THREE AGES - Buster Keaton

 

Buster Keaton's directorial debut released for first time on Blu-Ray in celebration of the film's centenary.

Masters of Cinema/Eureka Entertainment are back with another Buster Keaton release, this time proudly releasing the directorial debut of old Stoneface from 1923. 

A film that was made as a swipe or reaction to D. W. Griffith's Intolerance which spanned several centuries of early American history, Keaton here takes the notion of love through the ages. Keaton shows the stone age, the roman age and the modern age. We spend the most abundant time in the modern age naturally as Keaton and Wallace Beery (Treasure Island, The Champ) as they attempt to win favour and the hand of Margaret Leahy - portraying heightened versions of themselves.

Keaton has fun mimicking and making fun of the eternal quest for a companion using sight gags (hitting a tall cavewoman over the head, she promptly stands up and dwarfs him) and stunt work of the highest order from the collapsing car to his death-defying jump across the street at height. A jump that nearly ended in tragedy yet he kept the seeming mistake in the final cut.

Keaton sets himself apart due to the little nuance and details he gives his characters, from the playful tapping of fingers on the arm of a sofa next to Leahy in contrast to the harsh brashness of Beery's modern day neanderthal bully.

There is the little touch of taking his American safe headwear off as a man and team-mate (he essentially) is helped get maimed leaves the field on a stretcher, this deftness sets someone apart. Whilst Chaplin would yearn to be the centre of the attention, Keaton is someone who tries to stay on the sidelines and prevent the spotlight hitting his characters.

The ending works so well as a foreshadowing of how love does and does not change - it becomes an unlikely foreshadow for Mike Nichols' The Graduate and then the final shot of a couple happy in domesticated bliss with man's best friend is one of how perhaps things have changed somewhat from little tykes running amok everywhere to one of coupledom taking time to enjoy life before a family begins - not unlike how many find ourselves nowadays. Another notch as to how Buster was ahead of his time.

Keaton shared directing credit with Edward F. Cline, the style and auteur streak can be seen that he would repeat in such classics as Sherlock Jr. and The General. While it may not reach the heights of those films that landed on the BFI's Top 100 of all time, it never the less serves as a reminder that Keaton was a pioneer and revolutionary in the still young medium of motion picture cinema. 

On the centenary of its release, we should never lose sight of the fact that modern day comedy stands upon the shoulders of Keaton and his peers.

The new release has a first run of 2000 copies for the Limited Edition slipcase; a new 1080p presentation on Blu-Ray from Cohen Film Collection featuring reconstructed original intertitles. Brand new audio commentary from film historian David Kalat. A new video essay This Side of Impossible by David Cairns. A new video essay by Fiona Watson entitled Under the Flat Hat. A 1912 D.W. Griffith short Man's Genesis that Keaton parodies in Three Ages; archival recordings of Keaton. And a collector's booklet featuring new writing by Philip Kemp and Imogen Sara Smith.

This is the UK debut on Blu-ray in celebration of the 100th Anniversary.

THREE AGES is released from Eureka Entertainment on August 21st.