646f9e108c In the riverside town of River Junction, Captain William Canfield has an old steamship and disputes the passengers with the powerful banker John James King, who has a brandy new passenger vessel. William is informed that his unknown son William Canfield Jr. will arrive by train from Boston to visit him. When Willie arrives, William trains him to work with him in his ship. However, Willie meets his friend Kitty King, the daughter of James King, and they date each other, against the will of their fathers. When a hurricane reaches River Junction, Willie rescues his father and his future father-in-law from the river. Steamboat Bill is excited that his son (Steamboat Bill Jr.) is coming to visit him. When he does, he tries to turn him into a proper person for working on the boats, while his son resists. Meanwhile, Kitty, a girl that he knows from school in Boston, spots him and introduces him to her father, a rival of Steamboat Bill. He tries to be alone with her, but gets caught several times, and is given a ticket back to Boston. Steamboat Bill gets arrested for unruly conduct (on a condemnation notice of his boat) and it&#39;s up to Bill Jr. to rescue his dad - in the middle of a cyclone storm. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)<br/><br/>Romeo and Juliet, Buster Keaton Style<br/><br/>A series of mishaps and confusions make for a stream–or a river–of comic laughs. For my taste, Chaplin&#39;s sentimentalism trumps Buster Keaton&#39;s supposed modernity (such is film criticism), but this is fast, funny, and even awesome at its best. Sadly, my version (streaming on Netflix) had terrible soundtrack music.<br/><br/>The General is a better movie, overall, if you want an introduction to Keaton, and I assume it&#39;s no coincidence that he helped write and direct that,Chaplin did his own films. There are enough great moments here–physical slips and gags, slapstick tricks, and fast turns of event to make it funny, don&#39;t get me wrong. But the slim plot takes too long, and it lacks the gravitas or true romance (even though the romance is on the surface by fifteen minutes or so in) that comedy often really depends on.<br/><br/>The great hat scene near the beginning has him try on his own famous hat and reject it, probably appropriate since this is his last film where he controls the movie (before his now notorious move to MGM). And when he pulls out the giant loaf of bread in the jail it&#39;s hilarious. But beyond funny plot elements, Keaton is most important, or most fun, for his stunts, so don&#39;t let the story and the thin supporting actors drag you down before he really gets going. And I don&#39;t mean to give short shrift to the leading woman, Marion Byron, who is perky and adorable, and the perfect siren for the perky and adorable Keaton. <br/><br/>The ending (the last twenty minutes) is pretty astonishing stuff. The effects with the wind and collapsing buildings, and the sheer marvels of acrobatic stunts by Keaton, are a thrill. This is what made him enduring, and don&#39;t miss it. Okay. Obvious bit first.<br/><br/>This is indeed the source of the most famous scene in all of silent comedy (alongside, perhaps, Chaplin&#39;s cogs and Lloyd&#39;s clock). Caught up in a hurricane, hiding under a bed that&#39;s whisked away in the wind, Buster staggers to his feet only for the front of a house to fall all around him. Except - the tiny window falls directly over Buster. Who just stands there, staring.<br/><br/>We&#39;ve all seen this a thousand times or more. Before I even knew who Keaton was I&#39;d seen this scene. But even now, going back to watch it (again and again) - it&#39;s an extraordinary moment. Keaton had two nails hammered into the ground, marks for his feet, and two inches of room either side. Two inches left, two inches right, Buster would have been killed. Dead centre, and it&#39;s wondrous. Perfection. It had to be.<br/><br/>And he doesn&#39;t even FLINCH.<br/><br/>But there&#39;s something else about it…<br/><br/>Here&#39;s a scene, the big scene, not just expensive but incredibly dangerous. Half the crew refuse to watch. Anywhere else, you might imagine this stuntthe grand conclusion, milked for all it&#39;s worth. But that was never the Buster Keaton way. Everything had to be done perfectly (the golfing accident in Convict 13, for example, 78 takes…), and if that meant nearly killing yourself for a few seconds three quarters of the way through, so be it. Do the perfect gag, move on, do some more.<br/><br/>Extraordinary. Staggering. Unbelievable.<br/><br/>But, heavens, there&#39;s more, so much more… from Buster throwing away his own hat in disgust, to the dough that fell into the toolbox, to Buster&#39;s seemingly limitless capacity for wearing clothes under his nightshirt, to all those stunts in the hurricane, to the ingenious ending - a joy, an absolute joy. Unremittingly wonderful.<br/><br/>So this makes him better than Chaplin? Forget it. All I hear is competition, comparison, Keaton better/not better than Chaplin, Laurel better/not better than Lloyd, and all combinations in between. IT DOESN&#39;T MATTER. This could only be a Keaton film, in the same way that Chaplin&#39;s best is unmistakeably Chaplin, Lloyd&#39;s best unmistakeably Lloyd, Laurel&#39;s best unmistakeably Laurel (and Hardy). There&#39;s no point bickering. There aren&#39;t any prizes to be won. Just accept - just rejoice - that for a brief few years, some of mankind&#39;s darkest years, the world was blessed with four unique comic geniuses. It probably never happened before, it maybe never will again. We were, are, will be, all of us, amazingly lucky to have them. And to always have them. So pull up a chair, grab a drink and a loved one, and settle down to this glorious film. And when it&#39;s done, stick on &#39;The Kid&#39; for good measure… and &#39;Liberty&#39;… and &#39;Never Weaken&#39;…<br/><br/>… and rejoice …
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