Research Catalog

Title

The Art of Buster Keaton: Steamboat Bill, Jr. with Convict 13 and Daydreams [videorecording] / Buster Keaton Productions/United Artists.

Publication

New York : Kino on Video, 1920-28.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Keaton, Buster, 1895-1966.

Description

1 videocassette (111 min.) : si. (with a musical score), b&w.; 1/2 in.

Summary

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), b&w, 69 min.: This film was Keaton's final independent production before joining MGM. Set on the Mississippi River in the old sidewheeler days, it begins with the tribulations of crusty William "Steamboat Bill" Canfield, owner of the riverboat Stonewall Jackson. Bill's rival, J. J. King, the town's banker, storekeeper, innkeeper and all-round wealthiest citizen, is attempting to cause his financial ruin by introducing a river packet, named King after himself. Anticipating a stalwart ally in his son whom he has not seen in years, Bill is chagrined to find that Willie is a slight man who wears college clothes, plays a ukelele and sports a mustache. Over the course of the narrative, the scale of comedy expands from small-scale nostalgic humor (when Bill Sr. outfits his son with a new wardrobe) to some of the most elaborate sight gags of Keaton's career. Junior's attempts to pilot the Stonewall Jackson recall the mechanical brilliance of The General and The Navigator, but the film's most notable achievement is its hurricane sequence. Underscored by remarkable special effects, it includes the legendary stunt in which the front of a building collapses over Junior who passes unscathed through an open window. Convict 13 (1920), b&w, 20 min.: Keaton's black comedy begins with Buster playing golf, getting hit in the head and having a nightmare about being a prisoner who escapes with help from the governor's daughter. In the prison yard, Buster fells a guard with a hammer and quells a prison uprising. The climax comes when he brings down the rioters like skittles as he swings a ball and chain about his head. The image of the courtyard piled with the unconscious bodies of wardens and inmates has a troubling aspect of violence that was not to be repeated to the same degree in subsequent Keaton films. Daydreams (1922), b&w, 22 min.: This comedic short interweaves and contrasts dream and reality. The framing devices are the letters that Buster sends to his girlfriend proving his worthiness. He writes that he is "cleaning up Wall Street," when he is really a street cleaner and an actor when he is an extra.

Alternative Title

• Steamboat Bill, Jr.
• Convict 13
• Daydreams

Subjects

• Comedy films
• Silent films

Credits (note)

• Steamboat Bill, Jr.: Director, Charles F. Reisner; screenplay, Carl Harbaugh; photography, J. Devereux Jennings, Bert Haines; Convict 13: Directors, writers, Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline; Daydreams: Directors, writers, Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline.

Performer (note)

• Steamboat Bill, Jr.: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron; Convict 13: Buster Keaton, Sybil Sealey; Daydreams: Buster Keaton, Renée Adorée.

Contents

Steamboat Bill, Jr. -- Convict 13 -- Daydreams.

Title

The Art of Buster Keaton: Steamboat Bill, Jr. with Convict 13 and Daydreams [videorecording] / Buster Keaton Productions/United Artists.

Imprint

New York : Kino on Video, 1920-28.

Credits

Steamboat Bill, Jr.: Director, Charles F. Reisner; screenplay, Carl Harbaugh; photography, J. Devereux Jennings, Bert Haines; Convict 13: Directors, writers, Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline; Daydreams: Directors, writers, Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline.

Cast

Steamboat Bill, Jr.: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron; Convict 13: Buster Keaton, Sybil Sealey; Daydreams: Buster Keaton, Renée Adorée.

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Added Author

Keaton, Buster, 1895-1966.

Added Title

Steamboat Bill, Jr. [videorecording]

Convict 13 [videorecording]

Daydreams [videorecording]

Branch Call Number

VTH 3219 A