Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Buster Keaton in 'Steamboat Bill'


Joseph Frank Keaton, known professionally as Buster Keaton (1895 – 1966), was an American comic actor and filmmaker. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) is a feature-length comedy silent film featuring Buster Keaton. Released by United Artists, the film is the last product of Keaton's independent production team and set of gag writers. It was not a box-office success and proved to be the last picture Keaton would make for United Artists. Keaton would end up moving to MGM where he would make one last film with his trademark style, The Cameraman, before all of his creative control was taken away by the studio.
The director was Charles Reisner, the credited writer was Carl Harbaugh (although Keaton wrote the film and publicly called Harbaugh useless but "on the payroll"), and also featured Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron, and Tom Lewis.
The film was named after a popular Arthur Collins song, "Steamboat Bill."
The story concerns a young man straight out of college making good as a Mississippi steamboat captain, trying to follow in his father's footsteps, and falling in love with the daughter of John James King (Tom McGuire) who is his father's business rival.
Thanks, Francesco

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