Customer Reviews

The Theater and Cinema of Buster Keaton

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

_The Theatre and Cinema of Buster Keaton_ makes some interesting points -- in particular, the ways in which Keaton was able to take what he learned on the Vaudeville stage and integrate it to astonishing effect in his films. There's also a fairly interesting discussion of his affinities with the Surrealists -- an example given is the underwater scene in "The Navigator," where Buster is shown using lobster claws to cut a wire, and then getting into a sword fight with a swordfish using another swordfish as his weapon.

But overall, the writing was ponderous, and the book seemed more like the citation-filled musings of an undergraduate than a mature, cutting-edge scholarly discussion. The book might be more bearable if the author didn't beat us over the head with the same arguments.

When a man is born who only ever wanted to make people laugh, why would someone write a book that manages to suck every interesting thing about him and his work into a laborious, scholarly void? Reading this was as interesting as watching wood warp. The best book regarding this comic genius - "Buster Keaton and the Dynamics of Visual Wit," by the amazing George Wead, is impossible to find, but this junk is available in the discount bin. More's the pity for anyone who would like to read about Buster.

Though intellectually intriguing, The Theatre and Cinema of Buster Keaton is anything but a dry read. Knopf presents Keaton's films in a context not previously considered in film history and he does so in a manner both intelligent and engaging. The two great assets of Knopf's thesis are his comparison between Keaton's films and his earlier work in vaudeville theatre and the connection between Keaton's comic gags and the ideals of the surrealist filmmakers. Knopf's detailed and colorful history into Keaton's vaudeville deepens one's appreciation for Keaton's great gags by suggesting the exaggeration made from the limits of the stage to the freedom of film. Knopf's inquiry into the appropriation by the surrealists suggests a new vision of Keaton's films. Given this new context Keaton's films surpass their conventional genre of Hollywood humor, but rather are reflective of an American (albeit unwitting) avant-garde. Not only are the ideas in this text compelling and well documented, but they are presented in a writing style which is engaging for both the serious film scholar and the fan of Keaton humor. This investigation into Keaton's humor only serves to embellish the effect of his gags and comic brilliance. This analysis only elevates its subject.

(...), so this book was tough to understand at times, but the stuff on Buster Keaton's childhood was great. The photos are really cool and reading about how the old movies were made got me to go through my dad's collection of videos (he has the box set) and watch my favorites again. It's a beautiful looking book, too, so I know I'll keep it and read it again.

This book is super smart and cool. It took me a while to get through it, but I learned a ton about filmmaking and theater and clowning. And the pictures are awesome! My dad raised me on Keaton, and this was like a dream with memories.

Professional theatre and film people and scholars tend to like this book. It's taught in university courses around the country. It's a scholarly book by a scholarly press. Those who reject it for its depth and detail probably felt misled into believing it would be a fun fan book. It's a serious scholarly book and one for theatre professionals. For some reason, kids seem to like it, too. Know what you're buying, and you won't be disappointed.

It remains the only serious scholarly book with something new to say about Keaton since the 1960s.

If your a Keaton fan or a fan of the silent era -buy this book!

buster keaton rocks my socks! the book was very complicated to read. but the pictures rocked1 THAT'S WHY I Give it a 5 out of 5. i have all his silents. but i don't have anytime to watch them anymore. oh well, but hey jesus is coming back soon!. amen.

i will be better in heaven then here.

Knopf sees three aspects of classic Keaton analysis:

1. Classical H'wood narrative branch, as represented by Moews, Bordwell and most film historians. 2. Vaudeville entertainer approach. What Knopf means by this is the emphasis of gags as gags instead of narrative emphasis as represented by branch #1.

Branches #1 and #2 follow the route trod by many a film comedy theorist, and consist of the [to them] all-important narrative? Knopf recognizes a continuum in film comedy theory from 'gags/performance integrate with narrative' to 'gags/performance have no relation whatsoever to narrative'.

The gag/narrative dichotomy seems 'cutting edge' because, presumably, gags over narrative represents a transgression, and any transgression is sexy to academic theorists. The gag comedian who 'subverts' narrative is seen as rebelling against the status quo, and is, in the academic's scheme of things, more worthy of appreciation than the comedian who, in the academic's opinion, is more faithful to narrative tradition. Whether the high cultural referent is the Surrealists or Brecht or Beckett, the idea is that 'rebel' comedians are more in tune with the celestial spheres of high art than those who are perceived as hugging the status quo narrative line.

