![]() Back up at Truckee, while trying to swim across another set of rapids, his safety line snapped. But that was nothing compared to the previous scene in which he himself nearly drowned. But afterward, Keaton’s ears and nose were so waterlogged, he had to go visit a doctor to have them drained. But it’s still pretty incredible to watch. Despite the wide shots and views of the valley below, the entire thing was staged back at the studio using a dummy instead of Keaton’s wife. Like some sort of trapeze artist, he swings out over the water and using split-second timing grabs the girl just as she’s about to plunge to her doom. But Buster ties himself to a log which becomes stuck over the top of the rim of the cataract. After being swept away by a series of rapids, she’s about to go over a massive waterfall. Natalie indeed does play a crucial part in the film’s climax. Their son Jimmy also played Buster’s character as an infant in the film. But Buster promised her a big role… to the point that it might even restart her career. Not exactly the outdoorsy type, at first, she tried to beg off. Keaton had also asked his wife Natalie to be his co-star in the film. His game plan was to start things off slowly and build toward a series of comedic pay-offs. And in the process, they’d lose interest in the story. He explained that if you started off with a bang, the audience would laugh so hard that there would be nowhere to go but down. He told them not to worry, that he knew what he was doing. They wrote to him asking where the jokes were. When this footage started arriving back at Keaton’s studios, his editors and staff began to get alarmed. ![]() One of the running gags of the film includes a dog which follows the rain the entire way, trotting alongside and making just as good a time as the passengers riding the mechanical contraption. Complete with “fairy tale” carriages, it travels through the forest as the tracks go up and over boulders, fallen logs, and other obstacles. Based on the British “Rocket” it ran on a narrow gauge and almost looks like something you’d see in an amusement park for children. (Buster got some comedic mileage out of trying to do so.) When they eventually saw this “prop” onscreen, the Smithsonian was so impressed they asked to have it so they could include it in their collection.īuster also had a replica of one of the earliest steam engines built for the picture. ![]() These included a copy of a “gentleman’s hobby horse.” It was one of the earliest bicycles and with its over-sized wheels was extremely awkward to ride. Toward that end, he went out of his way to procure props from the early 19 th century. One of Keaton’s goals was to convey a sense of realism. The mountains, forest, rivers, roads, and vistas make for some striking cinematography – something rarely seen extensively on screen during the early 1920s.Īnother factor which sets “Our Hospitality” apart is that its loaded with period detail and historical artifacts. The film was also unique in the fact that it features lots of outdoor sequences shot in the Sierra Nevadas near Truckee, California. That’s only the first act in an honest to goodness fully detailed story which comprises the movie. In fact, it’s deadly serious as we see the rival patriarchs kill each other during the opening scenes of the film. For starters, there’s not a single joke during the first eight minutes of the film. And it was unlike any other comedy made up until that time. 1923’s Our Hospitality was based on the infamous feud between the Hatfield and McCoy’s of the 19 th century. History was about to repeat itself with his second feature film effort. Today, we’d like to continue showcasing some of the classic films “The Great Stone Face” was responsible for.Īs we’ve seen, Keaton was able to nail “a classic” (“One Week”) on his second try making short films. YESTERDAY,we described the early part of Buster Keaton’s career and tried to provide some background as to why he was uniquely suited to create some of the greatest comedies of the silent era.
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