Buster Keaton Bonanza for R2 fans... (1 Viewer)

[John Hodson]

According to the Criterion Forum, Eureka's 'Masters of Cinema' is serving up a real treat for April:


Plus, the acclaimed documentary from Kevin Brownlow Buster Keaton - A Hard Act to Follow comes in R2 next month from Network, who also have cover art and specs up for The Buster Keaton Chronicles on their site. The six disc set, which looks to have been considerably upgraded since the original announcement, includes:

One Week
The Saphead
Convict 13
The Scarecrow
Neighbors
The Haunted House
The Goat
The Boat
The Playhouse
The Paleface
Cops
My Wife’s Relations
The Blacksmith
The Frozen North
The Electric House
Day Dreams
The Balloonatic
The Love Nest
The Three Ages
Our Hospitality (Thames Silent Version)
Sherlock Jr.
The Navigator
Seven Chances
Go West
Battling Butler
The General (Thames Silent Version)
College
Steamboat Bill Jr.
The Great Stone Face (1968 documentary -100 minutes)

That Network set is just £17.99 at HMV,

Meanwhile, Cinema Club, who gave us the magnificent 2-disc set of The General, look set to do it again. Next month, they release a three-disc set featuring Keaton's College, Steamboat Bill Jr. and Three Ages. Play.com has the set at a penny short of £24 here, but check out the extras:

College:
Introductions by David Robinson, British film critic and official Charlie Chaplin biographer
The Buster Keaton Show: an episode from Keaton's 1949 live TV show (B&W, 27 mins)
Candid Camera (6 mins): an excerpt from an episode of Candid Camera called Request Night featuring Keaton
Run, Girl, Run: 1928 short film (18 mins)
Ball Park: B&W silent animation featuring a slugger ape and a fearful umpire (6 mins)
Sport Chumpions: 1941 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies short animation (7 mins)
The Keaton Collection: short excerpts of various Buster Keaton films including The Three Ages, Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Seven Chances, Go West, The General, College and Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Steamboat Bill, Jr
Introduction by David Robinson (6 mins)
Frame By Frame: David Robinson takes you through the stunts frame by frame (7 mins)
Back Stage: an exerpt from this short filmed in 1919, starring Fatty Arbuckle & Buster Keaton (3 mins)
One Week: an excerpt from the 1920 short written, directed and starring Buster Keaton (7 mins)
The River: 1938 Depression-era documentary describing the importance of the Mississippi to the U.S. (30 mins)
The Mississippi River Flood of 1927: B&W / silent footage of the 1927 Mississippi flood disaster (2 mins)
Down South: animated short (7 mins)
The Keaton Collection
Three Ages
Introduction by David Robinson
Frame By Frame: David Robinson takes you through the stunts frame by frame (4 mins)
Choose The Age - Stone / Roman / Modern: the movie broken into 3 two-reelers so the viewer can see each age on its own
The Triumph Of Lester Snapwell: excerpt from 1963 short promotional film advertising the Instamatic camera starring Buster Keaton (8 mins)
Intolerance: excerpt from D.W. Griffiths Intolerance which Keaton's Three Ages parodies so effectively (7 mins)
Why They Love Cavemen: a 1921 short animated comedy (5 mins)
The Keaton Collection

What a set that appears to be!

 

[Irina]

Sounds very exciting. I hope it really gets released in April. According to that same Criterion forum, this highly anticipated Complete Collection Buster Keaton Short Films has been postponed a couple of times before. Let's keep our fingers crossed. The cover art looks fantastic. http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/...pic.php?t=3019

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

I've loved the Masters of Cinema discs I've bought so far, and also the Cinema Club edition of The General. They have a proven track record with me.

The Network set sounds too good to be true - so much material for such a small price. The last disc I bought from them was Charley Says 2 which featured horrendous fluctuation in volume level between the shorts. I thought that disc should have been repressed.

Let's see what happens when the discs appear. You never know, but my money right now is not on Network.

 

[Irina]

I have the same concerns about the price/value of the upcoming Network edition that Bleddyn has expressed in his reply. Seems almost too good to be true. I was trying to find some critical notes about their editions. Criterion forum was quite favourable based on their Black Narcissus edition. I guess we just have to wait and see. The Hard Act to Follow documentary has been very highly praised. I am looking forward to its release.

 

[John Hodson]

The Network Black Narcissus is quite stunning; for what I'm going to pay for it, I'm willing to give the Keaton set a go, and The Great Stone Face documentary sounds interesting.

But the other releases sound fantastic.

 

[John Hodson]

Update on The Complete Buster Keaton Short Films Collection 1917-1923 Box Set (4 Discs), now coming October (we hope) and a lip-smacking propect considering the quality of the previous MoC range. The blurb:

Containing 32 films - with a running time of over 700 minutes - this collection documents Buster Keaton’s short films between 1917-1923. Capturing Keaton’s first steps in front of a camera this box set charts his early association with ex-Keystone Kop Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle through to headlining, starring in, and directing his own box office smash hits. Using Chaplin’s old Hollywood studios in 1920, Keaton’s sophisticated technical inventiveness coupled with his haunted-yet-handsome “Stone Face” persona, created a succession of the most timeless, classic comedy shorts ever realised. The Masters Of Cinema series presents the following films in a four-disc box set, with audio commentary by Joseph McBride on six of the films, and a 212-page book:

The Butcher Boy (1917), The Rough House (1917), His Wedding Night (1917), Oh, Doctor! (1917), Coney Island (1917), Out West (1918), The Bell Boy (1918), Moonshine (1918), Good Night Nurse (1918), The Cook (1918), Backstage (1919), The Hayseed (1919), The Garage (1919), The “High Sign”* (finished 1920, released 1921), One Week* (1920), Convict 13* (1920), The Scarecrow (1920), Neighbors (1920), The Haunted House (1921), Hard Luck (1921), The Goat (1921), The Playhouse* (1921), The Boat* (1921), The Paleface (1922), Cops* (1922), My Wife’s Relations (1922), The Blacksmith (1922), The Frozen North (1922), Daydreams (1922), The Electric House (1922), The Balloonatic (1923), The Love Nest (1923) (*features audio commentary)