Topic: Vernon Dent Sighting In A Keaton Feature

[Pilsner Panther]

I just watched the new DVD release of Buster Keaton's "The Cameraman," and lo and behold, there was a cameo appearance by Vernon Dent. He's only on screen in two brief shots for a total of about 15 seconds, but it's him, all right. Just to be sure, I checked IMDB, and sure enough:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018742/fullcredits

What surprised me is that I'd seen this film in a theater about ten years ago, and I didn't notice Vernon at the time. There's a much larger part in "The Cameraman" for Harry Gribbon, who co-starred with Shemp in some early Vitaphone sound shorts.
 
While I'm on the subject, I highly recommend this MGM Keaton collection for the two silents (the other one is "Spite Marriage"), and for the documentary "So Funny It Hurt: Keaton at MGM." The third film, the talkie "Free and Easy," may be the ultimate example of how MGM misunderstood and misused Buster and literally drove him to drink. I find all of his MGM sound films to be pretty much unwatchable, but this one's especially bad, particularly when he winds up in "sad clown" makeup at the end; it's almost as if the studio was trying to humiliate him (maybe because he was too rebellious?). He doesn't even get the girl; for some unexplainable reason, the scriptwriters let the character who'd usually be the villain in a Keaton silent win out in the romance department, which makes for a real letdown of an ending... "so funny it hurt," indeed.

 

[stooge_o_phile]

... the talkie "Free and Easy," may be the ultimate example of how MGM misunderstood and misused Buster and literally drove him to drink. I find all of his MGM sound films to be pretty much unwatchable, but this one's especially bad...

For the most part true Pils, but I think that the production number at the end of the film is awesome.  It has a real snappy tune and Buster does some pretty good athletics in it to boot!

[Pilsner Panther]

... the talkie "Free and Easy," may be the ultimate example of how MGM misunderstood and misused Buster and literally drove him to drink. I find all of his MGM sound films to be pretty much unwatchable, but this one's especially bad...

For the most part true Pils, but I think that the production number at the end of the film is awesome.  It has a real snappy tune and Buster does some pretty good athletics in it to boot!

I agree, the film does have some good moments, like the scene at the beginning where Buster is trying to make a speech before he gets on a train for Hollywood, but the local brass band keeps drowning him out every time he opens his mouth. It's obviously one of his own ideas— it has his style written all over it— and it proves that Buster's sense of timing worked perfectly well with sound, if only MGM would have let him use it the way he wanted to.

But still, I can't take that God-awful clown makeup they put on him. It's like MGM wanted the audience to laugh at Buster rather than with him, and that was never the case in his own films. He might have started out as a foolish figure, but he always rose to whatever challenge he had to face and came out on top at the end (either that or he ended up six feet under, as in "Cops").

Interestingly, Buster wanted to put a sad ending on "The Navigator," having the hero (himself) and the girl drown at the end after the cannibal attack, but the studio wouldn't go for it. He and MGM always seemed to be marching one half-step apart...

 





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