Steamboat Bill, Jr (U)

Director: Charles F Reisner
Starring: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Marion Byron
USA, 1928, 1 hour 9 minutes

One of Keaton’s best comedies is not only hilarious, with both delicately observed jokes and energetically athletic stunts, but also delightful in its delicate depiction of small town life. Set in a lazy riverside town, Buster is the foppish, city-educated boy who returns home to prove a grave disappointment to his father, a hard-boiled river captain struggling to survive in the face of opposition from a modern rival boat. The final masterstroke is the astoundingly inventive and dangerous gag in which the entire town is destroyed but Buster emerges miraculously unscathed.

Plus supporting feature.

An evening of Buster Keaton films with piano accompaniment by Paul Shallcross.

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