In Sam Shepard’s play True West, a would-be screenwriter, Lee, outlines a movie that is all about movement: first a chase on foot then on motorbike and finally by car. He consequently sets out to track down the stolen train, first on foot, then by handcar and bicycle, and finally by train (as he commandeers another train to catch the first one). Keaton/Johnnie is determined to prove otherwise, especially when Annabelle is captured by Union soldiers, who escape on board Johnnie’s other great love, his locomotive called “The General”. However, that is of little consolation when his rejection by the Army leads to his rejection by his beloved, Annabelle, who thinks he is merely a coward. Keaton plays Johnnie, a humble railway worker who is turned down by the Confederate Army when the Civil War begins because his day-to-day work is deemed to be too valuable. It is, of course, appropriate to use the imagery of movement to describe The General as it is a film all about movement, and specifically the rush of the railway. However, there is one clear similarity between The General and Citizen Kane: the ability to build a story slowly until it attains unstoppable momentum. Welles clearly learned a lot from The General, even if it that education is not immediately apparent in Kane. Orson Welles was one of the first true masters of sound cinema, but he idolized the silent greats, especially Keaton and in particular The General, which he and many others regarded as perhaps the greatest film ever made, at least until Welles himself made Citizen Kane (1941). Build Your Story Slowly (Until It Attains Unstoppable Momentum) – The General, 1926 Similarly, any budding 21 st century Busters should certainly employ some of the dazzling array of cinematic tricks and effects that are now available even on an iPhone, but they should root them in a beautifully constructed plot, which acts as the anchor to stop the dream-ship from floating away. It was the essence of his genius as a movie star: dodge the bullet (or the falling rock, or even the avalanche) but never register your fear or alarm, at least not facially. Keaton knew that wild flights of fantasy must always be balanced by rigorous logic, even control. Finally, though, Keaton manages to capture the thief, rescue the girl and prove once and for all that he has the mind of a true detective. Naturally, the thief tries to deter him, by setting a succession of the kind of traps that Keaton was always falling into. Back in the cinema, as he tries to work out what had really happened, he falls asleep and then imagines that his own life has become a detective movie, in which he, Sherlock Jr., must establish the true identity of the thief. When he is wrongly accused of stealing a watch that belongs to the father of his beloved (it has, in fact, been stolen by his rival for the girl’s affection), he is told never to see the girl again. In Sherlock Jr., Keaton plays a movie projectionist who dreams of being a detective. In the process, it shows both Keaton’s extraordinary imagination and his mastery of cinema. It anticipates other, much later screen comedies about “going into the movies” (as opposed to just “going to” them), such as Rodney Dangerfield’s The Projectionist (1970) and Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), by nearly half a century. Keaton may or may not be the greatest silent movie star of them all (Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin and Lloyd all have their many admirers), but it is surely undeniable that he was the greatest film-maker of all the great silent movie stars, as demonstrated to near perfection in arguably his finest film, Sherlock Jr. Be Wildly Imaginative (But Always Remain In Control) – Sherlock Jr. Here are five comedy lessons from five Buster Keaton classics: 1. To celebrate and provide some last-minute inspiration for entrants, this piece is brought to you by the 2018 ScreenCraft Comedy Screenplay Contest.Įnter the 2018 ScreenCraft Comedy Screenplay Contest by the final deadline on June 1st, by 11:59 PM PST. The city recently announced that it will honor “The Great Stone Face” annually. Move over, May 4 th (“ Star Wars Day”) and out of the way, “ Alien Day” (26 April) – henceforth, June 16 will be “Buster Keaton Day” in Los Angeles and consequently the coolest “movie day” of the year.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |