can absolutely prefer the first shot to the second. Obviously I disagree (as did Keaton and co-director Mal St Clair), but this is ultimately a matter of taste. The important thing is to recognize how important the camera placement is to the joke. Like if you saw this joke in a film today, it would be shot from multiple cameras and they'd do a couple different tries. Then it would be given to the editor (*cough* some poor bastard like me *cough*) and it would be assembled from the "coverage." Some producer would say "hey I like the first" and somebody else would say "hey I like the second" and then the editor would be asked to use both angles somehow, even though that makes no fucking sense. And the end result would be overcut and terrible. Keaton and Mal St. Clair recognized that this joke had to be done in one shot. And then they went about experimenting as to where the camera should be for that one shot. They weighed the pros and cons and decided on shot #2. Once they made that call, that was it. If you ever find yourself directing a shot like this, it's not important whether you prefer shot #1 or shot #2. You just have to make a choice, and then you have to communicate why you made that choice to the rest of the team. Which (in your comment) you already have. So good job.
+JamEngulfer I think it depends on the joke you're trying to tell. The first shot hides the tire better, so the punchline is in the car pulling away without him. The second shot gives more of Keaton's face, so the punchline is in his reaction. Both answers are completely valid, and I actually agree with you in choosing Shot #1 because I prefer the joke to be on the surrealness of the situation. But since silent film was so much about the face and the story, it doesn't surprise me that Keaton and his team preferred Shot #2.
+JamEngulfer i kind of agree, but i wonder what would we have thougt if the order was reversed. during the second shot, we already know the joke after all.
He was not only a genius, but his athleticism was unbelievable... and countless scenes where he risks his life and yet retains that stoic, deadpanned expression. There will never be another like him. May God bless and keep this man.
Most of the time he looks small and skinny, because of the clothes. But in College, he's wearing athletic vest and shorts, and you an see how built he was; sitting next to a professional athlete on a bench, Buster made him look weedy.
There will be others like him, just might not be in our life time..
He was this amazing stunt acrobat, much stronger than he looked. He makes the no-hand cartwheels, backwards flips over tables, shoulder spins, etc etc, look effortless
@@satori4183 Yes, he was incredible in strength.
@Tektas 1995 Thank you!!
I didn't want this video to end..
Same
same
put it on repeat
Go watch some Buster Keaton then! most of not all his works are public domain and on youtube!
Sharath SH Did you know Keaton got his Nick name Buster from Harry Houdini, they were the best of Friends.true.
The stunts he pulled off are genuinely mind boggling and he makes it look so easy it takes a minute to realise how dangerous some of them were, today they would never be allowed due to health and safety. His physical prowess is matched only by his sheer bravery and genius in pure visual art. he was light years ahead of anyone no wonder he was so highly regarded.
@@NUNYABIZNNAAAZZZ are you mentally ill 🤣
@atavistic_platypus be wondered gentlemen, we have a real IQ climber here
His bravery and fondness with risky and dangerous gags came along with him .
He grew along with circus crew.
I read the last words of your paragraph as "no wonder he was so highly retarded" made me spit take.
I can't explain why but when I watch this guy I get tears in my eyes. I find his art so terrific. It's like I'm afraid his films will be lost in time and no longer be remembered.
His films were lost - but never will be lost again. Every few years, new reissues of his films are released on blu-ray, and the quality is getting better with each new restoration. Two new books about him are coming out in a few weeks, and maybe one or even two within a year. He has hardly been given as much attention as he is now, since the 1960s.
share art and it’ll live on forever. I wouldn’t have even known about him if this video wasn’t randomly in my feed , and now I’m on to watch more of him :)
Something tells me as long as Film is around, his art will never be lost. Think about the books and paintings we have from hundreds and even thousands of years ago.
In fact, I was thinking that he may become less well known, but never fully obscured, but thinking of my analogy, many masters are often forgotten generations after their time and then often rediscovered and marveled at yet further on. I hope Keaton and Chaplin are two such artists, they helped to define filmography!
It is a divine miracle that most of his films still exist..and the miracles keep happening. His early mentor was Roscoe Arbuckle and they made many one- and two-reelers together. One, called The Cook, was made in 1918 and was presumed lost.
A copy in relatively amazing condition was found in a closet in Norway in 2002. 84 years later. You can see it here on UA-cam. I nearly wept with joy to see it.
Thanks Fellas ^^
I've loved Buster Keaton for a long time. I used to work at a retirement home and when I once made a Keaton reference, a man in his 80's said, "that was before your time, how do you know about that?" I had to say, "he was before your time too."
We can all appreciate things "before our time," especially since a lot of what we see today is heavily influenced by things before our time.
Cinema is eternal. It doesn’t matter when it was made, some films will live on forever
I will give him the benefit of the doubt and not assume mere senility but assume he meant his remark in the way that it is typically unlikely for people to know about entertainment before their time and he wanted to know how you learned about Keaton, not that he was in disbelief.
Yah, like all of the good bands. Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Beatles, and others. They were all before my time
@Rare Color Films I appreciate any film conservation efforts but I prefer the original B&W and aspect ratio.
That is my response to those who think Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt etc. are old therefore they shouldn't be listened to.
It’s amazing how films made almost 100 years ago can still make me crack up in laughter.
People did laugh a thousand years ago too. Laughter isn't an invention
@@namanshah8354 I think they're amazed that despite how much humor and sensibilities have changed through the decades, these films are still enjoyable to people all this time later, and not in an ironic sense, either. That's actually pretty amazing, imo.
