Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)

Buster Keaton was one of the iconic comedic filmmakers and actors of the silent era. Like his fellow filmmaking rivals Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, Keaton enjoyed his own unique brand of comedy. His youth as a vaudeville performer made him into one of the best physical actors that fit very well with his dead-pan look that his charters wore. Fortunately for Keaton it was his freedom as an independent filmmaker that allowed his to flourish with his style comedy, but his lack of financial success would drive with into the world of the studio system where he would be working for men in suits that invested money rather than Buster creating what he thought worked with his brand of comedy. Steamboat Bill Jr. would be the last picture he would produce as a independent filmmaker as the picture would prove to once again not be a success in the box office.

The film traces the actions of young William Canfield Jr. (Keaton), son of steamboat captain "Steamboat Bill" Canfield (Ernest Torrence), as he follows in his fathers footsteps as steamboat captain as he compeats for business from a larger, flashier steamboat captain. However Bill Jr. would fall in love with the daughter of the rival captain, Kitty (Marion Byron), al-la Romeo and Juliet. Many humorous moments happen as Bill Jr. learns the ropes of a ship, tries to break his father out of prison, and try to make his way through town while under the destructive power of a cyclone. This would create one of the most popular stunts in silent film comedies as Buster comes inches from death as a face of a house falls on top of him only for him to fit conveniently through the open window as it hits the ground. Bill Jr. makes his way through the storm that nearly destroys the entire town making his way to his boat and saves his father and his rival along with the girl.

The film is yet another tour de force in showcasing the skill and agility of Keaton as performs his various stunts. In the cyclone scene six powerful wind machines where used to create winds that would send Keaton flying backwards as he attempts to make his way through the town. Houses crumble to the ground and nearly crush Buster on many occasions. Keaton also jumps around a large steamship with the greatest of ease like a Fairbanks movie and performs wire stunts as he flies through the air in the cyclone. Every stunt was carefully choreographed to work perfectly for the viewers enjoyment, not knowing how difficult and dangerous it truly was to perform them. With the exception of the wires in a couple of shots everything was real with no camera trickery and to watch the film with that thought in mind makes the film wonderful to watch.

The films was Keaton's last effort of independent work on the big screen. Originally the climactic finale was to be a flooding of the town, but the major flood of the Mississippi River in 1927 made it a touchy subject and called for the rewrite into the cyclone with would produce most of the film's most memorable moments. Keaton's collapsing house stunt where he survives through the open window would be a stunt he did once in a short eight years prior, but played out freshly for this picture. It proved to be so popular that it would be performed in many other productions, in film, television, and stunt shows (including the old Wild Wild Wild West Show at Universal Studios). Keaton proved to to an innovator of marvelous stunts that would wow audiences all over, even decades after he performed them.

The film would unfortunately be failure financially, not making much money in the box office, and critically, as critics found the picture to lacking substance and being rather sad as the town fell to pieces. But whatever the outcome of the picture Buster was on his way to signing a contract with MGM, marking the end of Keaton being his own boss. From now on he would be told what to do and what films to make. It was said that Buster was gloomy during the shooting of the film, knowing that his fate was sealed as a creative filmmaker. Urban legend has it that his large, dangerous stunts were performed for this picture because he was suicidal from the depression of lost freedom, but of coarse that would be legend. Time would prove the picture to be a Keaton classic and an end of an era as, being the last work as a true Buster Keaton film.