The Buster Keaton Story

While you might not immediately think Donald O'Connor would be the perfect choice to play Buster Keaton, after you watch The Buster Keaton Story, you'll change your mind. Buster was a trained stuntman and Donald was a trained dancer; they each have incredible control over their bodies. After all, if someone's going to portray Buster, it would be sacrilegious for him to use a stunt double, wouldn't it?

There are so many wonderful elements to this movie. If you know and love silent film legend Buster Keaton's stunt sequences, you'll get to relive his glory by watching Donald O'Connor recreate some of his most famous film scenes. Not only is this a treat because this movie was made at a time before audiences could rent or own their favorite films-they hadn't been able to watch these snippets in thirty years-but it's touching to see someone who was in diapers during Buster's heyday give such a tribute to his talent and legacy. Also, if you know anything about Buster Keaton's real life, you'll recognize that this Hollywood recreation is very sugarcoated. If you love Buster, you'll like seeing things turn out better for him, and that he could live out a do-over on the screen. And if you need one more reason to love this movie, here it is: Buster in real life didn't adjust well to talking pictures, and as his career ended, his bank account dwindled. By selling the rights to his life story for this film, Buster was able to live comfortably for the rest of his life. Isn't that heartwarming?

O'Connor is very good here and gets the elements of Buster's comic timing down very well, plus he is very moving as a composite figure of a silent star who, just as he is doing his best work, is overcome by talking film, and just can't come to terms with the fact that at such a young age he's been made a dinosaur overnight. The problem is, other than the alcoholism, the overspending, and the talkies putting a dent in the value of pantomime comedy, this just isn't Buster's life.

In Buster's biography it was stated that Paramount meant to turn Buster's actual three wives into the one screen wife, Gloria Brent (Ann Blythe). Somehow, though, Paramount mixed together eggs, butter, and flour and came up with a steak!. None of Buster's three wives were casting directors at any studio as the screen wife is. And this maudlin melodrama of Keaton matrimony is just plain fiction. The film shows Buster roughing it on vaudeville as a kid and often going hungry, landing a studio contract by sheer force of will as a young adult, and then being a savvy business fellow when dealing with fictitious "Famous Studios" when none of this is true. From the time Buster became part of his family's act as a small child, the act succeeded and the family lived very well, and the doors of Hollywood swung wide for Buster Keaton starting with his very first meeting with Roscoe Arbuckle in 1917. Only the coming of sound hurt Buster because he didn't have the money to go on independently, causing him to sign with MGM and conform to their movie factory standards.

I'd watch this to see Donald O'Connor given a rare chance to really show his versatility and his acting chops, but this is definitely not even close to Buster's life.

A couple of side notes of interest - The screenwriters were in such a hurry to shove something out the door that they got some key facts about the era wrong - The Jazz Singer being an all talking picture and Peter Lorre's character trying to unnerve Keaton by telling him that John Gilbert's contract was canceled after his first unsuccessful talkie are two falsehoods, but they are common enough myths. However, one part of the plot caused by their sloppy research is just plain hilarious if you actually know something about Keaton's life. You may wonder where the Lena Lamont-like star came from that Keaton pants over until she marries a duke (Rhonda Fleming as Peggy Courtney). Fictitious Peggy Courtney was modeled after Mae Murray, who married European royalty in the 1920's before torpedoing her own career. You see, the screenwriters got confused and got Mae Murray mixed up with Mae Busch, a Keystone comic with whom Keaton did in fact have an affair. Keaton and Mae Murray were never involved. Sometimes a good research department can be invaluable!

The Buster Keaton Story (1957)

** (out of 4)

Strange, inaccurate but slightly entertaining bio flick takes a look at the rise of Buster Keaton (Donald O'Connor) and his fall from grace due to the talkies (?!?!?) and alcoholism. The producers might have well called this THE JOE SMITH STORY because those familiar with Keaton are going to see very few similarities between his life and the events shown in this film. I understand that no bio film is going to be accurate because things need to be made up or left out for entertainment purposes. With that said, there's simply so much missing here and so many things looked over that I really wonder what the entire point of this film was. I'm sure Paramount wanted to get in on the bio-craze that was sweeping Hollywood during this period but this film does very little justice to Keaton. If you didn't know who Keaton was you'd never get the idea that he was a genius from this picture. In fact, the majority of the running time is devoted to Keaton's personal life, which includes having his heart broken by a Hollywood vamp but eventually being rescued by the woman (Ann Blyth) who has always loved him. We get a couple re-enactments from Keaton's professional career but they don't contain a single laugh including a pretty weak one from COLLEGE. O'Connor does what he can with the role and I think he gives a good performance but it's just not Buster Keaton he's doing. Blyth is also good in her role and we even get Peter Lorre playing a director in a small bit. No one should come to this film expecting a documentary on Keaton, that's very clear. However, I thought the film was slightly amusing simply because of how many liberties it takes with the truth. You're pretty much constantly glued to what's going on because you want to see what they're going to do next.

Donald O'Connor plays Buster Keaton in this flick. It follows him mostly from his arriving in Hollywood, becoming a star, hitting doldrums in his career as well as alcohol problems...especially alcohol problems.

"The Buster Keaton Story" is a bio-pic which represents the worst sort of thing that Hollywood could do. Why? Well, despite Keaton being a real person, so much of the film is completely wrong and the writers didn't even consult with Buster to make sure they got his life story right...presumably because they just didn't care. Too often bio-pics do this...and I wonder why...especially because Keaton DID have an interesting life and while he did have troubles with alcohol, it was way overblown for the movie. My advice is to read up on the man...you'll likely enjoy learning about him...much more than you'd learn in the film.

The weird thing about this film is it's NOT the Buster Keaton story at all. The main character is a fictional studio executive named Gloria who falls in love with Buster (inexplicably, as he's portrayed as a graceless, unattractive slob) and puts her happiness and career on the line in order to nurture and protect him as he chases another woman, blows all his money and drinks himself silly. The surprisingly faithful recreations of classic Keaton routines dropped in awkwardly here and there do nothing to relieve the tedium of this glum, sour women's picture masquerading as a biopic.