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Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life
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About This Book
From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis--a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern--and irresistible--today as they were when they beguiled audiences almost a century ago. It was James Agee who christened Buster Keaton "The Great Stone Face." Keaton's face, Agee wrote, ranked almost with Lincoln's as an early American archetype; it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful, yet it was also irreducibly funny. Keaton was the only major comedian who kept sentiment almost entirely out of his work and . . . he brought pure physical comedy to its greatest heights." Mel Brooks: "A lot of my daring came from Keaton." Martin Scorsese, influenced by Keaton's pictures in the making of Raging Bull: "The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me," Scorsese said, "was Buster Keaton." Keaton's deadpan stare in a porkpie hat was as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin's tramp and Harold Lloyd's straw boater and spectacles, and, with W. C. Fields, the four were each considered a comedy king--but Keaton was, and still is, considered to be the greatest of them all. His iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera Keaton was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General. Now James Curtis, admired biographer of Preston Sturges ("definitive"--Variety), W. C. Fields ("by far the fullest, fairest and most touching account we have yet had. Or are likely to have"--Richard Schickel, front page of The New York Times Book Review), and Spencer Tracy ("monumental; definitive"--Kirkus Reviews), gives us the richest, most comprehensive life to date of the legendary actor, stunt artist, screenwriter, director--master.
Reviews
"Curtis's book becomes."
"Film buffs will cherish this monumental biography of a phenomenally talented but troubled comic filmmaker."
"Mayer, and his artistic and commercial struggles from the 1930s to his death in 1966."
"[he does] excellently in handling the sadder second half of Keaton's career, after he signed away creative control over his movies to MGM, and gravity, mixed with alcohol, finally began to do its work."
"In lesser hands, this might result in a book that treads little new ground, but Curtis breathes new life into the classic comic, exploring the richer context of Keaton's entire career rather than merely hitting the highlights."
"Curtis is clearly an admirer of Keaton, but he doesn't view his subject through rose-colored glasses: he discusses and puts into context Keaton's battles with alcoholism and mental illness, his rocky marriage, and the devastating impact of poor reviews on some of Keaton's most personal projects."
"(The spinning house was built on a turntable whose control belt was buried in dirt and grass.) Every bit as important, Buster Keaton serves as a welcome corrective to the perception that Keaton's was a tragic life undone by drink and the advent of the talkies ..."
"An immense year-by-year, sometimes week-by-week, account of Keaton as an artist and a man."
"Curtis gives us the whole man ..."
"[an] overstuffed book, which belongs in any film fan's library for providing a close look at the silent era and all of Keaton's efforts, whether big or small, triumph or failure."
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