Buster Keaton

Date published: March 27, 2001

Today I watched a Buster Keaton film in my American Film class. For those of you who don't have any idea who Buster Keaton is, he was a rival to Charlie Chalpin. They both worked heavily in black and white silent movies using a lot of physical comedy. We actually watched one film by Keaton and one by Chaplin. Today was the first time I had ever seen the work of either man. Both films were good, but the Buster Keaton film, Sherlock Jr. (1924), was the best. I was totally awestruck by the effects. It was amazing! I didn't even realize that film techniques had been refined to that point in 1924 to allow for the amazing film effects. I can not give the film justice by explaining it here, if you get a chance, go see it!

After doing a search at the Internet Movie Database, I noticed that there is actually a film called Limelight made in 1952 that stars both Chaplin and Keaton. I will have to try finding it...they're both so amazing it would be interesting to see them acting together.