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Steamboat Bill, Jr: Ultimate Edition (1928) [Blu-ray]
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Rated: |
NR |
Starring: |
Buster Keaton. |
Director: |
Charles Reisner |
Genre: |
Action | Comedy | Drama |
DVD Release Date: 07/06/2010 |
The last of the independent features made in the prime of Buster Keaton's career, Steamboat Bill Jr.,. is a large-scale follow-up to The General, substituting a Mississippi paddlewheel for the locomotive, and replacing the spectacle of the Civil War with
a catastrophic hurricane. Keaton stars as William Canfield, Jr., a Boston collegian who returns to his deep-southern roots to reunite with his father, a crusty riverboat captain (Ernest Torrence) who is engaged in a bitter rivalry with a riverboat king
coincidentally, the father of Willie's sweetheart (Marion Byron). Keaton's athleticism and gift for inventive visual humor are in top form, and the cyclone that devastates a town (and sends houses literally crashing down around him) is perhaps the most
ambitious, awe-inspiring and hilarious slapstick sequence ever created.
Cast Notes: Buster Keaton (William Canfield Jr.), Tom McGuire (John James King), Ernest Torrence (William 'Steamboat Bill' Canfield Sr.), Tom Lewis (Tom Carter, first mate), Marion Byron (Kitty King).
User Comment: Clark Richards from United States, 3 January 2005 • Buster Keaton was a lunatic. He had to have been. The stunts he was able to pull off in this movie leave me questioning his sanity. This film has moments where you won't
believe his stunts weren't done via some nifty camera forgery. It's just amazing that his stunts were accomplished while one camera(yes, just one) was aimed at a spot that was marked for Buster to hit. This precision had to be met or death and disaster
could follow. This was most apparent in the cyclone scene with the wall of a house that fell to the ground. Any deviation by an inch from the mark and a house could fall on top of Buster's head. I had to watch that scene over and over again. This film is
filled with great gymnastics from Buster, as he did hit all of his marks. Although this movie has some of Buster's best comedic gymnastics, there are a couple of memorable scenes of pantomime. There's the scene near the beginning of the film when Buster
is trying on an array of hats for his father. Buster looks right into the camera as if looking into a mirror, just a great effect. And later there's another scene where Buster tries to break his father out of jail by pantomiming the instructions of escape
by using only his hands and a loaf of bread. By the end of the film you'll be marveling at Buster's dexterity while he operates the steamboat by climbing up and over or jumping down and around the ship, running the ship by himself and with the help of a
few helpfully placed ropes. This movie has it all for Buster fans.
Summary: The whole Keaton kaboodle.
User Comment: lugonian from Kissimmee, Florida, 25 March 2005 • STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (United Artists, 1928), directed by Charles F. Reisner, stars Buster Keaton in his third independent production following THE GENERAL (1926) and COLLEGE
(1927), his most effective and daring, as well as a premise that personifies him best. It is a fine character study as well, and since Keaton is quite a character, the role he plays is that of a weakling of a son who tries to impress his burly,
strong-willed father, wonderfully played by veteran actor Ernest Torrence.
Story: Set in River Junction, Mississippi, William Canfield (Torrence), better known as "Steamboat Bill," owns a riverboat called "The Stonewall Jackson." He has a rival, John James King (Tom Maguire), a wealthy citizen, who attempts to cause Bill's
financial ruin with his new river packet called "King" after himself. Canfield receives a telegram from Boston that his son, whom he hasn't seen since he was a baby, is arriving in town by train. Excited about the union, he is soon disappointed when he
finds Bill Canfield Jr. (Buster Keaton) not to be the physical built of himself but a weakling sporting checkered clothes and beret, a mustache and playing a ukulele. Also returning home to River Junction is Mary (Marion Byron), King's daughter, whom Bill
has already met while attending college. Because Bill and Mary love one another and Canfield and King have become rivals, the fathers attempt to keep these two apart.
