Buster Keaton: The Genius Destroyed by Hollywood

Feb 7, 2016

0h 52m

★ 7.8

Overview

In 1926, Buster Keaton was at the peak of his glory and wealth. By 1933, he had reached rock bottom. How, in the space of a few years, did this uncontested genius of silent films, go from the status of being a widely-worshipped star to an alcoholic and solitary fallen idol? With a spotlight on the 7 years during which his life changed, using extracts of Keaton’s films as magnifying mirrors, the documentary recounts the dramatic life of this creative genius and the Hollywood studios.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Quark Productions

ARTE

Buster Keaton: The Genius Destroyed by Hollywood Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self

Buster Keaton

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

4.9

Dickson Greeting

May 20, 1891

William K.L. Dickson brings his hat from his one hand to the other and moves his head slightly, as a small nod toward the audience. This was the first film produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company to be shown to public audiences and the press.

No Image Available

7.0

Encierro de toros

Jan 30, 1898

No overview available.

2.0

Buffalo Bill

Jun 17, 1894

The famous army scout in an exhibition of rifle shooting. A fine picture of the principal, and beautiful smoke effects.

5.5

Days of Thrills and Laughter

Mar 21, 1961

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

3.8

Tossing a Nigger in a Blanket

Apr 6, 1898

A method soldier boys have for amusing themselves in their leisure moments. New comrades are frequently initiated by the old-fashioned sport of tossing in a blanket. The newly arrived recruit, who is the victim of their sport, enjoys himself, perhaps, less than the other participants.

4.2

Men Boxing

Apr 30, 1891

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.

10.0

Rodez

Nov 1, 2017

An exploration of Rodez Cathedral and its stained glass windows: praying figures and scientific imagery. A study on color, repetition and flickering consisting of 292 photographs.

0.0

Kristallwachstum

Jan 1, 1952

Experiments on the crystallization of various inorganic substances: crystallization from solution, crystallization from melt and vapour phase, mixed crystal formation, oriented growth, change from a metastable into a stable phase.

6.0

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge

Oct 15, 1888

A film by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, shot in late October 1888, showing pedestrians and carriages crossing Leeds Bridge.

5.2

Carmencita

Mar 14, 1894

The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States. In the film, Carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster & Bial's in New York since February 1890.

No Image Available

0.0

Laplander Feeding His Reindeer

Jan 2, 1907

Short documentary released in 1907.

No Image Available

8.0

Among Wild Birds

Nov 28, 1927

Finland’s first nature documentary. The filmmakers’ expedition leads them all the way to the Åland Islands and the Karelian Isthmus.

No Image Available

0.0

The Diver

Mar 15, 1911

A fascinating pictorial document: On an old, cluttered work ship, a man is helped on with a bulky, old fashioned diving suit. It's a complicated process, many layers and sections are carefully applied. He goes over the side. Some men row out to what looks like a wrecked barge and set dynamite. Then the diver returns and now laughs and acknowledges the camera. The other men, now safely away, blow up the barge.

0.0

Moonwalk

Apr 18, 2024

This short documentary film captures the natural movement of the moon mixed with an experimental musical track that accompanies the rhythm of the "walk" on the stage that the protagonist occupies, the sky.

7.8

Man with a Movie Camera

May 12, 1929

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

0.0

Monica in the South Seas

Nov 3, 2023

Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty, and seemingly the sole member of the family with a hands-on interest in continuing the directing legacy. Among the materials he found in the estate of Robert and Frances Flaherty’s daughter Monica were the film reels and video tapes detailing several years of work on realising her lifelong dream project: a sound version of her parents’ 1926 docu-fiction axiom, Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age.

3.0

The History of the Civil War

Jun 1, 1921

The epic story of the Russian Civil War (1918-21): the White Terror, the counterrevolutionary uprisings, the guerrilla war, the Kolchak front, the Wrangel front and the Kronstadt rebellion. Chaos and violence, devastation and death.

7.1

Nanook of the North

Jun 11, 1922

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

0.0

Breaking Plates

Sep 30, 2024

A unique hybrid of documentary, silent film, drama and dance, 'Breaking Plates' puts revolutionary women of the past on the screen with present day filmmakers. Contemporary women talk to characters from 100 years ago, reanimate their antics and emulate their mayhem moves. As early 21st century performers step into the clothes of their early 20th century counterparts, battling their haywire machines, exploding gags, and eruptive bodies, they learn to wield humour as a weapon against the structures that contain them today.

Buster Keaton: The Genius Destroyed by Hollywood

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Buster Keaton: The Genius Destroyed by Hollywood Trailers