Topic: New Buster Keaton documentary

[falsealarms]

Looks great! Hitting select theatres Oct. 5.........

http://cohenmedia.net/films/thegreatbuster

Synopsis
THE GREAT BUSTER celebrates the life and career of one of America’s most influential and celebrated filmmakers and comedians, Buster Keaton, whose singular style and fertile output during the silent era created his legacy as a true cinematic visionary. Filled with stunningly restored archival Keaton films from the Cohen Film Classics library, THE GREAT BUSTER is directed by Peter Bogdanovich, a filmmaker and cinema historian whose landmark writings and films on such renowned directors as John Ford and Orson Welles have become the standard by which all other studies are measured.

Keaton’s beginnings on the vaudeville circuit are chronicled in THE GREAT BUSTER, as is the development of his trademark physical comedy and deadpan expression that earned him the lifelong moniker of “The Great Stone Face”, all of which led to his career-high years as the director, writer, producer and star of his own short films and features. Interspersed throughout are interviews with nearly two-dozen collaborators, filmmakers, performers and friends, including Mel Brooks, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, Dick van Dyke and Johnny Knoxville, who discuss Keaton’s influence on modern comedy and, indeed, cinema itself. The loss of artistic independence and career decline that marked his later years are also covered by Bogdanovich, before he casts a close eye on Keaton’s extraordinary output from 1923 to 1929, which yielded 10 remarkable feature films (including 1926’s The General and 1928’s Steamboat Bill, Jr.) that immortalized him as one of the greatest actor-filmmakers in the history of cinema.

[Paul Pain]

Sounds like a treasure!

[Umbrella Sam]

Cool. Is there anywhere online that mentions what theaters it’s playing in?

[metaldams]

Peter Bogdanovich?  Hey cool he's made a Buster documentary, I'll check it out.

I believe it's on YouTube, but Kevin Brownlow's "A Hard Act to Follow" is worth checking out.

[falsealarms]

Cool. Is there anywhere online that mentions what theaters it’s playing in?

https://www.fandango.com/the-great-buster-214742/movie-overview

[Umbrella Sam]

Finally got to see this. Overall, it was pretty good. Brownlow’s A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW is...well, a hard act to follow. However, Bogdanovich does manage to tell Keaton’s story within a reasonable amount of time while still hitting most of the key points, and it’s also pretty cool to see the wide variety of people he’s influenced over the years give their thoughts (there even are some modern celebrities like Bill Hader and Johnny Knoxville who’ve contributed to it). Interestingly enough, Bogdanovich actually decides to wait until the end to discuss Keaton’s silent features, allowing the story to end on a more positive note. I personally felt it had occasional pacing problems (Bogdanovich spends a surprising amount of time on films like COLLEGE and BATTLING BUTLER on the grounds that they’re often overlooked by Keaton fans, yet spends significantly less time on GO WEST), but as a whole it held together pretty well and the audience around me was laughing constantly, so I suppose it did it’s job. Plus, most of the restorations of Keaton’s silent films looked really good.

[metaldams]

Finally got to see this. Overall, it was pretty good. Brownlow’s A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW is...well, a hard act to follow. However, Bogdanovich does manage to tell Keaton’s story within a reasonable amount of time while still hitting most of the key points, and it’s also pretty cool to see the wide variety of people he’s influenced over the years give their thoughts (there even are some modern celebrities like Bill Hader and Johnny Knoxville who’ve contributed to it). Interestingly enough, Bogdanovich actually decides to wait until the end to discuss Keaton’s silent features, allowing the story to end on a more positive note. I personally felt it had occasional pacing problems (Bogdanovich spends a surprising amount of time on films like COLLEGE and BATTLING BUTLER on the grounds that they’re often overlooked by Keaton fans, yet spends significantly less time on GO WEST), but as a whole it held together pretty well and the audience around me was laughing constantly, so I suppose it did it’s job. Plus, most of the restorations of Keaton’s silent films looked really good.

Thanks for the review.  I do want to see this, STAN AND OLLIE as well.

Speaking of restorations, what versions of the films do you watch?  I still have my ART OF BUSTER KEATON DVD set from almost 20 years ago!  Looks great, even though I hear good things about more recent sets.  I did buy the 1917 - 1923 shorts collection only for the new version of THE BLACKSMITH.

[Umbrella Sam]

Thanks for the review.  I do want to see this, STAN AND OLLIE as well.

Speaking of restorations, what versions of the films do you watch?  I still have my ART OF BUSTER KEATON DVD set from almost 20 years ago!  Looks great, even though I hear good things about more recent sets.  I did buy the 1917 - 1923 shorts collection only for the new version of THE BLACKSMITH.

I have the 1917-1923 shorts collection and usually watch the features through versions that I’ve recorded on the DVR. As for STAN AND OLLIE, I’m hoping to see it this weekend. I was going to see it last weekend, but that was the only time I could see THE GREAT BUSTER, so I put it off. Definitely excited to see it.

[falsealarms]

If anyone missed this in theatres, it's coming to Blu-Ray on April 2.

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=24667

[NoahYoung]

Peter Bogdanovich?  Hey cool he's made a Buster documentary, I'll check it out.

I believe it's on YouTube, but Kevin Brownlow's "A Hard Act to Follow" is worth checking out.

Yes, that is the epitome of how a documentary on an actor should be done. At the time, it was nearly impossible to see all but the PD silents  of Keaton, so I taped this off PBS and watched it a zillion times.

I haven't seen the new one yet.