버스터 키턴은 채플린과 비견되는 미국 무성 코미디 시대를 이끈 창조적 스타이며 영화사의 거장이다. 그는 자신이 위대한 영화들을 만들었던 당시인 1920년대보다 오늘날 더 높은 평가를 받고 있는 감독이다. 채플린처럼 키턴은 연극 가족들을 뒀고, 가족들의 보드빌 무대 위에서 도제기간을 거쳤다. 키턴이 채플린과 다른 점이 있다면 어린 시절과 가족의 삶이 덜 고통스럽고 더 평화로웠고, 채플린의 영화를 후에 어둡게 이끈 젊은 날의 암흑을 가지고 있지 않다는 점이다. 키턴의 영화들은 더 유쾌하고 활동적이고 낙관적이며, 넉살좋은 곡예와 트릭으로 만들어졌다. 키턴의 코미디에서 가장 유명한 트레이드 마크는 ‘무표정 얼굴’인데 표면으로 코미디를 포착해낸 키턴의 재능을 알 수 있다. 키턴의 무감각하고 무표정한 얼굴, 작지만 거의 초인간적인 육체는 언제나 웃음을 만들어냈다. 그의 영화는 물리적 세계의 무한함에 맞서는 한 보잘것없는 인간의 악전고투 속에서 페이소스를 가져온다.
1910년대 후반, 키턴은 그의 친구 패티 아르버클을 출연시켜 두릴짜리 코미디를 만든다. 프랑스에서의 복무기간을 거친 후, 1920년대 초반에는 자신의 두릴짜리 코미디 시리즈에 출연한다. 이 영화들은 키턴의 코믹한 시각적인 재능을 보여줬다. 1923년 키턴의 프로듀서인 조셉 M. 셴크는 예전엔 스타였지만 이제는 스캔들로 몰락한 패티 아르버클을 대체할 만한 극영화 시리즈에 새로운 코믹 스타를 내보내기로 결정한다. 1923년과 1929년 사이에 키턴은 1년에 두편이라는 규칙적인 스케줄에 따라 12편의 극영화를 만들었다. 그리고 항상 초가을이면 월드 시리즈를 보기 위해 동부로 여행을 떠났다. 키턴의 이러한 규칙적 패턴은 그가 영화를 바라보는 방식이 어떤 것인지를 나타낸다. 그는 예술적인 걸작을 만든 것이 아니고 하루에 두번 연기하는 보드빌처럼 날마다의 오락을 재빠르게 만들어낸 것이다. 이러한 규칙적인 평범함에도 불구하고 12개의 무성영화 중 많은 작품은 채플린의 위대한 코믹 작품과 나란히 랭크될 만한 수준의 걸작들이다.
영화들 중 대부분은 패러디적인 전제로 시작됐다. 시민전쟁 로맨스인 <장군 The General> (1926), 엄청난 불화를 다룬 <우리의 환대 Our Hospitality>(1923), 탐정 셜록 홈스 이야기인 <셜록 2세 Shelock, Jr.>(1924), 미시시피 보트 경주인 <증기선의 빌 2세 Steamboat Bill, Jr.>(1928), 그리고 유쾌한 서부극 <서부로 Go West>(1925). 이러한 영화들은 항상 관습적으로 숙녀의 사랑에 대한 욕구를 만족하려는 키턴의 캐릭터에 기초를 두고 있다.
가장 뛰어난 영화는 <장군>인데 도둑맞은 기관차를 찾아서 북부로 추적을 떠난 키턴은 기관차와 애인을 구하고 나서 다시 추적자들을 피해 남쪽으로 되돌아간다. 시작부터 끝까지 광대하게 펼쳐진 추적 시퀀스는 코믹한 내러티브, 추적의 리듬, 키턴의 육체적 곡예, 그리고 그의 기계적 장치에 대한 선호로 어우러졌고, 영화사상 가장 위대한 코믹 서사시가 됐다.
채플린과 다르게 키턴의 스타성과 재기발랄함은 동시녹음이 실시된 할리우드의 유성시대에선 살아남지 못했다. 키턴은 육체적 코미디와 마이크 둘 다의 요구에 맞추는 것에 실패했고, 사생활마저 불우했다. 내털리 탈마즈와의 쓰라린 이혼은 그를 심각한 주정꾼으로 만들었고, 키턴의 술마시기는 개인적 고통에 그치지 않고 감독생활에도 심각한 위협이 됐다. 그의 코믹한 정신도, 곡예적인 육체적 도구도 그렇게 많은 알코올의 남용에는 살아남지 못했다. 1929년과 1933년 사이 MGM은 키턴에게 따분한 상황 코미디들의 시리즈를 맡겼다. 그 다음 20여년 동안 키턴은 채플린의 <라임라이트 Limelight>(1952)에서 주요 역할로 컴백할 때까지 싸구려 두릴짜리 유성 코미디와 광고 출연으로 살아갔다. 키턴은 다시 결혼을 하고, 술을 끊고 연극과 텔레비전극을 만들고, 영화출연을 했다. 그리고 그의 명성은 그가 죽은 후에야 세상에 제대로 알려졌다.
The inimitable Buster Keaton has been acknowledged by some cinema historians as the master of silent-film comedy — surpassing Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. When examining his creativity throughout the 1920s, Keaton was a groundbreaking filmmaker whose somber but determined vision produced an enduring body of work.
Keaton’s stoic persona defied mainstream cinema as he transcended silent comedy by venturing into more dramatic territory. This progression is evident when viewing three Keaton-directed features in chronological order: Seven Chances (1925), Battling Butler (1926) and The General (1926). Each film is distinctive in its comedic tone and cinematic style, while showcasing Keaton’s evolution as an artist.
Seven Chances is an example of Keaton placing his own personal and stylistic imprint on material not specifically tailored for him. In fact, the premise seems ideal for Harold Lloyd: on a certain day, a stockbroker belatedly discovers he will inherit $7 million if he marries by 7 p.m. that evening, yet only has a few hours remaining. Under Keaton’s direction, what could have been a traditional thrill comedy emerges as a surrealistic nightmare brought to life. It also reveals the epic scope of his filmmaking.
Like many of his features, Seven Chances maintains a natural tempo that enhances the humor of its individual scenes, particularly during the various proposals and rejections that Keaton encounters on his way to the altar. In the words of Keaton biographer Rudi Blesh, the film begins “slower than other comedians and ends twice as fast.”
This deliberate, methodic pacing builds to one of the great climaxes in movie history, with hundreds of potential brides — and an avalanche of boulders — chasing Buster through the Southern California landscape. Filmed entirely on location and utilizing expansive long shots, this 20-minute sequence is propelled by Keaton’s stunning athleticism and remarkable editing precision.
In a 1965 interview with British film critic John Gillett, Keaton described how he shot the spectacular chase: “When I’ve got a gag that spreads out, I hate to jump a camera into close-ups. So I do everything in the world I can to hold it in that long-shot and keep the action rolling. . . . Close-ups are too jarring on the screen and can stop an audience from laughing.”
Keaton seamlessly fuses his deadpan expressiveness with an expert command of the film medium. In Seven Chances, he transforms a stage farce into a thought-provoking examination of ruthless romance in which deadly boulders are preferable to devouring women. The film equates pain with redemption and reveals the seriousness of Keaton’s comic art.
The same can be said of Battling Butler, which was the closest Keaton ever came to making a dramatic film. Though regarded by contemporary critics as one of his weaker efforts, Battling Butler was among Keaton’s personal favorites and made more money than any of his silent features. The film also broke new ground in its directorial style and depth, thus paving the way for his masterpiece, The General.
Though a traditional Keaton comedy on the surface, Battling Butler has a subdued, gentle tone that eventually erupts into violent rage. Buster plays foppish and pampered Alfred Butler, a millionaire’s son who falls in love with a country girl while camping in the mountains. To gain acceptance from the girl’s family, he is willing to be mistaken for heavyweight boxer Battling Butler, who is training nearby. The sadistic champ soon learns about the ruse and schemes to annihilate Alfred.
