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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
"They are grand lists of considerable length, a marvelous coda to a wonderful book."
"The lack of operatic highs and lows in Keaton's life can make Curtis's straight-ahead, sequentially narrated bio a slog if you're not a committed Buster Boi, but it's as definitive an account of the sad-faced comedian as one could hope for."
"A valuable addition to the literature of film history."
"In this authoritative portrait, Curtis portrays his subject as 'a gentle soul, so quiet and unassuming,' sometimes startled by acclaim and happiest when he was working."
"Curtis's book is much less essayistic, and more traditional [than Dana Stevens's new book about Keaton] ..."
"An immense year-by-year, sometimes week-by-week, account of Keaton as an artist and a man."
"Curtis doesn't write inconsequential profiles, he writes definitive biographies ..."
"[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."
"Curtis rectifies that situation, and how."
"Fans of Keaton, as well as classic cinema, will be delighted to read James Curtis's new book ..."
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