More Buster Keaton from Kino - Battling Butler/Go West (1926/1925)

[Deciazulado]

Battling Butler / Go West Blu-ray Review

[GuyOfOwnage]

I received my pre-order yesterday. Packaging-wise, it's identical to all of the previous Keaton sets, with the slipcover and same general color scheme. Not that that's a bad thing, because it works well for these releases. I haven't seen either film before, and I'm looking forward to it

[DougMac]

The funny self referencing gag when Keaton is ordered to smile would not only be funny in its own right, but would be familiar to a large part of his audience. It a reference to a heartbreaking scene in the D.W. Griffith classic "Broken Blossoms" starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthalmess.

I've always been a huge fan of Keaton and plan to buy every Kino release. My grandsons are also big fans of Keaton, Lloyd and Chaplin. I've enjoyed introducing them to these wonderful talents.

[Boob-Ray]

Originally Posted by DougMac

The funny self referencing gag when Keaton is ordered to smile would not only be funny in its own right, but would be familiar to a large part of his audience. It a reference to a heartbreaking scene in the D.W. Griffith classic "Broken Blossoms" starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthalmess.

I've always been a huge fan of Keaton and plan to buy every Kino release. My grandsons are also big fans of Keaton, Lloyd and Chaplin. I've enjoyed introducing them to these wonderful talents.

Awesome! My kids love The General and the Shorts collection -- and I'll be picking up all the other Buster Kino's as soon as funding improves!

There's something timeless and frankly lost about these silents. Kids these days -- watch their cartoons -- they're so fast and chatty. I'm convinced the pacing of the programming is the cause of "attention deficit disorder." They say kids' minds are sponges...and, well...if they're bombarded with nerve-wracking, twitchy, fast-paced -- purely reactionary content, even for short-bursts -- the brains get wired like that.

So...the Keaton stuff (and I watch a lot of old stuff with them: Stooges, Looney Tunes) is just fascinating to them. We watch scenes develop, discuss our thoughts (aka -- laughing and screaming "Look out!!" in the proverbial "theater") and are just otherwise engaged with the picture, the characters, the emotion and each other. It's fun as hell.

[jaaguir]

I'm so pleasantly surprised by this release, I have to write about it. The only bad thing is the shortage of extras. I would have loved to see a couple of those featurettes about the locations they included in other Keaton blus. There's a Hal Roach comedy short that looks so great, I have to think maybe they found the original negative for that one.

The image quality of the features is fantastic too. Both transfers are sourced from the Library of Congress preservation prints, apparently nitrate prints. But I'm guessing the print for "Go west" had some reels missing or severely damaged, and they had to search for other sources. Or maybe they just searched for the best elements anyway in order to create the preservation prints? I don't know.

Anyway, it's very obvious that the first 10 minutes of "Go west", and then the section starting in minute 50 and ending in minute 59, are from inferior sources. Very blurry, more contrasty, maybe 16 mm. But everything else looks gorgeous, showing how good 35mm sourced movie should look in high-def, even of the '20s. The print may not be in the best shape, but it's just more proof to me that if they leave grain alone it all comes together much better. A joy to look at.

Same thing goes (the good part) for "Battling Butler", looks very good from beginning to end. It does seem to be all from one print. Overall, great looking (and it's tinted, if anyone cares). Wonderful.

I was also surprised at how good "Battling Butler" was as a movie. Made me laugh, which doesn't usually happen. It's my favorite Keaton movie now, together with "The General".