Final Rating: 4/5
Blu-ray Recommendation: Do Not Recommend
When people think of the greatest comedians from the silent era the top three answers are always Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. The films people associate Keaton with usually are The General, Sherlock Jr., and Steamboat Bill Jr. or specific gags like the famous one where the front frame of a house comes crashing down with Keaton coming out unscathed due to a window frame at the exact spot he was standing.
One that used to be considered a well known masterpiece is 1928’s The Cameraman, directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton. The film has a long and storied history that ended with it becoming a public domain film back in 2024 and now being released by Shoreline Entertainment and Leomark Studios.
The Cameraman was the first film that Keaton made when he signed a massive contract with MGM, which at the time made him the second highest paid star at the studio that had “more stars than there are in heaven”. A contract that stifled his innovation and one he later called the worst mistake of his career. Normally, Keaton would direct his own films and worked with the same crew that had a shorthand language to create his infamous gags, but on MGM he had none of the power or authority. Originally, Edward Sedgwick was hired to direct the film on his own, but after Keaton confessed his unhappiness and Sedgwick being unable to communicate what he wanted done, Buster eventually came onboard as a co-director.
The film ended up being so successful for MGM that they even used it for years as an in-house training tool on how to make comedies. Unfortunately the film was thought to be lost after a warehouse fire in the 60’s, a working print was able to be assembled properly in 1991, using different sources. This meant that some of the reels were in great condition and some barely usable. This unfortunately carries over still where there are noticeable jumps in quality from time to time as a proper remaster is next to impossible.
In terms of the plot, like a lot of Buster Keaton films, it is barely strung together as a means to go from one big set piece to the next. Keaton plays a street photographer, fittingly named Buster, who takes your picture for $0.10, creating an immediate keepsake. After a chance encounter with a beautiful woman, Sally (Marceline Day), he tracks her down to the MGM News department, a real-life department that filmed news reels to be played before MGM films in theatres. He realises the way to impress her is to become a cameraman and film the most exciting and dangerous footage possible.
Despite his best efforts, in Keaton fashion, he fails spectacularly and is laughed out of the building before even actually landing the job. But Sally thinks Buster is worthy of going on a date with, so the film mostly abandons the cameraman job in favour of a romantic comedy.
Eventually the film reconnects with the MGM News side of things when Sally gives Buster a hot tip that there is a big parade in Chinatown where trouble may be brewing. This leads to a gag where after once again believing that Buster is not good at his job, we later learn he failed successfully and captured a massive gang war shootout in Chinatown.
The reason why we watch Buster Keaton films today is to be mesmerized by one of the most gifted physical comedians ever. There are two types of gags that Keaton was best at. Firstly it would be gags that seem mundane, or cheap ways to elicit laughter that become elevated by repetition where things went from unfunny to hilarious after watching the same thing for several minutes. The second, and most famous type of gag Keaton was known for, was him showing off his over the top physical prowess in a way that no one, until Jackie Chan came along, could replicate.
Some notable gags that fit the first category in The Cameraman include Buster breaking the window pane on the MGM News door with his tripod every time he left their offices to the point that when he doesn’t break the window and is relieved the wind blows the door shut and shatters it anyways making him look like the perpetrator.
There is a sequence where Buster takes Sally on a date to a public swimming pool and due to shenanigans, Buster ends up in the same change room as a gruff man (Edward Brophy) where they are both trying to change into their bathing suit but not wanting to give the other man room. It’s a bit that isn’t funny at first, but when it goes on for five minutes it becomes art.
The best physical stunts in the film come in the form of Buster getting stuck on the top level of a double decker bus while Sally is on the bottom. He climbs over the railing and shimmies down to sit on the wheel well outside the bus, while still being next to Sally (in what feels like direct inspiration for Jackie Chan’s famous bus sequence in Police Story). Another sequence of excellent choreography is when Buster goes to Yankee Stadium to film the team, only to learn they are out of town. Buster then mimes an entire inning, first as a pitcher then as a hitter to great effect.
Keaton who normally wore oversized clothing or attire more befitting a child shows us in the pool sequence his true strength. In what was a gag where he mistakenly gets a swim suit meant for a very large man (and the large man gets a Buster sized one), is so big that it keeps falling down on him. This gag actually pulls the curtain back and reveals that scrawny little Buster Keaton, actually looks more like the lean and ultra ripped Tyler Durden from Fight Club, showing how he is able to contort his body and out maneuver bigger and stronger looking performers.
For fans of Buster Keaton or silent comedy, there is more than enough to enjoy. The quality of the print being shoddy at points is not a hindrance either, as it merely existing is a testament to the enduring power of cinema, especially since almost all of the movies made in the silent era are lost to the sands of time already.
That said, this release contains zero special features, not even a menu because as soon as the film is popped into your player, it starts, and when the film ends it just loops back to the beginning. Criterion did release the same film in 2020 that includes a whole host of featurettes (and includes a bonus feature), but since the film is in public domain it means any studio can put it out.
Thank you Allied Vaughn and Movie Zyng for the screener.
Buy your copy of The Cameraman here: https://moviezyng.com/iyayiw
