Buster Keaton

Widely and rightly regarded as one of the greatest comedies ever made, Keaton's masterpiece also impresses as a vivid recreation of the American South during the Civil War.

A meek movie projectionist who dreams of being Conan Doyle's master detective puts his amateur sleuth skills to use when he's framed for a theft.

With little luck at keeping a job in the city a New Yorker tries work in the country and eventually finds his way leading a herd of cattle to the West Coast.

An amusement park drifter finds himself in a dilemma when he gets hired as both the bodyguard and hitman for the target of a criminal gang.

A love-struck weakling must pretend to be boxer in order to gain respect from the family of the girl he loves.

In Buster Keaton's multi-narrative epic, man's primal quest for love is played out in the Stone Age, Ancient Rome, and the Jazz Age.

Ronald’s bookish attitude doesn't win him any points in college. Hoping to impress his girlfriend, he pretends to be a star of every sport imaginable.

To earn the marital blessing of his sweetheart’s dad, a young man heads for the city to search for opportunity that doesn’t exactly materialize.

Samuel Beckett, the celebrated author of Waiting for Godot, made a single work for projected cinema. It’s in essence a chase film; the craziest ever committed to celluloid. It’s a chase between camera and pursued image that finds existential dread embedded in the very apparatus of the movies itself. The link to cinema’s essence is evident in the casting, as the chased object is none other than an aged Buster Keaton, who was understandably befuddled at Beckett and director Alan Schneider’s imperative that he keep his face hidden from the camera’s gaze. The archetypal levels resonate further in the exquisite cinematography of Academy Award-winner Boris Kaufman, whose brothers Dziga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman created the legendary self-reflexive masterpiece Man With a Movie Camera. Commissioned and produced by Grove Press’s Barney Rosset, FILM is at once the product of a stunningly all-star assembly of talent, and a cinematic conundrum that asks more questions than it answers.

William Canfield Jr joins his father's crew. When a cyclone rages, he proves himself a hero by rescuing his love and her father from a watery grave.

While returning to his Appalachian homestead, a young man falls for a young woman. Unbeknownst to him, their families are locked in a bitter feud.

Hopelessly in love, a clumsy young photographer impresses the object of his desire by pretending to be a motion-picture cameraman at MGM Studios.

Cohen Film Collection presents a new restoration of Buster Keaton's SEVEN CHANCES. Buster gets word that if he can be married by seven o’clock that evening he will inherit $7,000,000. When his sweetheart refuses, he proposes to everyone in skirts, including a Scotsman.

When Betsy refuses his proposal, Rollo embarks on a solo voyage to Hawaii. He boards the wrong ship and finds himself adrift at sea with his beloved.

In this restored classic, Buster Keaton and Sybil Seeley's housewarming turns chaotic after they build a home from a kit house received as a wedding gift. A comedy of errors ensues.

To make her lover jealous, a beautiful Parisian socialite passes off a bumbling plumber as her paramour.

Because Virginia refuses to marry before her older sister, Jeffrey tries passing off a socially awkward fellow as a Casanova to get her hitched.

In his second "talkie" the immortal Buster Keaton displays his comic genius in full regalia. The addition of his deep, rich voice only serves to make his numerous pratfalls and outrageous mishaps all the funnier. World War I is underway and young men are eager to enlist. Elmer J. Stuyvesant (Keaton), a rich man about town, has no such plans, but one day while looking for a new chauffeur he accidentally enlists in the Army. The uniform appeals to a young lady he's been eyeing, so he decides to tough it out. Classic gags and slapstick shenanigans highlight Elmer's tour of duty as he strives to be a hero to his country and win the heart of the girl he loves. Keaton's priceless scene as a female Apache dancer is a definite highlight in this amusing and original tale of wartime services.

A humble dry cleaner gets a chance to marry a stage actress he adores, unaware that he's being used to make her ex jealous.