@@mel_bee comedy is a genre that tells you to put your mind aside. If you be Sherlock while watching Chaplin, you'll doubt everything
Many of the non-comedy silent films are still great as well.
We can look back and appreciate the work and energy that he put in.
The last part really made me emotional for a moment. I really appreciate what this man has done for the film industry and we'll never forget him.
So true. The American film industry threw him aside after the silent era. Gave him second rate roles. He rose eventually, in prominence, in Europe who appreciated his work. The American film industry, Hollywood, shows no mercy when it comes to sheer talent and genius over profit.
@@julioj3841 He was popular in Europe mainly for his silent films, because there was no language barrier, and by proxy no translations ruing jokes.
@@the4tierbridge Yes. All the silent actors/comedians were - L&H, Chaplin, Harold Lloyd. They were universal. Chaplin held out on the 'new' talkies for this reason. Wonderful talents and observational insights of human nature that everyone could identify with - timeless - all of them.
P
So many things are considered "The oldest tricks in the book".
It's so eerie to see the book's writer putting pen to paper....
The best night of cinema I ever experienced was watching The General (the one with the train in this video) in the back of an Irish pub in south London with a Russian accordian player improvising the score. Incredible!
What a comment.
Silent films with improvised scores would be a good bar event 👀 I've got some buddies in the local open mic scene I need to contact
@@DinsRune do it, you'll love it! And if you're in London I can recommend an outstanding piano accordion player who knows The General.
Big ups for silent cinema with a live score. I never pass up the opportunity to see it when I get the chance.
this is as close as you can get nowadays to the early days of the cinema experience and how it conducted itself :)
You just made me a Buster Keaton fan sir.
The General is a masterpiece.
BLAIR M Schirmer
Why can’t both be funny?
You were already a Buster Keaton fan. You just didn't know it.
he was a racisy tho
@@mark94786 OUT, NOW!
"He was supposed to make this jump..." I'm guessing it wasn't as big a drop as it looks but all the same, he was astonishingly dedicated.
20-30 feet into a net
The buildings were fakes constructed over a bridge in Los Angeles. Buster only fell a few feet into a net but he injured his knees as is evident. He wasn’t nicknamed “Little Iron Man” for nothing.
@@andymassingham what movie is that jump from?
@@mel_bee thank you! I now have pretty much every buster Keaton movie on DVD, and I watch it on a white fixed screen with a projector, it is cinema paradise in your own home. Any other suggestions is I love his films? I also have Metropolis and Safety Last. I've seen some Chaplin, but it was a while back, any that are must haves in yalls opinion? (Thinking modern times and the Great Doctator, but I'm sure he has some older goodies)
@@springpondnc the kid.
The main reason Buster was so adept at this extreme physical comedy is that his parents literally flung him around violently from when he was a small child, as part of their on-stage vaudeville act. So he was doing this stuff right from the beginning, and carried it on into the movies.
Yeah, but Buster got adept at nailing the landing well, mind. He wasn't getting injured.
@@101Volts Actually Buster broke his neck and didn't know it. He staged a gag where he released a huge torrent of water from an elevated tank. The water knocked him down flat on railroad tracks, with his neck being smashed against one of the tracks. He had a severe headache afterward but kept working. Some years later his neck was x-rayed and he was told one of his vertebra was cracked / broken. It was just luck that this injury didn't paralyze or kill him.
@@hebneh Yes, but my initial reply was referring to when he was flung around by his parents. No contest that he broke his neck in "Sherlock Junior," because he did.
the train gag in The General is possibly one of the most seen scenes in the silent era, and it was absolutely real. If you walk along the creek-shores in Cottage Grove Oregon, you can still find the odd piece of the train, still, sitting in the bottom of the river to this day
I was at a silent film festival a while back and they were playing The General for the grand finale of the whole festival, with a jazz-funk band playing the score. I had no idea who Buster Keaton was, but holy shit. I've never heard that much roaring laughter take place in a cinema before, and I've never seen stunts so ambitious and ahead of its time. Eventually, I found this video after restlessly searching for more of his movies and you hit the nail in the head when you say that you can really see his influences in a lot of today's directors.
"hit the nail in the head" - Sounds painful. 😄
Buster Keaton inspired Jackie Chan greatly so you my like his movies too ;)
Buster Keaton was truly an incredible actor, ahead of his time.
My husband is very proud to be his cousin 😊
I'm very proud to be replying to a comment from the wife of Buster Keaton's cousin
@@jacksonpercy8044 😊
Ponder this sociological thesis: "Everybody is ahead of their time until they manage to prosper."
Buster was one of the originals , he set the pace. Educated lifelong in the art of entertainment through Vaudeville. An education that would be against the law nowadays. The likes of Buster will never be again. Unfortunately.
All these years later and the WOW factor is still as fresh and surprising as the day it was filmed. Keaton was the real comedic genius of cinema.
the scene where the building collapses you can actually see his arm jerk from the rush of wind passing him as the building crashes. That kind of stuff tells you it is real without you even thinking about it, it is better than any CGI stunt - because you can always see the uncanny valley of faked computer effects.
I think that a lot of the Wow! is because these stunts were done for real; no CGI, no green-screen. There may have been camera angles and camera tricks, but the actors really put themselves in harm's way - Keaton actually broke his neck on one stunt, but carried on working. He didn't find out he'd broken it till an x-ray years later showed that it had broken and fused back together again. Incredible man.
He's not just valuable and relevant today because of imitations and homages, his actual films are still hilarious!
