Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Happy Birthday Buster Keaton-Cinema Spot Light on 1921's The Haunted House

Today marks the 130th anniversary of silent film star Buster Keaton


Keaton shaped the film industry like the few other stars have and his early films are cinematic landmarks filled with clever ideas and innovations.  Keaton wrote most of his own films and directed many of them.  
















Unsurprisingly many of the first films ever made where horror films, but Keaton's  The Haunted House is not a typical spook story, Keaton was too clever for anything typical.


Instead Keaton plays a hapless bank teller





 who get's tangled up with bank robbers, winds up on the wrong side of his crooked boss, 




and seeks refuge in a spooky old house





 where a theatre troupe is rehearsing a production of Faust.  




The film was directed by frequent Keaton collaborator Joseph M. Schenck  and costarred Virgina Fox, who appeared in several Keaton films.



The entire film runs only 21 minutes and is a delightful example of early horror comedy.  You can view it in its entirety in the you tube link below.




10 comments:

  1. Happy birthday, Buster, and thanks to your contribution to our entertainment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy birthday Buster Keaton! I had no idea his earliest films where horror. I love those skeleton outfits! LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well more horror comedy, but horror was one of the first popular genres

      Delete
  3. Happy birthday to Buster Keaton! The film looks very funny :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Birthday, Buster. What a creative, innovative guy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joyful birthday wishes to Buster. He was such an awesome actor and, to my mind, real founding father, if you will, to the art of movie acting.

    xoxo ♥ Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love your post and your account of the film. Thanks for sharing! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love Buster's films so much! I've seen all of the films he did before signing to MGM, and watched this film last year on Halloween. Even my friend, who isn't a fan of "old movies", enjoyed it immensely!

    ReplyDelete
  8. We've seen a lot of Buster's films, including this one. Love that part with the stairs that flatten out into a slide. He was so inventive!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've seen bits of this but never the whole thing. Didn't realize it was so short. Thanks for the link!

    ReplyDelete

Link Within

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...