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Title details for Buster Keaton by James Curtis - Available

Buster Keaton

A Filmmaker's Life

by James Curtis
David Pittu
Audiobook
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**One of Literary Hub’s Five “Most Critically Acclaimed” Biographies of 2022**
From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis—a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern—and irresistible—today as they were when they beguiled audiences almost a century ago.
"It is brilliant—I was totally absorbed, couldn't stop reading it and was very sorry when it ended."—Kevin Brownlow
 
It was James Agee who christened Buster Keaton “The Great Stone Face.” Keaton’s face, Agee wrote, "ranked almost with Lincoln’s as an early American archetype; it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful, yet it was also irreducibly funny. Keaton was the only major comedian who kept sentiment almost entirely out of his work and . . . he brought pure physical comedy to its greatest heights.”
 
Mel Brooks: “A lot of my daring came from Keaton.”
 
Martin Scorsese, influenced by Keaton’s pictures in the making of Raging Bull: “The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me,” Scorsese said, “was Buster Keaton.”
 
Keaton’s deadpan stare in a porkpie hat was as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin’s tramp and Harold Lloyd’s straw boater and spectacles, and, with W. C. Fields, the four were each considered a comedy king—but Keaton was, and still is, considered to be the greatest of them all.
 
His iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera Keaton was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General.
 
Now James Curtis, admired biographer of Preston Sturges (“definitive”—Variety), W. C. Fields (“by far the fullest, fairest and most touching account we have yet had. Or are likely to have”—Richard Schickel, front page of The New York Times Book Review), and Spencer Tracy (“monumental; definitive”—Kirkus Reviews), gives us the richest, most comprehensive life to date of the legendary actor, stunt artist, screenwriter, director—master.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 15, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593550991
      • File size: 897869 KB
      • Duration: 31:10:33

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Respected film expert and historian James Curtis offers a comprehensive and intriguing dive into the life and career of actor, comedian, and filmmaker Buster Keaton (1895-1966). Narrator David Pittu is an ideal choice for this lengthy but entertaining audiobook. While Pittu's nuanced, sensitive performance is a bit slow-paced, it's entirely absorbing--simply superb. Pittu slightly alters his voice when directly quoting voices beyond the author's and Keaton's. All of Keaton's vaudeville performances, along with his comedic "shorts" and feature films, are discussed, including behind-the-scenes stories and vignettes. His personal life is presented without a hint of the now-common sensationalism and exaggeration. Boomers may well become nostalgic as they remember Keaton's cameos in several beach party films of the 1960s. Treat yourself to the fun of Buster Keaton. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from July 1, 2022

      At long last, fans of Buster Keaton (1899-1966) get the definitive biography the beloved comedic director/writer/actor deserves, with Audie Award winner David Pittu narrating the unabridged audiobook by film historian Curtis (W. C. Fields: A Biography). Keaton's career began at age three when he joined his parents' vaudeville act. He began working in silent movies in 1917 and created a dozen classic feature-film comedies between 1920 and 1929. But when Keaton signed with MGM in 1928, the company only wanted him as an actor and stopped him from writing and directing. His films declined as his alcohol addiction worsened. (Happily, in the 1950s, he found a career revival.) Keaton had such a fascinating life that Pittu doesn't need to perform vocal calisthenics to keep this epic-length biography lively. While Pittu doesn't do an imitation of the Great Stone Face comedian, he does lower his voice to a cigarette-weary growl when reading Keaton's direct quotes. Pittu voices everyone else in the book's wide cast of real-life characters (from mentor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle to Limelight costar Charlie Chaplin and third wife Eleanor Keaton) in a slightly higher pitch. VERDICT A marvelous, massive biography of a beloved filmmaker.--Kevin Howell

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 8, 2021
      Buster Keaton (1895–1966), a director and star of silent comedy classics, emerges as a great auteur and a martyr to Hollywood in this vibrant biography. Film historian Curtis (Spencer Tracy) recaps Keaton’s spectacularly rough-and-tumble career beginning with his childhood vaudeville act in which he was thrown across the stage by his father. He covers Keaton’s hair-raising stunts in the silent train-chase epic The General (as well as in other films); his career fizzling in the 1930s when MGM bought his contract, stripped him of creative autonomy, and stuck him in ill-chosen pictures that made no use of his genius for poetic sight gags; and his 1960s swan songs doing everything from variety shows (at the age of 69, he hoisted Lucille Ball on his shoulders for a stunt) to a Budweiser commercial and a Samuel Beckett–directed art film. In Curtis’s telling, Keaton’s life is a picaresque worthy of his comedies: he was once blackmailed by an ex-mistress who smashed up his office, and when his agent hired a man to keep him from drinking on set, Keaton paid the man to let him drink. The story is evocative, entertaining, and laced with lyrical detail. This is an engrossing portrait of a Hollywood legend. Photos.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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