Regards
ua-cam.com/video/wEnw4CfniT0/v-deo.html
The train collapsing the bridge and falling into the water was the most expensive stunt ever done in movies up to that time--over $20,000. The movie is The General and can be seen here on the Tube or even on Wiki sans musical accompaniment. A really great movie that showcases his brilliance as a visual comic and his incredible, absolutely fearless stunt work. I highly recommend.
Wait that dude actually drove a train in to a river? That's crazy.
@@vjm3 Yup in the movie The General. I just watched it on youtube, it's a true masterpiece, funny and inventive as hell (the cigare hole, the bag... ) go watch it now if can. You will not be desappointed.
@@vjm3 - he didn't drive it himself! There's a Keaton DVD bio "A hard act to follow", narrated by Lindsay Anderson; they found people who had seen this sequence filmed when they were children - luckily this was the silent days because everyone screamed when the engine started to fall into the river and the figure at the controls was seen to move; they thought it was a real person - it was a dummy.
They also show how he did the hanging-upside-down-over-a-waterfall in Our Hospitality.
I don't know if they're on UA-cam, but I do recommend Paul Merton's Silent Clowns: he covers Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy, with interviews with professional comedians, musicians - and stuntmen! Vic Armstrong, who doubled for Indiana Jones, goes over the falling-house sequence and says almost frame by frame
I was gifted a few buster keaton movies years ago and they have just been sitting here in my library. Just checked and have The General. I think i might watch all of these
I've bought The General three times, and the best one is the first I bought, on video.
They tinted it sepia to match the old Civil War photos - I was a bit wary, because I've seen a "colorized" film and it was awful [It's A Wonderful Life; the "color" was either washed out to muted shades or painfully overdone - I'm not used to seeing Jimmy Stewart with a bright pink face],
The tinted General, however, was the only one available at the time so I chanced it. Glad I did.
Keaton's direction to his set design team was: "make it so real it hurts". It IS Civil War photos brought to life.
The two DVDs are ok, but I'm so used to the sepia version that black-and-white looks odd - only in this film, I have no problems with b-w in his others.
And the music is right, too; Civil War tunes to fit the time and the mood.
I think it's called the 1995 version; there's a clip of it on one of the DVDs, but again, I'm so used to that music that a full orchestral score on the others leaves me unsatisfied.
At age 70, he made his last film: "The Railrodder", for the National Film Board of Canada. In that film, he demonstrated the same natural athleticism, timing and comic genius which he had first brought to the silver screen starting in 1917. In addition to his early 1950's TV show, during the early 1960's (I was around 12 years of age, at the time) there was a 1/2-hour long TV show on Saturdays (it may have been local to just SoCal) which featured Buster Keaton's shorts, and that TV show formed my introduction to Keaton's remarkable silent films.
He was a one off certainly. I love him and everything he did. Legend Buster. Love to Buster and you for your appreciation.
He made the Railrodder in 1965 - I've just looked it up. When did he have a 'cameo' role in 'A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum'? (He appears endlessly running across the Apennine hills, going nowhere) . If my memory is right he died shortly afterwards. "But now it's just another show, you leave them laughing when you go.'
@@johndavies9270 1966. He played a character called Erroneous, looking for his daughter throughout the film I think. The young and handsome Gerald Potterton who directed The Railrodder is still alive and well in Canada aged 89 I believe. Check out 'Buster Keaton Rides Again' if you haven't already. It's a companion documentary made alongside The Railrodder.
Warning to Railroad Enthusiasts like me: steam trains were harmed in the making of this video.
@@julioj3841 Keaton had that one great spoken line in "Forum" ("My daughter, a eunuch?") -- Did he ever speak in any other movie?
I've actually never seen a Buster Keaton movie, and after watching this I feel like a criminal.
These shots are just... astonishing. I have no idea how some of these are even remotely possible, it's absolutely fantastic. And your commentary was excellent, too. Really loved this video!
Try to see "Cops" and "Steamboat Bill, Jr." I think they are his best.
"There's not a jury that would convict you" - Steamboat Bill Jr.
I laugh so hard at that line every time.
I recommend you watch Steamboat Bill Jr and The General! Those are my favourites. His shorts are really funny too! I recommend watching those as well!
The Navigator, The Scarecrow, and The Playhouse-- a feature and two shorts --have some of his best innovations imo, especially the shorts. (Fyi, The Purple Rose of Cairo was based loosely on Sherlock, Jr.)
In my opinion Buster Keaton was a genius on the same level as Van Gogh or Beethoven. Buster is beyond perfection and reached in his Medium a level of pure magic, a sort of timeless visual poetry.
Throw in Mozart for bed time.
What I love about this video is that with it you might be introducing a new generation of kids to the silent classics. In this very comment section I'm reading some posts saying, "I've never heard of this Buster Keaton guy but now I'm going to check him out". You can consider these videos you doing your own little bit to preserve film history.
Comedian. Stuntman. Director. Visionary. Producer. Screen writer. Dude was an absolute mad lad - but a genius one.
And Devo was the cherry on top.
I've got a gut... FEELING!
Acrobat
The hat being blown off by the wind then quickly replaced with a new one made me laugh.
He does a similar thing in Steamboat Bill Jr; his fatehr objects to his beret and buys him a "proper" hat; they go outside the shop, the wind takes the hat straight off, and the next time his fatehr turns round he's wearing the beret again.
In a sequence before this, they're in the hat shop choosing hats. The scene is played straight to camera as if it's a mirror - Keaton poses and rearranges the hats while looking at the "mirror"
At one point the shop assistant puts Keaton's trademark hat on Buster's head, he looks at the "mirror", does a double-take, and quickly whips the hat off and hides it.
That one made me laugh, too.
