Although the authenticity of these gossip rumors left over from history remains to be verified, it can be seen that buster keaton is definitely a talented filmmaker, and his talent even makes Chaplin jealous. But for most audiences, compared with Chaplin's household name, the name buster keaton is so strange that when he and Chaplin were on the same stage, everyone only regarded him as Chaplin's green leaf, but they didn't think it was actually a contest between the hammer of Thor and the shield of the US team.
Generally speaking, the four American comedians in the silent film period are Charlie Chaplin, buster keaton, Mike Seinert and harold lloyd. However, because Chaplin still insisted on writing after the arrival of the silent film era, some people did not classify him as the four great comedy masters in the silent film era, and replaced him with Harry Langdon. Among them, Chaplin is undoubtedly the most outstanding achievement, the most amazing talent, the most profound work and the most active creation. He not only created the comedy paradigm, but also founded the United States Company with Griffith, Mary Pickford and douglas fairbanks, which was different from the stereotype of the five major film companies and delivered a large number of excellent art films to the film industry later.
However, even Chaplin has to admire another comedy master, that is buster keaton. As a "cold-faced comedian", he is famous for his calm temperament and lack of facial expressions. His comic image is different from Chaplin's rich and funny tramp Charles, stiff, dull and brain-dead. Even if he is intimate with the heroine, his expression is solemn and almost without passion. But it is such an image, but it is often in a funny situation without knowing it, thus producing a "contrast" comedy effect.
It has to be said that in the early silent films, slapping, throwing cakes, rolling and other antics were the main features. buster keaton was one of the few comedians who could build a personal image brand except Chaplin, and the only director who not only had superb deductive skills, but also directed and arranged comedies with great interest. In addition to creating a comedy image with contrast effect, buster keaton is best at scheduling accurate and extremely difficult thrilling action scenes, and is dubbed as "the track and field athlete who was delayed by performance".
With the decrease in the frequency of Chaplin's films in the 1920s, buster keaton and harold lloyd were the hottest comedians at that time, and the greatest film in Keaton's film career, General (1926), was also born in this period. Among the "100 most beautiful films in the world" selected by the French film handbook, "General" ranks 18, which shows its high quality. Even now, the film's exquisite action design, grand scene scheduling and easy plot control are still amazing. General Keaton's train driver, small and weak, but clever and witty, gained the upper hand in the enemy's pursuit. The action scene of the train chasing is breathtaking.
Sherlock Holmes II (1923) also maintained the same high standard. Sherlock Holmes II, played by Keaton, fought bravely with the prisoner in the process of investigating the case and finally had a happy ending. In this film, the control between reality and dreams, reality and movies, movies and dreams is precise. There are three intertextual texts: reality, movie and dream. * * tells the story that Keaton was stolen by mistake and finally revealed the snow. There are many wonders, such as Keaton's illusion when watching a movie, a set of clips when substituting himself into a movie, and the thrilling adventure after dreaming that he became Sherlock Holmes II, all of which are amazing.
In addition, Keaton's film novels include Our Way of Hospitality (1923), The Great Navigator (1924), Seven Opportunities (1924) and Steamboat Little Bill (1924).
His face is calm, but full of explosive force; He is short, but agile. His comedy films are more in line with the aesthetics of the screen, with thrilling actions replacing the sad feeling and calm attitude replacing the guided panic. Keaton's own performances and the films he directed all revealed the coolness, accuracy and restraint like scalpels. There was neither extreme crying nor sharp criticism. Maybe it will be criticized as superficial and lacking in depth, but from the film point of view, it is definitely top grade.
But unfortunately, because of the box office failure of General, Keaton accepted the producer's suggestion and joined MGM, but lost his autonomy and his technical team. Without improvisation, unable to design his own jokes, strict shooting schedule and budget control, and heavy drinking, this creative talent gradually eroded his brilliance, and his works gradually degenerated from a great film with high quality, high freedom and deep personal imprint to a general comedy. Since then, Keaton has never returned to the glory of the 1920s, and he himself, like a bunch of directors such as Mona and Fries Lang, has become a victim of Hollywood studios' strangulation of personal style.