In the previously mentioned The General, the finale of the film is a train falling into a river on a sabotaged bridge and the only way to do it then was to wreck a real train. There was no other way to do some of those things at the time other than to actually do them.
3 Likes
I was quoting you, so I used quotes. Is that not proper?
Oooh, I like that bit much better than just substituting science for Jesus in an old aphorism, and promoting ātrustā in miraculous powers.
I like science, but I hate the way most people today want to use an entirely faith-based Scientism as a crappy substitute for their parentsā religion. Your earlier post read that way for me, although perhaps you didnāt intend it so.
Although, yāknow, that may well be exactly what Keaton was doing - it is possible to reach a correct conclusion from incorrect premises and broken processes, after all. He may have just placed his faith in a math book instead of in a holy book, using exactly the same mental process as a scriptural fundamentalist. I donāt know, and youāve said youāre not privy to Keatonās methods, so I think neither one of us actually has any idea whether science entered into this at any point.
At that time period, incidentally, dowsing was still considered a real science by many educated people, so this gets even murkier.
@zieroh - I like jokes, even if I get some on me. Didja notice that Keaton did not fit between the arcs described by the window opening? Watch it again, if you missed it.
1 Like
Possible, but unless the stunt was invented, planned, implemented and shot all on that same day it wouldnāt explain the risk of the stunt. And, indeed, if he hit his mark and the wall fell intact as engineered then it was āsafeā - all he had to do was stand still, no feats of special strengh, agility, timing or skill needed - just giant gonads. So, in a lot of ways it was safer than many stunts performed today.
2 Likes
Never pass up a chance to watch a Keaton movie. Iād heard about him, of course, but really discovered him at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (also highly recommended). Details about the stunts just sealed it. The only person Iāve seen come close to him in physical comedy is Jackie Chan.
Hereās another one to puzzle out: how the hell did he think heād get away with the raised roadway stunts in Sherlock Jr.?
4 Likes
I recall hearing that, later in life, Keaton complained of headaches or some other malaise. The doctor had an x-ray performed and discovered that, at some point, Keaton had fractured his neck. I also recall that during his childhood, Keaton was a stunt baby in his parentsā vaudeville act, so his body really went through the wringer.
Thereās an Arrested Development in which the Buster character recreates this scene.
The film clip is from the mid 1920s.
Styrofoam was invented in 1941.
Just sayin, maybe they invented styrofoam so stuff wouldnt weigh 6 tons?
Do you have the patent on that backpedal machine?
They built a whole house with a hinged front wall, but not an animatronic Buster Keaton whose head moves when you pull a wire from out of frameā¦
1 Like
Death is certain for everyone.
The headline should have been āBuster Keaton narrowly postpones certain deathā
9 Likes
If you watch the whole movie, youāll see this was done in one shot. The cut needed to insert an animatronic Buster Keaton would have been obvious.
1 Like
Look. Heās The Medievalist.
He doesnāt have much truck with āScienceā and other Witchery.
Now, if you want to talk about a serious investigation of nature like āALCHEMYā maybe weād get somewhere.
8 Likes
Methinks leeches would be more appropriate.
1 Like
He did all his own stunt work on āThe Railroaderā too, including that slipping and sliding on the little car over a deep canyon. The crew was afraid and amazed.
Names apply to many things.
The headline should have been āMale person in North America known as Buster Keaton narrowly postpones certain death as captured by light-sensitive emulsions on celluloid moving through a camera at 24 frames per second that has now been digitized and uploaded into a cloud server somewhere and is being delivered to your device via packets in a method that was developed with funds from the United States of Americaās Defense Advanced Research Project Agencyā
3 Likes
Keaton was asked what he would have been if he hadnāt been an actor. He said heād have liked to have been an engineer. Look at a lot of his work and you can see his engineering sensibility at play - āThe Electric Houseā or the kitchen scenes in āThe Navigator.ā
Keaton risked his life many times for stunts. Another is in āOur Hospitality,ā where he swings down and across a waterfall to rescue the damsel in distress:
Jackie Chan pays tribute to Busterās house falling stunt in, I think, Project A Part II. Only he used a paper house facade. Still a good gag though.
6 Likes
No comparison.
Styrofoam didnāt exist in the 1920ās.
As I recall, they tested the stunt out with canvas stretched on a frame, but the frame wouldnāt fall true (it would warp on the way down) so they had to go with the heavy wooden version.
1 Like
I remember learning in film school many years ago that Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd both prided themselves on doing all their own stunts and making them as real as possible. I though I had read that Keaton was a civil engineer before he went into the film business but perhaps it was Lloyd or perhaps the info was just incorrect. I do remember, however, that he planted two railroad spikes where his heels should go in this shot then ran up and lined up on his spot seconds before the wall came down. Take a look at the whole clip starting before this excerpt and it is even more impressive. Also take a look at Lloydās stunt hanging from the face of a giant clock on the outside of a skyscraper, very impressive. It was actually only 2 stories up and shot to make it look like it was much higher but it is still great. They mounted the clock hand on a giant spring designed to take his weight but stretch out from the clock.
3 Likes
Verg Very cool clip!
I wonder if thatās him in the boat too, wearing a wig. That damsel in distress looks kinda burly.
