The General
The General 1927 | 70min
"When war comes between a man and his love... of a train."
The General is Buster Keaton’s masterpiece, generally regarded as one of the greatest of all silent comedies and Keaton’s own favourite. The Civil War adventure-epic classic was made toward the end of the silent era. Filled with hilarious sight gags and perfectly timed stunt work, the chase comedy was filmed with a huge budget for its time. Realistic stunts (without stuntmen to double for Keaton), uncontrived, free-flowing set-pieces, non-stop motion, and a preoccupation with authenticity make parts of the film a visual history of the American Civil War.
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Sherlock Jnr. 1924 | 45min
Being a detective was his dream job.
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Buster Keaton’s third full length feature film. Buster is a cinema projectionist framed for theft by a jealous rival for his girls hand. It is a sublime study of film and fantasy; fast moving and surreal with Keaton becoming an imaginary detective in his dreams. Buster Keaton was decades ahead of his time as proven by the incredible comic sequences – a veritable cascade of unbelievably complex gags. This rare Keaton gem is being re-discovered as one of Keaton’s funniest and most assured films.
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Cops 1922 | 20min
They're never around when you need 'em... and there never needed when they're around.
“Cops” is a fine showcase of Keaton’s physical comedy. One of Keaton’s best shorts. [MORE]
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Our Hospitality 1923 | 70min
An inheritance to die for.
Buster Keaton’s first full length feature film – a Romeo and Juliet comedy in which Buster becomes involved in a hillbilly feud in the 1830’s backwoods America. The film is a family affair as well – his wife, Natalie, infant son and father Joe all appear. Buster’s non-stop gags are offset against by the extraordinary grace the great comic actor brings to several astonishing acrobatic gags – no more so than the climactic waterfall rescue involving a hazardous stunt sequence without the use of a double. It never fails to take an audience’s breath away.
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Go West 1925 | 70min
One of Buster Keaton’s most sublime comedies. [MORE]
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One Week 1920 | 22min
In the opening scene, we find Buster and co-star Sybil Seely exiting a chapel as newly-weds. Among the gifts is a portable house that can be put together in one week. It doesn’t help when Buster’s jealous rival for his wife’s hand switches the number on the crates containing the kit house, with disastrous effects. What follows over the next seven days is a hysterical episode of handyman horrors, including a housewarming that ends with their house spinning on it’s foundations like a merry-go-round. This classic Keaton short was the first made by his own studio in 1921.
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The Boat 1921 | 26min
Buster goes sailing
This rarely seen short was also made in 1921 and again co-stars Sybil Seely as his wife, plus two little Buster kids. The Blue Grassy Knoll often present The Boat and One Week on the same program because Buster always intended joining the two films together to create a self contained feature.
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Labourers Love 1922 | 22min
Laborer’s Love (Laogong zhi aiqing) was a short film produced in China, also known as Romance of a Fruit Peddler (Zhi guo yuan). It constitutes the earliest complete film from China’s early cinematic history that survives today. The film was one of the earliest productions of the soon-to-be prolific Mingxing Film Company and was directed and written by Mingxing co-founders Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu, respectively. Notably, the film had both Chinese and English intertitles; a clear indication that at this early point in its history, cinema in Shanghai was made not only for the Chinese, but for the many Westerners residing there as well.
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