Rather than stage a humorous fight, director Keaton plays it straight with effective results. Alfred receives a brutal beating in the champ’s dressing room as the girl watches. The blows are painful. Bloodied and humiliated, Alfred looks into the girl’s terrified eyes. What follows is perhaps the most chilling of all Keaton transformations, as the weakling Alfred lashes out at the champ — knocking the boxer to the floor several times. Alfred wins a personal victory and the girl’s love as he walks down the streets of New York wearing his top hat and boxing trunks.
Despite the upbeat finish, Alfred’s abrupt change in personality lingers in the mind. For the first time, Keaton “permitted comedy to give way to a greater urgency,” Walter Kerr observed in his 1975 critical study The Silent Clowns. ”We have seen him be extraordinarily funny in a boxing ring earlier. Now, in the film’s closing reel, he suddenly seems no comedian at all.”
Keaton had the ability to step out of genre as an actor and filmmaker. Battling Butler confirms this rare dramatic quality with its realistic fight sequence, which influenced Martin Scorsese when he directed Raging Bull (1980). Like Keaton, Scorsese made certain his camera stayed in the ring. “The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies was Buster Keaton,” he told biographer Marion Meade in 1995.
Clyde Bruckman, one of Keaton’s co-writers, was so impressed by Battling Butler that he gave Keaton a copy of William Pittenger’s 1863 book The Great Locomotive Chase. It became the inspiration for The General — Keaton’s greatest feature (with Bruckman credited as co-director) and a cinematic masterpiece. More than 93 years since its initial release, the film endures as a truly unique work that continues to resonate through generations.
Historians and critics often overlook Keaton’s ambition as a filmmaker. Though Chaplin shot most of The Gold Rush (1925) in the studio, 90 percent of The General was filmed on location in Oregon. In his quest for perfection, Keaton told his crew, “It’s got to be so authentic it hurts.” The result, in many respects, is the definitive Civil War epic, with Dev Jennings and Bert Haines’ superb cinematography evoking the photographic naturalism of Mathew Brady.
An independent filmmaker during most of the 1920s, Keaton had all the Hollywood resources at his disposal to create a very personal work not unlike Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) — commercial considerations be damned. In retrospect, The General reveals as much about Keaton as it does the historic subject matter.
Welles was a great admirer of Keaton and praised The General on the 1971 PBS series The Silent Years: “I think it’s the Civil War movie. Nothing ever came near it, not only for beauty but for a feeling of authenticity. Yet this is a farce — a farce without Chaplinesque sentiment, but imbued with a real and very curious sort of dignity. . . . It’s a hundred times more stunning visually than Gone With the Wind.”
The General represents the ultimate fusion of man and machine, with the Civil War serving as a seriocomic backdrop in this larger-than-life escapade. The film is an inventive chase through history while showcasing Keaton’s mastery of props and characterization. “Think slow, act fast” was his modus operandi.
A recurring Keaton theme is the triumph of the outsider who relies on his own devices. As engineer Johnnie Gray, Keaton overcomes elaborate obstacles in a world where the illogical appears logical. He has the determination to fight terrible battles and prove his mettle to a society that initially rejects him. Unlike Chaplin and Lloyd, the emotionally detached Keaton has no time to feel sorry for himself — he must keep going. Life has become an endless chase.
Inevitably, the chase must end. The final scenes in The General represent those few opportunities where the Keaton persona stands still and reflects upon his accomplishments. Johnnie Gray finds love, redemption and a military rank, but only after a grueling journey. It seems that all Keaton characters must pay an emotional and physical price before they achieve success.
To realize his cinematic vision, Buster Keaton created an enigmatic and inventive universe that knew no bounds. Through the tragicomic wisdom of Seven Chances, Battling Butler and The General, viewers may envision themselves in these surrealistic battles — running and fighting for their lives. Such is the timeless poetry of Keaton, whose films move beyond the realm of slapstick comedy to reveal an expansive, darker portrait of American individualism.