There's a Swedish cartoon from maybe 1902 on the same theme. Everyone on a boat holding their hats except our protagonist. When his blows off, he produces a spare hat from under his coat, when he runs out of hats, he grabs one from his neighbour.
That was great -- I laughed out loud when he grabbed the top hat! LOL
stettan1, would you happen to know the name?
He was so committed to his art. He endangered his own life to produce works of art that will never be surpassed, ever. One of a kind he was. Bless him and his legacy.
The man's a living Loony Toon
Eyal Holtzman exactly 😂😂😂
If not better, because he had to work with (and against) the laws of physics.
Probably Looney Toons are cartoon him
Actually chuck jones who was a warner brothers animator and took a huge part in the loony toons saied he was greatly inspired by buster keaton.
The quality of BK's work is astonishing. It's called comedy, but it's actually art. Revolutionary art. He and Chaplin were masters of it.
It is far harder to make a human being happy and cheerful, than it is to put him through the same skullduggery as the rest of his life.
Indeed, I consider proper comedy to be a much higher level of artistry than most modern Oscar winners.
I've never heard Keaton's voice, so it's strange to hear it. Didn't expect it to be this deep, but then again, the guy had bigger balls than most, so it makes sense :D. Great vid.
i think that was orson welles voice
+Folgemilch21 nah, I know Welles' voice very well, I'm talking about Keaton who also can be heard in the video
+Folgemilch21 Why would Welles be describing Keaton's films as if Welles had made them?
+Tom Waits They sure don't make em like that anymore.
+Radioactive Eggs Unless they're made by Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Zuckers or Edgar Wright.
Oh boy, I miss this channel.
Edit: much love from Brazil!
Hey, I got a question. Do you know what the passenger liner at 6:09 is?
@@GreatNorthernUnofficialChannel USAT Buford
Mais um brazuca aqui kk
Go f*** your country and go f*** your oil and f*** off and don't talk to me anymore and quit watching our United States videos you f****** d****** piece of s*** c*********** magnet
That was documentary quality in a 8 minutes youtube video.DAMN
Buster Keaton was THE master, I wish this video would have been a full documentary!
He was an abslute genius..........saw The General last week. A masterpiece.
"Sherlock Jr" is probably my favorite--the pool game is something I will never comprehend fully!
*Buster Keaton could easily win the modern "American Ninja Warrior"!*
Blindfolded
Handicapped
@Dane Avery you are a terrible partner.
Idea: Someone enter American Ninja Warrior dressed as Buster Keaton and have some old-timey cops chasing him the whole time.
@@the4tierbridge What did they say?
This fills me with emotion-Buster’s love for his art, Tony’s deep appreciation of it, and Tony’s expert way of communicating what he can see with his professionally-trained eye to the rest of us, just to make us a little sharper ourselves...it’s beautiful! Thank you so much Tony!
stunts back then were so dangerous. Not that they aren't today but everything they did looked like it would be done right or death.
keep in mind the first part of the video where it talks about framing and how if something isn't seen than it doesn't exist, at least as far as the audience is concerned.
Yup. Buster claimed to have broken nearly every bone in his body throughout his career. One of the riskiest was in "Steamboat Bill, Jr." when the wall fell down with the open window passing around him. It weighed somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds. If he'd been off his mark by more than a couple of inches, he would have been killed. Supposedly this happened around the time that his marriage to Natalie Talmadge was dying, and allegedly he didn't care whether he lived or died.
Sunwakka yeah movie sets are like obstacles that you need to face with.
Sunwakka Every earlier actors risked their lives to make such a good gag but have you ever wonder about modern actors (such as Tom Cruise, Nicholas Cage, etc.) can jump into CGI and wires to safety.
It sounds like a very simple stunt, but in The General when Buster is depressed and sitting on the bar that moves the train, he was told that, as this was an actual train from the period(he was very insistent that everything be true to the period) and it was impossible to control, if they let out too much steam to power it, it could move too quickly and injure or kill him. But of course, he did it anyway.
God this is so good. And I was sooooo ignorant to him. Cant believe Ive spent 28 years blind to this legend.
He was one of Jackie chan's idols; and you can see why. They had a lot in common. Keaton was willing to risk his life for a gag, just like Jackie.
First immediately watch the general , the cameraman
When I was a kid back in the 70's, our local library let us check out 8mm film reels. Not many to choose from old silent movies and cartoons. But Keaton movies (& Felix the cat) were the ones I checked out weekly.
I understand. I'm 27 and I just heard about him for the first time...
Are you saying you couldn't see your foot for 28 years?
Buster Keaton was a genius at comedy and his timing was impeccable.
His body language is just amazing. What an actor!
It's like as if fear wasn't even yet invented. The guy had a death wish!
Growing up on stage doing prat falls in the family act... He realy didn't know fear when he started, but as he grew he learned exactly how precise the timing and placement had to be.
When the stuio was taken over and he was no longer allowed to do his own stunts, his act lost some of its magic. Te stuntmen weren't as good.
He took a bad fall once during a shooting and took the next day of , on account for his sore neck. The next day , filming continued. Years later , when he was about to retire , he went for a full physical examination. The doctor finished with a look at the x-rays and asked ”when did you break your neck?”
Jipsy Studios : Exactly !
Do you know what existed back then but no longer exists now-a-days? Proper grammar.
It is like as if fear HAD NOT YET BEEN invented.*
@@ladykoiwolfe His father would toss him around the stage. He even tossed him at a heckler in the crowd. That'd toughen up a kid i guess.
I can't figure out how those effects were possible back then. I'm more impressed by this than anything Hollywood makes today.
