tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post3723379142254741041..comments2024-03-22T14:34:39.101-04:00Comments on MONDO 70: A Wild World of Cinema: Buster Keaton's 'Lost' Educational Films (1934-7)Samuel Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00934870299522899944noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-7269402451914126802010-07-26T20:30:23.521-04:002010-07-26T20:30:23.521-04:00Thanks for all the comments. I knew the Educationa...Thanks for all the comments. I knew the Educationals' reputation, but I grabbed this set as soon as I saw it, in part because I'd been tantalized, like billydaking, by the two included on Keaton Plus, and also because Keaton's career arc fascinates me. In my review, I tried to stress that the main selling point of Lost Keaton wouldn't be conventional entertainment value. The real audience for this collection is the Keaton fandom who want to follow him up from the bottom. The fact that some of these are quite entertaining, depending on your tastes, is a bonus. The Educationals have more entertainment value than the Columbia Keatons, at least, and at least Lamont et al knew better than to have Keaton crying "Help!" a lot.<br /><br />billydaking: I'm willing to believe that Keaton actually ad-libbed that line on the spot. He delivers it more off-handedly than a lot of his dialogue in these pictures.<br /><br />Sam J: I don't know if these can be called Keaton's death rattle, since the Columbias were yet to come. Maybe those should be seen as a purgatory before his resurrection.Samuel Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00934870299522899944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-43502517923026000022010-07-26T10:44:28.884-04:002010-07-26T10:44:28.884-04:00I have a fondness for GRAND SLAM OPERA and a few o...I have a fondness for GRAND SLAM OPERA and a few others, but there's no denying your summary judgement that this collection sadly shows a dimishment of the icon's powers. By this time, (as you note in your lead-in) Keaton had fallen into personal and professional oblivion, and this represented the death rattle of a fallen giant. Yeah LIMELIGHT with Chaplin may have been the fitting epitagh, but in terms of creativity these shorts were the final real attempts at ressurecting the glories of the past. As always (your love and understanding of the silent clowns is well-known in the blogosphere) you do a great job framing the lot, and your tone is one of lamentation, precisely where I stand.<br /><br />Still, it's true that a Keaton completist must absolutely own the set. Moving from Curly to Shemp wasn't pretty, but the carry overs did have their moments.Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-44072774662053318422010-07-26T09:51:43.567-04:002010-07-26T09:51:43.567-04:00One quick note on the caption about Buster's &...One quick note on the caption about Buster's "uncomfortable joke"....Keaton had actually gone on the wagon halfway through the Educational shorts after nearly drinking himself to death, and he didn't take another drink for several years after that. Grand Slam Opera was the second short he did after that experience, and the in-joke was his own commentary on what he just went through. <br /><br />For some people, comedy is supposed to be uncomfortable. :-)<br /><br />@Jason--If you love Keaton, I would recommend at least renting these. I saw two of the shorts (Allez Oop and Jail Bait) on Kino's Keaton Plus DVD, and they're actually not too bad. They're interesting because unlike most of his other sound work, Keaton actually had creative control over these shorts, and it's probably the closest we're going to get to his vision of sound film. Keaton himself is immensely watchable, and the shorts' biggest weakness are their rushed production values.billydakingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-14712814764470132632010-07-25T03:56:49.476-04:002010-07-25T03:56:49.476-04:00Your sentiments seem to be the consensus. Persona...Your sentiments seem to be the consensus. Personally, my copies of the DVDs just arrived...even though they were pre-ordered ages ago. I'm looking forward to watching them for myself.<br /><br />I personally always thought Keaton's brillance was better suited for short-form. So even though these films are far past his prime, I imagine it will be refreshing to see him doing what he does, in films I am not so familiar with.<br /><br />His career and life seem to be such a huge unfortunate enigma. How could genius fall so low and so hard...how could such fire be snuffed out so quickly. It really is sad.<br /><br />Thanks to Kino International the brilliance of Keaton has been preserved and made available, but to be honest, dispite all the accolades I still kinda feel that he doesn't get his full due. <br /><br />He was a genius when it came to cinema as a visual medium and he did things that Chaplin and Lloyd only could've dreamt about. Don't get me wrong, they were all great and they all had their strengths, but if you watch a film like Sherlock Jr...you start to realize that he was thinking about the actual art of cinema in a completely different and more advanced way compared to his contemporaries.<br /><br />Anyway, I enjoyed the article. Thanksmediawahwah.comhttp://mediawahwah.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149411832127844385.post-18941304967314503352010-07-25T03:37:39.373-04:002010-07-25T03:37:39.373-04:00Thank you for this thorough review. I love Buster...Thank you for this thorough review. I love Buster Keaton, but I think I will have to skip these, at least for now. I have trouble watching good comedians have to try and be funny. If you've ever seen Harold Lloyd in "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" you'll know what I mean. I don't think I want to be reminded of how far down he fell after great work in features like "Steamboat Bill, Jr." and "The Navigator," or shorts like "Neighbors." Even his mediocre pictures like "Seven Chances" and "College" had inspired moments. Maybe I need to get over it and just watch them. You're review doesn't really inspire me to want to see them. It seems to confirm my fears. I'll leave the memories of the silent Keaton alone ... for now at least.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com