Paradise for Buster | |
---|---|
Directed by | Del Lord Robert Cawlson (asst.) |
Written by | J. P. Pringle John Grey Harold Goodwin |
Produced by | A Wilding Pictures Production Presented by John Deere and Company, Inc. |
Starring | Buster Keaton Harold Goodwin |
Cinematography | J. J. LaFleur Robert Sable |
Edited by | William Minnerly |
Music by | Albert Glasser |
Release date |
|
Running time | 39 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Paradise for Buster (1952) is a private industrial film made by John Deere and Company, Inc. showcasing Buster Keaton.
Bookkeeper Buster Keaton works for a company in the big city when he inherits a rural farm from his uncle Burr McKeaton and is able to quit his job. The city job sight gags include sprayed ink, tray smashing and many doors breaking glass.
Arriving at the rundown, debt-ridden farm, Buster finds a piggy bank under his uncle Burr McKeaton's portrait and while trying to break it open, winds up burning down the farm in the process. He then explores the rest of the "estate" and while trying to fix a water-stream, Buster gets caught in a windmill.
Disconsolate, he decides to end it all by tying a rock and rope around his neck and jumping off a pier into a lake on his estate. Before jumping, he notices tons of trout jumping in the lake and decides to fish instead.
Many sight gags ensue with Buster trying to catch a fish. A passerby, Harold Goodwin, offers Buster two dollars to fish in his lake.
An idea has sprouted and we next see Buster collecting money (and inserting it into many different sized piggybanks) from the city folk who arrive to pay admission to his "Fisherman's Paradise - Buster Keaton, Prop." [1]
Many of the gags in this industrial short are updated versions of Buster's earlier silent film work. [1] The glass doors breaking previously occur in 1928's The Cameraman and 1940's Pardon My Berth Marks .
The breaking of the piggybank is most similar in The Cameraman . The molasses gag harkens back to 1917's The Butcher Boy . The windmill gag is analogous to the water wheel gag in 1922's Daydreams .
The suicide gag recalls the suicide in 1922's The Electric House with the shooting of the fish reminiscent of 1923's The Love Nest .
The pacing of this short is quite wonderful and slow giving Buster plenty of time to work out his gags for the most part outdoors. Buster only says four words in this 39 minute production: "Good morning" and "I quit."
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell. It features Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, and Ward Crane.
Steamboat Bill, Jr. is a 1928 silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton. Released by United Artists, the film is the final product of Keaton's independent production team and set of gag writers. It was not a box-office success and became the last picture Keaton made for United Artists. Keaton ended up moving to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he made one last film in his trademark style, The Cameraman, before his creative control was taken away by the studio.
The Playhouse is a 1921 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring "Buster" Keaton. It runs for 22 minutes, and is most famous for an opening sequence where Keaton plays every role.
In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretations of the goings-on. Visual gags are used in magic, plays, and acting on television or movies.
One Week is a 1920 American two-reel silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton, the first independent film production he released on his own. The film was written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline, and runs for 19 minutes. Sybil Seely co-stars. The film contains a large number of innovative visual gags largely pertaining to either the house or to ladders.
Our Hospitality is a 1923 American silent comedy film directed by Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone. Starring Keaton, Joe Roberts, and Natalie Talmadge and distributed by Metro Pictures Corporation, it uses slapstick and situational comedy to tell the story of Willie McKay, caught in the middle of the infamous "Canfield–McKay" feud, an obvious satire of the real-life Hatfield–McCoy feud.
Clyde Adolf Bruckman was an American writer and director of comedy films during the late silent era as well as the early sound era of cinema. Bruckman collaborated with such comedians as Buster Keaton, Monty Banks, W. C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, and Harold Lloyd.
The Navigator is a 1924 American comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. The film was written by Clyde Bruckman and co-directed by Donald Crisp. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Convict 13 is a 1920 two-reel silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton. It was written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline.
The Cameraman is a 1928 American silent comedy film directed by Edward Sedgwick and an uncredited Buster Keaton. The picture stars Keaton and Marceline Day.
Edward Sedgwick was an American film director, writer, actor and producer.
Good Night, Nurse! is a 1918 American two-reel silent comedy film written by, and directed by, and starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring Buster Keaton. The action centers in a sanitarium Arbuckle's character was involuntarily brought to by his wife to be operated on by Keaton's character for alcoholism.
The Waiters' Ball is a 1916 American silent short comedy film directed by and starring Fatty Arbuckle. Arbuckle's nephew Al St. John has a memorable role as Roscoe's rival. The film is extant.
The Boat is a 1921 American two-reel silent comedy film written and directed by, and starring Buster Keaton. Contemporary reviews consider it one of his best shorts, with One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921) and Cops (1922). It is presently in the public domain. The International Buster Keaton Society takes its name, The Damfinos, from the name of the film's boat.
The Frozen North is a 1922 American short comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. The film is a parody of early western films, especially those of William S. Hart. The film was written by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. The film runs for around 17 minutes. Sybil Seely and Bonnie Hill co-star in the film.
The E-Flat Man is a 1935 American short comedy film featuring Buster Keaton.
The Timid Young Man is a 1935 American short comedy film directed by Mack Sennett and starring Buster Keaton.
Elgin Lessley was an American hand-crank cameraman of the silent film era—a period of filmmaking when virtually all special effects work had to be produced inside the camera during filming. Though Lessley worked earlier with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and later with Harry Langdon, he is best known for the groundbreaking effects he produced with Buster Keaton, who dubbed him "the human metronome" for his ability to crank consistently at any requested speed.
Hollywood Cavalcade is a 1939 American film featuring Alice Faye as a young performer making her way in the early days of Hollywood, from slapstick silent pictures through the transition from silent to sound.