raestar57

gagman66 Thank you for the info. Do you know where and by whom this recently discovered original camera negative was found? Will it contain footage not seen in the current version? Also, am curious where you heard about this. Thanks!

keithfromkc I checked Alloy's touring schedule and from now to the end of the year they will be in Boston, NY, NH and in ITALY (they're showing the General there - how cool). Also, "The General" is available on DVD with Alloy's score (along with "Steamboat Bill, Jr.") (I gotta get a DVD player!) I do have "Arbuckle & Keaton, Volumes I and II" on VHS scored by Alloy - which contains Keaton's first screen appearance in 1917 with "The Butcher Boy" - I believe they are available on DVD also and I highly recommend them.

Hurray for TCM - more Keaton! I'm interested in seeing what the documentary contains. And I'm hoping that the version of "The General" is scored by The Alloy Orchestra. I already have "The General" scored by Robert Israel which is great (I find all of his scoring great) but I was privileged last year to see "The General" on the big screen at a theatre in my area with the Alloy Orchestra live in the theatre and it was a remarkable one-of-a-kind experience. They use all kinds of things for instruments (washtubs, pans, etc.) and the effect is truly neat!

I would like to see "Arabian Nights" (1942) starring Jon Hall, Sabu and Shemp Howard. I saw it on AMC years ago (when AMC actually aired good movies without commercials) but I have not seen it on TCM.

Well, I like Durante - I just don't think he and BK clicked in movies (except for maybe "The Passionate Plumber")- one didn't have to talk and the other talked a lot. If you don't already have it, I highly recommend getting a copy of BK's autobiography "My Wonderful World of Slapstick" - what better way to read about him than in his own words? Two others I recommend - his AUTHORIZED biography ("Keaton" by Rudi Blesch (sp)) and his biography by his wife Eleanor("Buster Keaton Remembered") I don't like any of the books that psycho-analyse him as I don't think he made his movies to make political or social "statements" (like Chaplin)- I think he just liked to make people laugh (and maybe make some money doing it).

I have not seen "What, No Beer" yet, but TCM is airing it in December so I'll catch it then. I know that it is the last movie BK made for MGM, that it was made during the lowest point of his life and not considered very good, but I'll tape it so I'll have his whole MGM collection (as well as almost all of his silents)and just because it's him. If you don't already know, there's already a DVD set available called "The Art of Buster Keaton" which can be bought from KINO International - I've also seen it at Barnes & Noble Bookstores - and I'm sure it's available elsewhere.

Yes I loved his Princess Raja act in "The Hollywood Revue" - he had the chance to show off his terrific athletic abilities (how the heck did he lift BOTH legs off the ground?) And I also think the pairing of Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante was a real mismatch. I do think he and Cliff Edwards worked well together. My favorite female co-star with him is Sybil Seeley (sp?) - she conveyed a real sense of humor and I think they looked good together. I read in his autobiography that Buster Keaton really liked Marie Dressler and wanted to do a spoof of some movie (I think it was "Grand Hotel") with her and Jimmy Durante and others, but the big guys at MGM shot it down. I think they later changed their minds and decided to let him do it, but by then he pretty much told them what they could do with their movie.

I agree with you about how insulting the character change was. Here's a guy who literally broke his neck while being forced off the top of a train car by water from a water spout, almost drowned when his safety line broke and he was carried downstream in raging rapids (keep the camera rolling!), fell when jumping from one second floor roof top to another and missed, not to mention purposely having the side of a building fall on top of him (saved by the window!), all to make us laugh (and thoroughly impress me!) - the shy or bumbling guy becomes the hero and saves the day (or the girl) - a lot different from the plots of his talking pictures! And even when he is inept, such as in "The Boat", he's funny but not stupid.

I am a big Keaton fan and also wanted to thank TCM for celebrating his birthday. However, I was a little disappointed with their choice of movies. To show him at his best to those who don't know his work, I would have liked to see them air his silents such as "The General", "One Week", "Steamboat Bill, Jr.", "Sherlock, Jr.", "The Playhouse", etc. Although I like his talkie "The Passionate Plumber", his other talkies are sooo not his style - he was too good for the parts they gave him, which were playing a clown (literally in "Free and Easy"). But I'll watch anything he's in, and thanks again to TCM for keeping his movies alive.