Description

As new generations discover the magic of silent cinema, Buster Keaton has emerged as one of the era's most admired and respected artists. Behind the deadpan expression and trademark porkpie hat was a filmmaking genius who conceived and engineered some of the most breathtaking stunts and feats of visual trickery, while never losing sight of slapstick cinema's primary objective: laughter.

Produced by Lobster Films, BUSTER KEATON: THE SHORTS COLLECTION includes all 32 of Keaton's extant silent shorts (thirteen of which were produced under the tutelage of comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle). These 2k restorations were performed utilizing archival film elements from around the world, and promises to be the definitive representation of Keaton's early career. Watching these films in succession, one witnesses the evolution of an artist -- from broad knockabout comedian into a filmmaker of remarkable visual sophistication.

Special Features

• 24-page booklet with detailed film notes and essay by Jeffrey Vance, author of Buster Keaton Remembered
• The Blacksmith - Newly rediscovered alternate version of the 1922 comedy, containing four minutes of previously unseen material
• Coney Island - alternate (politically incorrect) ending
• My Wife's Relations - alternate ending
• Introduction by film preservationist Serge Bromberg (6 min.)
• Life with Buster Keaton (1951, excerpt) - Keaton reenacts Roscoe Arbuckle's "Salomé dance", first performed in The Cook