Reviews

Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase

Leah Rae
Tags

According to Hollywood legend, it was Harry Houdini who gave Buster Keaton the name “Buster” after watching the young Keaton tumble down a flight of stairs. This myth is debunked in Marion Meade’s biography Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase (Da Capo Press), but the magic of the early film era is intact, and graciously presented. With the trained eye of a filmmaker, Meade leads us through the life story of one of cinema’s greatest performers. She presents vivid descriptions of Keaton’s haunts, from the unclaimed land of pioneer-era America, to the dingy vaudeville halls, to the staggering wealth of infant Hollywood. Meade not only condenses Keaton’s remarkable life into three hundred pages; she also infuses her work with the same near-mystical aura that surrounded the great stone face himself.

No items found.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU

Reviews
Anson Ching

Sailing the roaring forties

Review of "The Last Grain Race" by Eric Newby.

Dispatches
Kelly Bouchard

After the Flames

A wildland fighter witnesses an old burn's second act

Reviews
Helen Godolphin

Pinball wizardry

Review of "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game" written and directed by Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg.