Every Friday Chris hand-selects a streaming recommendation for your weekend.
This Week’s Featured Flick
Buster Keaton: The Short Films Collection on Hulu
HULU DESCRIPTION
Widely considered to be among Keaton’s finest work, these eighteen two-reel shorts are loaded with laughs, punctuated by breath-taking stunts, and bursting with raw creativity. Over the course of this three-year period, Keaton evolved from a successful slapstick comedian into one of cinema’s most inventive visual stylists, and became an enduring icon of American popular culture.
Apparently I just can’t get enough of Buster Keaton. As I mentioned on the newest episode, I have been going through Kino’s Buster Keaton Short Films Collection lately. Keaton began writing/directing/producing/starring in these two-reel short films at the age of 25, following a run as Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s sidekick. In fact, Arbuckle’s own dog and sometimes-co-star, Luke the Pitbull, even makes an appearance in the 1920 short, The Scarecrow.
Keaton churned out 19 two-reelers between 1920 and 1923. Only one of those films is missing from the collection on Hulu. One Week, was Keaton’s directorial debut (though The High Sign was directed first, it was released a year after One Week) and is an undeniable masterpiece. I will not carry on about it here, since, as I said, it is suspiciously missing from this version of the collection, but it can be found on Kino’s Blu-Ray release of this collection or through a quick Google search. It’s absolutely worth it.
If you’re in a pinch or just want a quick taste of early Keaton I cannot recommend The Goat orThe Play House enough. The High Sign and The Boat are also among my favorites so far. Honestly there are only two I didn’t fall head over heals for. The Haunted House has an incredibly fun ending, but is a bit slow to start, and Convict 13 did almost nothing for me.
Can’t get enough Buster Keaton either? Check our Tumblr for GIFs I made from these shorts.