Buster Keaton is a master of deadpan expression - he expresses so much by expressing so little!
You are one of the few channels I have the notifications turned on for
+Dominic Cunneen This says more than 1000 words.
+Dominic Cunneen I love these videos so much.
+Dominic Cunneen what are the other channels?
+Dominic Cunneen waited for 2 months. wtf.
+Derek Louster You fairly new around here? EFAP is a channel that takes time to upload, usually a month or two at minimum. There is always a ton of love and effort in each episode and it shows in the quality. I wouldnt have it any other way, EFAP is easily in my favorite channels.
Interesting that most of the house gag homages at the end missed half that joke, which is that he's not even paying attention!
+MasterofPuberty Exactly. How could they get it so wrong?
There are several reasons why I think most of the falling facade-jokes just don't work as well as the original.
1. In the original, the facade looks hefty. That thing looks like it could have genuinely crushed him. All the tributes used flimsy materials, typical Hollywood plywood fakery with a lot of safety for the actors. And I get it, safety is important and I wouldn't want them to be in danger - but it looks much less impressive.
2. They all see it coming, they all react before it happens and thus the characters know what's coming. That was the heart of the joke! Keaton's character didn't see it happening, he didn't know it was happening and he reacted only after it happened. This reaction is what sells the joke. How could the others so completely MISS the joke?
3. Keaton didn't flinch! This may seem like a repetition of the second argument, and yes they are related, but I can't help but stress how impressive that is for an actor to pull off. Not only his character didn't know what was happening - he as the actor knew but still managed to remain visibly unaffected by the risk he was in. I guess the reason why most tributes have the actor turn around and face the house is because the actors would flinch anyway, so better give the character a reason to do so, right?
And that (imho) is why none of the tributes ever came close to the original (at least of this gag).
also keaton looks so dumbfounded afterwards. he is like fuck. man, fuck. how, fuck? man. I feel that the next thing he'd want to do is go to a bar and tell someone
it looks like it could have genuinely crushed him cause it's the real deal keaton did not mess around when doing stunts.
Paying homage doesn't mean you reproduce the gag in its entirety. It's a visual callback, designed to make fans of the original smile. It's visually similar- it doesn't mean the gag should necessarily have the same place in the context of the story.
I can't speak for the rest, but in the case of Arrested Development, the character (who is funnily enough named Buster) deliberately stands in front of the falling house to get himself injured. Completely different joke, yet definitely an homage/callback.
More then 90 years his gags still make me laugh.
Proves that well-written and clever humor transcends generations and time.
I saw a documentary of him once, where they were saying how his timing was so good that they showed him stepping off the back of a train that was stopping. As he got off, he reached back and grabbed the rail as the train came to rest and it looked as if he had stopped the train with one hand.
it's so god damn humbling to know how everything has basically been discovered before we were born and we just never knew it. These people are legends for a reason. We just need to be reminded of it occasionally.
well said!
"These people are legends for a reason." - So you are making the same mistake you advocate for not making by assuming people like Keaton "discovered" stuff? 😉
There is a saying about art that is also very good for spiritual ponderings: "Everything is derivative."
@@Dowlphin I would sincerely love for you elaborate on your statement, pretty pretty please!!!!
@Joe B - There isn't much more to say that's not already conveyed by it. Do you have specific questions?
@@Dowlphin I was wondering about the everything is derivative, I was wondering where it had come from, be it a person or whatever ya know?
This should be a whole documentary! I love Buster and can't get enough of seeing this
This would be an Oscar-worthy documentary. Even the title is great--- The Art of the Gag.
Another grand slam! Thank you for examining visual comedy from this, to Edgar Wright and Jackie Chan - this is absolutely invaluable!
I was in love with Buster Keaton when I saw him on black & white tv as a child in the 50's. It didn't matter that in real life he was already an old man. He was captivating and handsome on film!
Great use of Alexander Desplat's music for Grand Budapest in this video.
+Parallax Tiger from Fantastic Mr Fox too! (also written by him)
+TheRobot181 Also Paul Simon's 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard' which is featured in the Royal Tenenbaums.
+deathmaumau And Devo's "Gut Feeling," which is featured in The Life Aquatic.
+royhatts1 I hope you're joking.
It had some Moonrise Kingdom cues as well
"I think he did it better 95 years ago"
ninety five years ago
ninety five
damn man.
Chaplin most
97 years ago in my timeline
Yeah, the inception scene looked dumb, the actor was anticipating the rotation without any struggle.
@@seededsoul what are you talking about? Of COURSE he's struggling, but it was obviously rehearsed quite a bit, as it should have been
100 now.
I've never seen anything with Buster Keaton, never seen a silent film nor even knew what he looked like but I realise now that I've missed out on a lot of fantastic cinema and storytelling, this is absolutely fantastic thank you for putting it together. It is remarkable how much Hollywood owes to the legacy of this guy and you're right, his ethics and dedication to his work is still to be applauded to this day.
a man, a legend, a myth and an institution. We teach Buster Keaton in our filmmaking courses and trust me, every time I watch his movie I learn something new, I discover something new. One of the greatest of all times.
I desperately miss this channel. 28 gems. Nothing has touched it since.
Sadly true. Even the patreon account is dead. I'm currently googling the guys name to find out what is going on.
