He never smiled on camera, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face." But Buster Keaton's comedies rocked Hollywood's silent era with laughter throughout the 1920s.
Acclaimed for their originality and clever visual gags and admired for their authentic location shots and amazing stunts, Keaton's films remain popular crowd-pleasers today.
See for yourself with a screening of "The Navigator" (1924), one of Keaton's landmark feature films, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Brandon Town Hall, located on Route 7 in Brandon.
The program is free and open to the public; donations are accepted to support Brandon Town Hall's silent film programming.
The screening will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating scores for silent films.
"The Navigator" is a comedy that follows the adventures of wealthy nitwit Rollo Treadway (Keaton) and his pampered girlfriend, who find themselves alone and adrift on a massive ocean liner. Forced to fend for themselves without servants, the pair attempt to cope with day-to-day life, creating classic comedy in the process.
But when the ship runs aground on a remote island inhabited by cannibals, is Buster's resourcefulness enough to save the day?
Filmed at sea on a real ocean liner that Keaton treated as the largest prop in comedy history, "The Navigator" has been hailed as one of the most original and distinctive movies to come out of silent film's golden era of comedy.
The film features underwater scenes that were revolutionary at the time, with Keaton in an oversized antique diving suit.
A remarkable pantomime artist, Keaton used his whole body to communicate emotions from sadness to surprise. And in an era without post-production special effects, his acrobatic talents enabled him to perform all his own stunts, including some spectacular ones in "The Navigator."
Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician who accompanies shows at venues across New England, said Keaton's films weren't intended to be shown on television or viewed at home.
In reviving "The Navigator" at Brandon Town Hall, organizers aim to show silent film as it was meant to be seen — in high-quality prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.
"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," said Rapsis. "Recreate those conditions, and classics of early Hollywood such as 'The Navigator' leap back to life in ways that audiences still find entertaining."
Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of a full orchestra, creating a traditional "movie score" sound. He improvises the complete score in real time during the screening.
"Creating a movie score on the fly is kind of a high-wire act, but it can often make for more excitement than if everything is planned out in advance," Rapsis said.
Critics' comments on “The Navigator”:
"The Navigator looks and feels like it could be one of today's summer mega-blockbusters. It has a great, simple premise that includes the destroying of a huge set. It's endlessly imaginative, funny, inventive, etc. It's one of the greatest movies I have ever seen."
—Jeffrey Anderson, Combustible Celluloid, 2001
"His comic timing is brilliant. He says more in his face than most actors today do with their face and voices. It's a very funny story with dozens of very memorable comic scenes. A true classic."
—James Higgins, Turner Classic Movies, 2011
For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.
