Steamboat Bill Jr

Maltings cinema
Friday 28 19.15

USA, 1928, 71 min
Black & white, 35mm
English
U

dir: Charles Reisner
scr: Carl Harbaugh
prod: Joseph M. Schenck
dop: Devereaux Jennings, Bert Haines
editor: J. Sherman Kell
cast: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence,
Marion Byron, Tom Lewis, Tom
McGuire

production company: Buster Keaton Productions
UK rights: Park Circus print source: Deluxe

Director’s profile:
Born Joseph Frank Keaton in 1895, he was nicknamed Buster by Harry Houdini, who, along with artists such as Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson, used to perform with Buster’s mother and father. Their act – renowned as one of the most dangerous in vaudeville – was a demonstration on how to discipline a prankster and consisted of throwing their son around the stage. (Though allegations of child abuse were made, Buster always insisted that he had trained to take trick falls safely and never suffered any injuries.) No matter how dangerous the stunt, Buster kept from the start of his career the trademark ‘Great Stone Face’ that would later come to define his understated comic style. His first movie role came in the 1917 Fatty Arbuckle vehicle The Butcher Boy, and the two went on to work together on a further fifteen two-reel comedies. Keaton’s career was interrupted by the Great War, during which he served in France. Upon his return, he starred in his first full-length

feature, The Saphead (1920), and became one of the most famous comedians of the era, alongside Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin. He set up his own production company in 1921 and was soon writing, directing and starring in his own productions. After the success of The General (1927), Keaton signed a contract with MGM, entering the studio system and losing the artistic freedom he had hitherto enjoyed. He did not respond well to the change, lapsing into alcoholism and watching his career disintegrate. During the 1930s, he worked mainly as a gag writer for the films of comedians such as The Marx Brothers. Though he spent the next thirty years in relative obscurity, he lived long enough to find renewed fame in the 1960s, when his early silent films enjoyed a revival. He also starred in Samuel Beckett’s only film project, Film (1965).

Selected filmography (as director):
1939 Hollywood Cavalcade
1935 Tars and Stripes
1929 Spite Marriage
1928 Steamboat Bill Jr
1928 The Cameraman
1927 The General
1924 The Navigator
1924 Sherlock, Jr
1923 Our Hospitality
1922 Cops
1920 One Week
1917 The Butcher Boy

Returning from college in Boston to Mississippi, young William Canfield is to be reunited with his dad, the cantankerous owner of a run-down steamboat. William Sr’s livelihood is threatened by local big-shot entrepreneur J.J. King’s brand new riverboat, and he is pinning his hopes for a reversal of fortune on the help of his son. Having not laid eyes on his offspring for years, brawny Bill Sr is dismayed when the hoped-for strapping lad turns out to be a scrawny dandy sporting a beret and a ridiculous moustache. Bill Sr swiftly has his son shaved and more properly attired for the job at hand, but young William is much more interested in spending time with Mary, a pretty friend from college who also happens to be in town visiting her dad – J.J. King. Such dalliances are too much for Bill Sr to bear: he resolves to send his son back to Boston and take his business rival on alone ....

Throwing his protagonist into a fish-out-of-water situation enables Keaton to unleash his astonishing comic range: Bill Jr’s clumsy discovery of life on board allows for splendidly choreographed set pieces that further the contrast between burly father and foppish son. The real meat of the film, however, comes in the form of the spectacular hurricane sequence, during which young William is mercilessly blown about the entire town. This truly breathtaking succession of audacious setups includes one of silent cinema’s most famous scenes – and one of Keaton’s most daring stunts: standing beneath the façade of a two-storey building as it collapses around him, Bill Jr avoids death thanks to a fortuitously placed upper-floor window. This extraordinary stroke of luck barely causes a reaction (Keaton wasn’t called ‘The Great Stone Face’ for nothing), but the audience wasn’t fooled: though it lasts barely a few seconds, it is a scene so awe-inspiring in its precision, its deceptive simplicity and intimate understanding of the cinematic spectacle that it has retained its iconic status eighty years on (despite, or perhaps because of, the advent of post-production special effects such as blue screen and CGI). It has also remained a point of reference (reworked, parodied, re-examined) for generations of visual artists.

Sadly, Steamboat Bill Jr was the last of Buster Keaton’s independently produced comedies: the year following its release, he signed a studio contract with MGM – an event which many regard as signalling the decline of his career.

Screened with a live, original piano accompaniment composed and performed by
Jane Gardner.