Check his about page on this youtube channel
My name is Tony, and I have to thank you for paying homage to this brilliant comic. Seems like Chaplin has gotten the lions share of the spotlight and Keaton not near enough credit for his incredible body of work. These were the days before screen stars became pampered brats... These guys played for all the marbles. So thanks again for this great compilation of sight gags from a true master, Buster Keaton.
well said . . . !! :}
@AlphonsePride Nah, I don't believe Chaplin was a Jew - but even if he was, so what? Who do you think were the cornerstones of the first major Hollywood Studios (Universal, Paramount, MGM, etc.)? Jewish immigrants who became self-made millionares. But Chaplin wasn't one of these "big-studio" moguls; he had his own small company and did it all HIS way.
Good for you, Tony! Be sure you look up ALL of Keaton's silent films, up through "The Cameraman" - you won't be disappointed!! :-)
Actuality we need both shots, but cut them with an overlapping action and correct timing to convey the gig in the best way . Unfortunately/ fortunately , Keaton never thought them that way !
@@XY4X its hard to see that such people still exist these days, especially when being a german. History has taught us that you cant judge anyone by their Religion and here we are, in the 21st century, people are still blaming jews for everything.
The 'effects' he used in his gags looks better than %90 of CGI used today.
Taramtatam because most of them are completely real. That was a real train on a real bridge that really collapsed
Zleep: ...And he got exactly ONE opportunity to get it right! Amazing!
1 time to get it right .. and it got right !!!
@@zleep9182 Also, The General had the biggest budget of any film within the silent era up to that time, so it was either get the gag right the first time or he would be completely bankrupt lol.
@@Burtonesque413 What's more, "The General" was not a box office hit and it was savaged by critics. The financial failure of this movie is said to have led to Buster making the biggest mistake of his life, by signing a contract with MGM to do movies their way, rather than his way. Since then "The General" has gone on to be considered one of the greatest motion pictures of all time -- an assessment I heartily agree with.
What a genius! What an artist! The one thing that should be added is Keaton's attention to the aesthetic quality of his craft. His work is not just funny but also incredibly beautiful! Thanks for sharing this
Neimen, hei, Bjarne :)
@@simonyricools Hei, selv! Hva skjer?
@@bjarnejakhelln-semb73 Ikke så mye. Jeg var på hytta til onkelen min, og vi så en dokumentar om Buster Keaton. Så måtte jeg ta en titt på denne videoen. Han er rå!
@@simonyricools Ikke sant!
Best video of the channel. Probably one of the best of all history of video essays.
+Ricardo Oliveira Definitely the best out there, yes. I love this channel.
Buster's work was and is some of the funniest physical comedy ever filmed. I've been a fan since childhood and still enjoy watching his gags.
I've noticed - and this is a good thing - that lots of the things you say in videos contradict things you've said in other videos. Here you applaud Keaton throwing away a gag that didn't work right to make another one while in another you applaud Jackie Chan doing hundreds of takes to get a small detail right. In the Lynne Ramsey video you describe details being eliminated from the frame as a good thing while in the Geometry of a Scene video you describe Kurosawa's decision to include the entire dynamic of the conversation in the frame without leaving anything out as a good thing. In the David Fincher video, you emphasize the genius of conveying broad changes in character's relationships with the smallest of moves while in the Akira Kurosawa video you emphasize the genius of communicating changes in character by exaggerating them with movement and mobs of people.
It goes to show the diversity of perspectives you can have on filmmaking, and that whichever one you choose, improvisation or perfectionism, simplification or clarity, minimalism or exaggeration, you can still manage to make a damn good movie.
+John Doe Each artist has their own way of making it work.
+John Doe Yeah, basically this channel shows how things are done right in various ways, sometimes opposite ways.
The two common elements I see are awareness and control.
Buster was aware of the effect of realism, Jackie is aware of the effect of framing and cutting a fight effectively, Kurosawa was aware of how to convey emotion through space and movement, etc...
They are all *aware* of what works and they *control* it.
+John Doe The gist I got from this video is that Buster wanted the stunt to look _improvised_. So he wasn't afraid to just scrap whatever he'd been working so hard on and just wing it.
Jackie Chan, on the other hand, wants his fights to look like perfect, choreographed dances. Absolutely flawless.
See? Not a contradiction, just a different vision.
Yeah, it's better to analyze different approaches than to just stick with one. I love Chris Stuckmann's "The Problem with Action Movies Today", but it caused viewers to think that his viewpoint is the only way to go. For example, he said that the most important element of a great action scene is the vulnerability of the hero. Prompting many to criticize action films that portrayed invincible protagonists. What he fails to realize is that Bruce Lee made an iconic career out of dominating his opponents. His characters could easily take on 30 opponents at once without getting hit. It's a different approach but done correctly. People should realize that doing the same approach would only make the genre predictable and stale.
+John Doe By one take he means without editing cuts. Both Keaton and Chan make the improbable look easy by not cutting away, so they practice until the final shot is one take. If they could never get it down after a certain amount of attempts, then they would give up rather than trick the viewer by cutting away. During the process other gags would be invented on the spot.
I can see you're trying to break down what makes a film work. Try not to think of it that way. People don't want to see construction steps, they enjoy creativity. They don't want to see someone fall off a ladder, they want to see how they fall off a ladder. Sometimes this could mean wildly exaggerated or cutting the fall out altogether, letting the viewer decide. Both ways end up the same way - showing someone falling off a ladder.
the amount of work he did and being fresh with every concept without any words and repetitions is the sign of the real artist; legendary artist.
Godlike taste in music; godlike taste in cinema.
"Since he missed, he decided to keep the mistake, and build on it"...
Holy Shit! He actually survived?!!!!
+LaMaisondeCasaHouse Yeah there was a net, and the building wasn't as high as you might think. It was located on top of a hill (maybe Bunker Hill?). What you see in the background is the bottom of the hill, so it makes the building appear significantly taller.