A story with enough ingredients for comedy. With the love plot resembling that of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," there is no tragedy involved, but methods of the youths trying to get together at times without the knowledge of their feuding fathers.
Scenes involving the meek Keaton and the rugged Torrence are extremely funny, their introduction being with Torrence at the train station to meet the son he hasn't seen in years, to be identified with a carnation, only to find practically every man at the
station is wearing one. The element of surprise in finding his son not to be what's expected has been reworked numerous times on screen, the most famous being Universal's comedy-western, DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939), where the eagerly awaited sheriff
believed to be a strong physical type only to arrive in town only to be a "horse of a different color" (James Stewart). Like Stewart's character, Keaton is considered a fool by many, but on the contrary, he's the opposite, in fact, intelligent when
intelligence is needed, especially when it comes to rescuing his father from drowning in a jail cell during a flood that nearly has water covering over his head. Other scenes worth mentioning include father taking son by the hand like a small child to the
barber shop to eliminate his mustache, and later to the clothing store where father attempts to change son's image into something more manly. But the high point is that of natural disasters of cyclone and flood that nearly wipes away the town, with the
confused Bill actually becoming the hero during all this confusion, leading to the most celebrated scene where Keaton is seen standing in an empty street staring at the damaged surroundings, with the entire facade of a house falling down on him, with the
open window frame of the house passing safely over his body, leaving him unharmed. A very dangerous stunt, which might have proved fatal, done without the technology of special effects or computers nearly succeeds in outshining Harold Lloyd's thrill
comedies of the day. This alone needs to be seen to be believed. Even when all this is over, there are even more elements of surprises. Watch for them.
STEAMBOAT BILL JR. was introduced to public television around 1983 as part of a weekly series known as SPROCKETS, accompanied by a standard piano score. Later revived to cable television, it was then seen on American Movie Classics starting in 1995 where
it was part of that station's annual film preservation series, and ending its run there in 1999. The movie was later presented on Turner Classic Movies in 2001 where it is presented on its "Silent Sunday Nights." Initially accompanied with an excellent
piano score by William Perry from the Paul Killiam collection, TCM sadly discontinued using this print in December 2004 in favor of a restored copy (which is fine) accompanied by a new score which happens to be one the worst ever composed for a silent
movie. A pity because STEAMBOAT BILL Jr. is such a fine and exciting comedy, worthy to film students to studying the art and genius of Buster Keaton. Musical scores for silent movies can be the difference between making a good film utterly unbearable or
extremely watchable. Whichever is a matter of taste. STEAMBOAT BILL Jr. is also available on either the VHS or DVD format, but underscoring varies. For my money, the best, thus far, is the piano score by William Perry.
The last true Buster Keaton classic from the silent era, and surprisingly something that didn't do financially well when distributed in theaters. In fact, it's been said that United Artists withheld its release for almost a year. Today STEAMBOAT BILL Jr.
is critically acclaimed and hailed as one of Keaton's masterpieces, a notch below THE GENERAL but an improvement over COLLEGE. Thanks to television revivals and video/DVD, Buster Keaton comedies such as this should never go out of style.
Summary: The Adventures of Steamboat Billy.
IMDb Rating (01/22/11): 7.9/10 from 4,339 users
Additional information |
Copyright: |
1928, Kino Video |
Features: |
• Complete Alternate Version Of Steamboat Bill, Jr.
• Organ Score By Lee Erwin
• Piano Score By William Perry
• Documentary On The Making Of
• Stills Gallery
• Why They Call Him Buster, Musical Montage
• Two Vintage Recordings Of The Folk Song Steamboat Bill |
Video: |
Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] B&W |
Audio: |
ENGLISH: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 2.0
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Time: |
1:09 |
DVD: |
# Discs: 1 -- # Shows: 1 |
UPC: |
738329069520 |
Coding: |
[V4.0-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC |
D-Box: |
No |
Other: |
Producers: Joseph Schench; Directors: Charles Reisner; Writers: Carl Harbaugh; running time of 69 minutes; Packaging: HD Case.
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