Movie stills

By: Buster Keaton

Date: 1927

Source: Keaton, Buster. The General. 76 min. Hollywood, Calif.: United Artists, 1927. Videocassette.

About the Author: Joseph Frank Keaton VI (1895–1966), writer, director, and star of silent film comedies, was born into a family of vaudevillians. He was christened "Buster" after a family friend saw the six-month-old child tumble down a flight of stairs unharmed. "What a buster your kid took!" the friend exclaimed to Buster's parents. Young Buster performed in the family act "The Three Keatons" until 1917, when he quit to pursue his own career. By 1920 he had established the Buster Keaton Studio, where he became a master of the cinematic medium and its role in comedy. Keaton is remembered for his deadpan humor and inventive sight gags.

Introduction

Buster Keaton grew up being tossed around by his father in...