+LaMaisondeCasaHouse I remember seeing it the first time, I also believed it had to be either fake or just dumb luck
Obviously they wouldn't have him attempt a jump with nothing to catch him from falling to his death
LaMaisondeCasaHouse Keaton injured himself in that "rescuing the girl at the waterfall" scene.
wait, the background was also real??
Incredible.....and I've seen every Buster Keaton scene a million times. They still blow my mind
Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd: unequalled in their comedic genius!
Thank you so much for this. ANYTHING that helps the world see that Buster Keaton did it first, and usually much better. Making a film work visually is so much better. Comic filmmakers are so much lazier today, and they think their words are so funny, but unless you're working with master wordsmiths, the jokes just fall flat. Buster was the master at visual comedy.
This channel is seriously one of the most important teaching tools about cinema I've ever watch!
I really appreciate your videos Tony, it's nice to see everything on a particular topic summed up so clearly. Now I can finally explain to my friends why some filmmakers are simply the best at their craft.
+Nathan C. I absolutely love the attention to details and information I find as a film enthusiast.
It's so cool to see an artist who's work holds up for all time
An 'Every Frame a Painting' episode about the Great Stone Face? This is officially my FAVORITE thing on the internet.
And whoa, I thought this video was less than 2 minutes long! Absolutely captivating editing - superb work as usual!
Missed your video's tony. Never stop making them.
Holy shit, i was watching again all your videos last night! and then this morning out of nowhere, puff! new video! I love this channel!!!!
+WhiteRose The movie on your Avatar is the best of the year. (2014 I think)
+PajéMalQuisto what movie is that?
+Aikosar Nightcrawler starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
+Aikosar images.cinefacts.de/Nightcrawler-Charakter-Poster-DE.jpg
+WhiteRose I just sit there going about my mundane day-to-day life hoping that another video appears in my feed.
Keaton was, and is, amazing. He did things before that we would only see with CGI now, and all of it real. But in addition to all that he was a cinematic genius, screen writer, director, film maker, and a great actor. I have never seen a better performance by anyone than his "Johnny" in The General. What an inspired artist he was.
Buster Keaton was always my favorite of the three silent comedy icons (ironically my two favorite Chaplin's are talkies, i.e. Limelight and Monsieur Verdoux). It's a tragedy that he was essentially not allowed in the directors chair after 1929. This video gave me even more respect for his work, and now I just want to go out and rewatch all of his best work.
P.S. On a sidenote, if you are not familiar with him the surviving work of Max Linder, who has been claimed to be the original to all three, you need to. His only features know to still exist are Seven Year Bad Luck (1921) and The Three Must-Get-Theres (1922) are both brilliant, among the best and most innovative comedies of their time.
Never stop showing Buster Keatons clips/ movies, stunts. Love Buster. The best gag actor of all times.
To me, the biggest difference in the buster gags from 100 years ago is that you know/feel there is incredible stakes to most of these gags going wrong. The train, the house, etc., if something goes sideways, Buster is toast. Jackie Chan comes close, but Buster’s stunts and gags can’t be replicated today (and for good reason!).
Thank you for creating this video. I have a much more understanding for an artist that I now admire greatly for his courage and creativity.
Buster Keaton was an amazing writer, comedian, stuntman and director. I love his work!
Everytime you upload something it feels like a treat lol. You make complicated things seem easy which is what makes you just so good.
One of the best explanations of “the art of the gag” I’ve ever seen. Such a well throughout video. Well done Tony!
Keaton is KING! Long live the memory of Buster. I own almost every movie he ever made. Many of them don't exist anymore.
Steven Vicino I’ve got most of his films on VHS...and it stopped working years ago! Still, I can’t seem to get rid of them.
Hi Tony, Hi Taylor, I discovered your work years ago but never dared to say thank you before. Thank you for sharing your cinema knowledge, editing expertise, clearcut understanding of visual language, mouvement and timing.
Thank you for sharing your discernment and love of cinema, and making us love the intelligence and the beauty of cinema through your video essays. Thank you for caring about "good" over "cheap" and "fast". Every Frame a Painting stands among the very few UA-cam channels that actually elevate and qualify viewers consciousness. Thank you.
I found myself still chuckling at many of these clips. Timeless humor, thanks for uploading.
A great man and the world is less without him, in my humble view, ofc. Thanks, great upload.
I would never criticize anyone for loving Charlie Chaplin, but my favorite was Buster Keaton!
I'm English, but I so much prefer Beautiful Buster to Charlie Chaplin.
Harold Lloyd was no slouch, either. Neither was Fatty Arbuckle.
@@lawrencelewis8105 Harold Lloyd was amazing. He lost his thumb and forefinger on his right hand in an accident with a "prop" bomb, that turned out to be live during a photo shoot! So with this handicap his later films, including the famous clock stunt, he was truly dedicated and was a proof of his strength of character to achieve all he did subsequently. Huge kudos to Harold. (Observant viewers of many of his films will show he wore gloves to hide the injuries).
@@julioj3841He was also a pretty good businessman. Do you remember Jack Woltz's house in The Godfather? that was Harold's house and he lived there when they filmed that movie. Looks like he did OK.
@@lawrencelewis8105 No I din't know that, thanks. All I really know is he had a huge Christmas tree displayed all year round and covered in decorative baubles he collected. Buster's Italian mansion can be seen in Parlor, Bedroom and Bath - 1931 which he lost during his divorce a year later along with practically everything else he had earned.
Buster Keaton truly is was and forever more the greatest film comedian of all time!
