Malibu local presents ‘Buster Keaton: America’s Avant-Garde Auteur’
It was a joyous return to Malibu City Hall for the second of three presentations by the Malibu Film Society (MFS) this season. With locals thrilled at the short drive to the Malibu Civic Center instead of trekking to MFS screenings in Agoura or Pacific Palisades, the mood of the crowd was upbeat, especially to see and learn about an American comedy legend and filmmaking innovator, Buster Keaton.
Malibu resident David Weddle put together the program, “Buster Keaton: America’s Avant-Garde Auteur” from his large collection of hard-to-come-by Keaton movies. Weddle, a prolific television writer and producer, is a lifelong fan of Keaton, who as a master of physical comedy was nicknamed “The Great Stone Face” for his deadpan expressions while chaos was erupting in his silent films. That chaos was created by the comic himself who wrote and directed his early work and, more importantly, used no doubles in his daring and elaborate stunts.
“He could well have been killed”, moderator and MFS Board President Scott Tallal described of an infamous Keaton stunt that has a house frame falling on the actor who unwittingly survives by standing strategically placed at the spot of an open window frame. That caper is just one of many copied by filmmakers of today. Keaton’s work has inspired generations.
That jaw-dropping scene was from Keaton’s last independent film, “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” As Keaton would later tell a second wife, when he filmed that death-defying scene, he didn’t care if he lived or died doing it — he had become despondent over the changing movie business.
“Like most big movie stars in the ’20s he owned his own studio,” explained Weddle. “He produced movies on his owntimetable and had complete creative control.”
Weddle said of Keaton’s earlier work “all made money.” But in the late ’20s, as sound movies were dominating the business, Wall Street interests pumped money into studios that turned into “movie factories.” Weddle explained that Keaton’s producer, Joseph Schenck, sold the star’s studio out from under him leading to his loss of creative control andthat just about crushed the creative genius.
“He was an artist, even though he couldn’t explain it in those terms,” Weddle stated. “Losing control of his films and not being able to personally express himself through his movies and just to make a factory product was emotionally devastating to him. It did in fact ruin him for quite a few years.”
While presenting clips from Keaton films featuring outrageous stunts and sight gags, Weddle said action superstar Jackie Chan credits Keaton as an inspiration for his comic timing and innovative stunt work typically performed by himself.
“Keaton was an artist down to every strand of his DNA, but he refused to ever accept that definition,” commented Weddle who then reiterated a Keaton line, “No man can be a genius in slap shoes and a flat hat.”
In describing Keaton’s films as “comic nightmares,” Weddle observed their inspiration to surrealist filmmakers and artists such as Luis Bunuel, Salvadore Dali, and Federico Garcia Lorca. “They all loved Keaton,” and saw him as more than a slapstick clown, said Weddle.
Tallal agreed, saying, “This is stuff we have seen in films and from actors for the last 100 years.” Keaton is “still being emulated, still influencing filmmakers all over the world to this day,” he continued.
And according to Weddle, “Keaton was a great technical innovator as well as a great artist. He drove a lot of visual effects in the ’20s that broke open the camera and showed the rest of Hollywood what could be done with visual effects and the magic of movies.”
Frequent MFS attendee Michael Intriere, a Malibu resident, said he appreciated the event being in Malibu, although he was getting used to watching on the city’s smaller screen than a typical movie theater.
“I’ve always felt that he was really a genius,” Intriere said of Keaton. “It’s taken forever, but he’s finally getting the credit he’s due because when you look back at the old silents, his are just so brilliant. The guy was a genius.”
The response from attendees especially locals “has been terrific,” said Tallal of the three Malibu screenings this season.Check mfsreservations.org for more information, membership, schedules, and tickets.