Product description

The Buster Keaton Collection [1926]

Price: £15.27
RRP: £29.99
Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : VHS Tape
EAN : 5060000400205
Label : Eureka Entertainment
Manufacturer : Eureka Entertainment
Publisher : Eureka Entertainment
Release date : 2001-10-08
Title : The Buster Keaton Collection [1926]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Universal, suitable for all
Format : Array
Number of items : 3
Original release date : 1926-01-01
Running time : 321
Studio : Eureka Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 1928-05-20
Number of discs : 3

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Buster Keaton's 1926 masterpiece The General shows the great stone-faced comedian at the height of his powers. Buster is a train driver from the South who's caught up in the American Civil War. The film is basically an extended chase, with trains pursuing each other up the track. The level of stuntwork (including a huge train wreck) has to be seen to be believed, but it's the deftness and elegance of Keaton's comedy that is ultimately most memorable. For many, Buster Keaton is the greatest comedian of the silent era rated even above Chaplin, and College (1927) is one of his finest films. A poor student who has to work his way through college, Buster is desperate to win the attention of a pretty girl so takes up sports. Through every disaster, the great "stone face" as he was nicknamed betrays not a flicker of emotion, enduring all humiliations with aplomb. College shows Keaton at the top of his form. Steamboat Bill Jr dates from 1928 and is the last great film Buster Keaton made before he gave up his independence. Buster is the rather fey son of an elderly steamboat owner who is being driven out of business by a wealthy competitor. More by accident than intention Buster turns things around and gets the girl as well. The last 15 minutes are truly astonishing: a storm sequence in which a whole town is blown apart, with Buster experiencing a series of amazing escapes as buildings fall down around his ears. Tragically, the following year he lost his independence when he signed for MGM. His career collapsed, his marriage broke up and he became an alcoholic, never to regain former glories.

On the DVD: The organ music accompanying this silent feature is pleasantly unobtrusive, and apart from a short section in the middle where it deteriorates, the print quality is a reasonable 4.3. In addition there are five excellent Keaton shorts, One Week (1920), The Boat (1921) Cops (1922), The Blacksmith (1922) and The Balloonatic (1923). --Ed Buscombe

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2004-06-17 rating:

format 3 x 4
I love Buster Keaton! However, only "The General" survives well the passing time. Please note that the CD shows only the old television format, 3x4. It appears that the films originally were recorder in a somewhat broader format.

review by: empeegee date: 2004-03-11 rating:

Silent, but deadly
Picture the scene: a lazy Saturday morning, up too early, flicking through the channels. Come across an old black and white movie on BBC2. Watch a bit, watch a bit more. Watch the whole thing, amazed and amused by the spectacle. I have to buy and paper to find out what the movie is called, then go online to find out who the pale, stony-faced actor doing all his own stunts is. Buster Keaton? Buster Keaton! The movie, of course, was The General.

Within 3 months, I had most of his back catalogue, but I always come back to The General for a feast of comedy from the hey day of silent cinema. A true tour-de-force involving little more than a train and a girl. A feast of fun that you just want to watch over and over.

Of course, the rest of the collection is by no means 'tacked on'. In some cases, I have heard people say that College is actually better. I love it too (aswell as Steamboat Bill jr), but The General is the movie that first got me interested in Keaton, so it will always remain my favourite. The shorts on show are pretty good, although lacking somewhat (understandably) in the big set pieces of the longer running films.

If you want to see silent comedy at its best and can do without explosions, robots or dinosaurs in your movies, you will love this collection of a comedian at the top of his form.

review by: jatawton date: 2004-01-07 rating:

A genius at work
This collection is an absolute MUST HAVE for anyone with an appreciation of this genius of the physical comedy world. In fact, anyone who appreciates the wonders of visual humour, and outstanding feats of physicality, will be amazed that they've never hear of Keaton and will start recommending him to all and sundry.

From the same school of silent comedy as Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin, but altogether more adventurous, Buster Keaton set the bar for amazing physical feats in film. Every stunt imaginable, and achievable in the times the films were made, is there for you to watch, open-mouthed. No stunt-men, no trick shots, no crash-mats, just Keaton's athletic prowess and fearless abandon, always accompanied by his stoical expression, which earnt him the 'The Great Stone Face' moniker.

This box-set features three superb features, plus five featurettes, and is a really great package. Steamboat Bill Jr and The General are worth the entrance fee alone. You'll not be disappointed.

review by: date: 2002-10-15 rating:

The Great Stone Face at his very best
If there's room for only one Keaton item in your DVD collection, this boxed set is the one to have. It includes five of Keaton's greatest films - the features "The General" and "Steamboat Bill Jr" and the shorts "The Boat", "Cops" and "One Week", plus three others which are hugely entertaining, the feature "College" and the shorts "The Balloonatic and "The Blacksmith". All 8 films are the restored versions produced by American film historian David Shepard, taken from the finest sources with good musical accompaniments. Highly recommended!!!

review by: franl155 date: 2002-05-24 rating:

Wonderfully inventive, endlessly absorbing
The only reason I've given this 5 stars is that the rating system doesn't go any higher!
This is a superlative film, based upon and sticking closely to historical fact in its plot and settings. Keaton is at his peak here, with athletic and acrobatic stunts following each other, plenty of humour and a genuinely authentic Civil War look [they based a lot of the sets on actual Civil War photographs].
I admit to being a bit worried about the 'tinted' tag, not liking colorised films, but this has been given a sepia tint, to match it with the feel of Civil War phots, and is very well done.
This video is a treasure, one to be watched time and again for the sheer joy of it.

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