I actually felt scared for him at many points while watching these stunts, something that I rarely feel in most movies today. Excellent video! Love this channel to death
+BKMPictures Understandably! He really was putting himself in danger. He actually broke part of his spine while shooting Sherlock Jr., and didn't even realize it until a few years later when he started developing serious problems because of it.
+math Apparently he broke every bone in his body at least once! An absolute mad genius
The narrator is really good. Most narrators I find annoying, this guy just told it how it is rather than trying to draw attention to himself.
Ar Con Like Top15s, his voice is kinda look emo-ish but I understand him very well.
Search "Chills".
I discovered Buster as a child due to a 30 minute television show in which he stared in the 1950's Later I would attend screenings of his films by organist Gaylord Carter. Still a fan.
An absolute comic and filmmaking genius.
"NOTHING BEATS THE REAL THING!",.. I'm sure that was probably Buster's mantra in life. He's a classic for many good reasons, even to this day.
I hope this channel does well enough that you can devote yourself to it full-time. You really have a gift for pointing out the nuances of film. Even if others disagree with you, they cannot simply dismiss your observations. Looking forward to more!
1.4 million subscribers. I'll say that is a certainty :)
RMJ1984 he has abandoned the channel though
WHAT!?!?
medium.com/@tonyszhou/postmortem-1b338537fabc
This was in my recommend
I just introduced my 8 year old daughter to I Love Lucy a couple days ago and she loved it and wanted to see more stuff like it. We watched The Goat this morning and were so engrossed in it that we got her to school late lol.
I got to know the actor Buster Keaton through the TCM HD channel a few years ago. Since then He became my favorite comedy actor.
Pirates of the Caribbean used the water wheel gag. The first time I saw Buster was on TV while flipp'n channels one weekend in the 90s, and I was blown away!! I was laughing like mad but also being amazed by his acrobatics and stunts and I yelled out, "Why have I never seen these before?!!!" I thought I'd seen nearly everything before, at least, everything worth seeing. I had watched Chaplin as a kid as he was on sometimes in between saturday morning cartoons, but I never found him funny at all, his gags were like kindergarten gags -- stuff we kids did ourselves at the age of 5, so they just were not funny to anyone over the age of perhaps 4. Buster, on the other hand, wow, just comedy gold and I can see why Jackie Chan always mentions that Buster and Bruce Lee were his two major influences -- he literally combined Buster and Bruce to make Jackie -- that's some genius right there too. In fact, the very first Jackie Chan movie I watched, he fell from a building and down down down through window awnings just at Buster did at 6:48
Been a silent fan all my life I think-- 46 now --but it wasn't til October 4th, 1995 that I became laser-focused; AMC was doing a 100th anniversary birthday tribute for BK that day, and I was hooked for real. Laughed my ass off at everything they showed.
I ve seen this video essay a 100 times. So soothing to the ear, rewarding to the eye, and pleasing to the soul.
A true genious. And the man of the three (Lloyd & Chaplin) with the FAR most integrity.
You must remember, however, that Harold Lloyd did many of his stunts with only one thumb! He blew his thumb off when a "fake" bomb went off unexpectedly.
@@tkarlmann Yes, I know! Respect!!
It is quite impressive how his stunts are done without any "background" that every stunt man has nowadays.
Never seen this before, thanks for the good video.
At 2:35, you say that the second shot works better, but I disagree. I think the first shot works better as a joke because we know what he's doing, but we can't see the punchline coming. The second shot reveals the joke from the start and our expectation of events isn't subverted, thus it isn't as funny.
+JamEngulfer - I agree with that, although if you're just talking about Buster's reaction to what happened, the second one was funnier.
+JamEngulfer Oh you can absolutely prefer the first shot to the second. Obviously I disagree (as did Keaton and co-director Mal St Clair), but this is ultimately a matter of taste.
The important thing is to recognize how important the camera placement is to the joke. Like if you saw this joke in a film today, it would be shot from multiple cameras and they'd do a couple different tries. Then it would be given to the editor (*cough* some poor bastard like me *cough*) and it would be assembled from the "coverage." Some producer would say "hey I like the first" and somebody else would say "hey I like the second" and then the editor would be asked to use both angles somehow, even though that makes no fucking sense. And the end result would be overcut and terrible.
Keaton and Mal St. Clair recognized that this joke had to be done in one shot. And then they went about experimenting as to where the camera should be for that one shot. They weighed the pros and cons and decided on shot #2. Once they made that call, that was it.
If you ever find yourself directing a shot like this, it's not important whether you prefer shot #1 or shot #2. You just have to make a choice, and then you have to communicate why you made that choice to the rest of the team. Which (in your comment) you already have. So good job.
+JamEngulfer I agree!
+JamEngulfer I think it depends on the joke you're trying to tell. The first shot hides the tire better, so the punchline is in the car pulling away without him. The second shot gives more of Keaton's face, so the punchline is in his reaction. Both answers are completely valid, and I actually agree with you in choosing Shot #1 because I prefer the joke to be on the surrealness of the situation. But since silent film was so much about the face and the story, it doesn't surprise me that Keaton and his team preferred Shot #2.
+JamEngulfer i kind of agree, but i wonder what would we have thougt if the order was reversed. during the second shot, we already know the joke after all.
Been a fan of his for the last 34 years, always enjoy seeing other people learn about him.
You don’t look 34 😂 hi from co Offaly Ireland 🇮🇪💫
THE greatest of them ALL = BUSTER KEATON ♥♥♥
Sharkbaby
This is a prefect example of just how much people appreciate good humor and creativity