Buster Keaton's "The Paleface" (1 Viewer)

[Kelly W]

I just picked up an "El Cheapo" DVD containing a few shorts by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

One of the shorts is "The Paleface" and looking at the title card of the film, it APPEARS like a black box was pasted over the original credits so as to re-name the film to "The Paleface" from something else.

A quick internet check found nothing, but I was wondering if anybody knew if the title for this was changed at some point in time. (Perhaps for some "politcally-correct" type of reason???)

Just wondering...

Thanks!!!

-Kelly

 

[Grant B]

I have the BK box and that does not ring a bell. Whats it about?
Grant

 

[Evan Case]

"The Paleface" was the original name of the short, and it remains so on the non-"El Cheapo" Kino disc (Grant, it's on the Go West disc). Perhaps your disc's transfer was taken from a foreign print and thus needed the English translation pasted onto the titles.
A very good short, and particularly noteworthy in relation to his classic feature Seven Chances. The feature and short share some instantly recognizable natural terrain during respective chase scenes.
Evan

 

[Patrick McCart]

A lot of times, the white titling will get overexposed and be illegible.
The cheaper DVD's will do superimpositing so that the title is easily seen. The DVD's that are done with any sense (as in Kino or Blackhawk) will use ARCHIVAL prints, which already have visible titles since they were printed by someone with a brain.
So...when YOU need to do is to put the disc away somewhere (as in burying it about 6 feed underground) and go buy the Kino disc. You'll thank yourself.
The disc doesn't have the Chaplin shorts, but you can find fully restored versions of the Mutuals and Essanay films on DVD from Image...and WB will be releasing an SE DVD(or DVDs) of the First Nationals next year. The Keystones, sadly, remain MIA mainly because of a real lack of quality materials and the fact that they're just not that good, besides Tillie's Punctured Romance.