The third branch of Surrealist muse. The main importance of branch # 3, as far as I can tell, is that it allows Knopf to play the 'famous artists and intellectuals my guy influenced or who adored my guy' game, which is as inexhaustible a game as the 'who stole what gag from whom?' game, and about as instructive in terms of appreciating the art of film comedy. In the 'Keaton and the Surrealists' chapter, Knopf gets to reel off the actual, probable and possible influences Keaton had on the Surrealists. It's a fun game if you're in the mood. The all-time champ among comedians in the 'famous artists who were influenced by my guy/who adored my guy', game, by the way, is Chaplin. Hands down.

Well, what is Knopf's conception of these three branches, the classical narrative, the vaudeville entertainer, the surrealist muse?

Knopf doesn't have much to say about the classical narrative approach. He merely mentions in passing that Keaton is often cited as a superb exemplar of classical narrative filmmaking. Actually, most successful Hollywood filmmakers are superb exemplars of classical narrative filmmaking. That's why it's called classical narrative filmmaking.

The vaudeville entertainer approach seems to be the main thrust of the book. Knopf appears, unwittingly, to confuse two mutually film comedy to vaudeville roots, particularly the roots of Keaton's own performing family; and the 'gags over narrative' approach most closely associated with Prof. Henry Jenkins at MIT, which emphasizes how non-linear gags/spectacle disrupt traditional narrative. These analyses are mutually exclusive because the historical approach is a 'bottom up' approach, which demands a scrupulous study of early film comedy and late 19th century/turn of the century stage traditions; and the 'gags over narrative' approach is a 'top down' approach which ignores actual history, and focuses instead on the theorist's theories about narrative [boo, hiss] v. non-linear gags [hooray]. Knopf, who leans toward high theory, as his favourable citations of Jenkins and other academic comedy theorists suggest, does a less-than-half-assed job on the historical side of things. He makes an effort, anyway, which is more than can be said of most film comedy theorists.

Knopf rounds out his book with Keaton's influence on the New Vaudeville and Performance Art, which is one more tack at 'artists my guy influenced or who adored my guy'. Another fun game. Theatrical pantomimist/comedian Bill Irwin is mentioned frequently. Irwin, by the way, wears, as a stage prop, round, black-framed glasses. Which suggests the influence of another prominent silent comedian. But Knopf doesn't bother mentioning this. It gets in the way of how much Irwin admires/pays homage to Keaton.

As with most Keaton admirers, Knopf mentions Arbuckle Arbuckle didn't have much influence on Keaton's work. Keaton only made nearly 20 short-reelers with Arbuckle.

Clyde Bruckman, like Eddie Cline, worked with Buster from the short-reel days. Bruckman is cited for his quote, in Rudi Blesch's book on Keaton, that Keaton was responsible for virtually all the gags and filmmaking on his films. This quote is treated as dogma by Keaton admirers. You wonder what Cline, Havez, Mitchell, St. Clair, Lex Neal and others [including, after his scandal, Arbuckle] were doing on Joe Schenck's payroll ~ Joe Schenck produced the Keaton solo shorts and features ~ if they were contributing 10% to the production. Perhaps they were all agents instead of talented gagwriters and scenarists. Knopf, like most film comedy theorists, has absolutely no use for the likes of Cline, Bruckman, etc. Although Knopf does mention that Elgin Lessley, Keaton's supremely talented cameraman, suggested the 'Keaton enters a film in a dream' bit in SHERLOCK, JR., which only happens to be the most admired sequence in all of Keaton. And that Lessley was critical to the conception and filming of the 'multiple Keatons' bit in 'The Playhouse', which is one of the most admired sequences in Keaton's short films. And Clyde Bruckman co-directed THE GENERAL, one of the most admired films in the Keaton canon. narrative filmmaker, Keaton as vaudeville entertainer, Keaton as Surrealist muse? Who cares, as long as it's Keaton? Keaton, the brand preferred by four out of five film comedy theorists. Maybe it's time for academic comedy theorists to lay off Keaton for a while. It's been a long, long time since they've championed anyone else.

Perhaps they should write exhaustively about someone else for a change. Jerry Lewis, maybe.

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Rick Levinson