“DOUBLE KEATONS”

By Raymond Benson

At least three companies have been doing restorations of Buster Keaton’s silent comedy classics from the 1920s—Kino Video is one, The Criterion Collection is another. As the films are in public domain, the separate restorations can now be copyrighted. A third entity, Cohen Film Collection, has also been re-issuing the films in high definition. Cohen just released its fourth volume in their ongoing series, and to this reviewer, the company is doing an outstanding job.

Volume 4 of “The Buster Keaton Collection” contains 4K restorations of Go West (1925) and College (1927). Most critics and fans will agree that these two titles may be the lesser of Keaton’s outstanding output of the era (Cohen released the more acclaimed pictures such as The General, Steamboat Bill Jr., Sherlock Jr., and others in previous volumes). Nevertheless, there are moments of genius in both Go West and College, but also an eyebrow-raising instance of controversy in the latter title.

Go West is a pleasant little ditty of feature length that takes penniless Friendless (Keaton) to the “West” by jumping on a freight train. There, he manages to get a job as a cowboy, but he knows nothing about milking cows, riding horses, or anything else pertaining to working on a ranch. Even the rancher’s daughter (Kathleen Myers) makes fun of him. Cue the brilliantly executed pratfalls, stunts, and sight gags that only Buster Keaton can accomplish. Friendless does become friends with a cow named Brown Eyes, who ends up following him around wherever the almost-cowboy goes. The climactic sequence in Los Angeles, with stampeding cattle on the streets of the city, provides the amusing payoff for the picture.

College follows Ronald (Keaton) after he graduates from high school at the top of his class, decidedly a bookworm with brains but no athletic interest or ability whatsoever. Unfortunately, all the girls, especially Mary (Anne Cornwall), only like the athletes. Nevertheless, Ronald enrolls in the same college as Mary and the athletes—and Ronald attempts to show her that he, too, can play sports. He can’t. One unfortunate sequence depicts Ronald getting a part time job as a soda jerk, and he performs the role in blackface. In 1927, this was not uncommon. The popular entertainer Al Jolson practically made his career out of performing in blackface (The Jazz Singer was released the same year). Of course, one might excuse this horror by stating that it was a vaudeville tradition for white comedians to sometimes wear blackface. While movies should always be examined within the context of when they were made and released, it is extremely difficult today to accept this “tradition” in any way, shape, or form. However, if one gets past the soda jerk scene, College does provide some laughs and the usual Keaton acrobatic stunts.

Cohen Film Group’s new Blu-ray release looks marvelous. The films were painstakingly restored using multiple sources, matching Volumes 1 through 3 from Cohen. These are indeed exceptional presentations. Supplements include a 1923 short of Go West, plus a nearly-hour-long audio interview with Keaton in which he talks about a television pitch he once made. Restoration trailers round out the package.

Neither Go West nor College can be counted among Buster Keaton’s best works, but they still reside in his golden period of independent silent pictures that are his important material. For Keaton fans and cinema history buffs, Cohen’s Volume 4 of the Collection is worth a look.

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