Buster Keaton:
A Selected Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library


Books
Journal Articles

Articles and Books on Individual films
Movies by Director videography for works of Keaton in MRC
Comedy cinema videograpy

Information on Keaton from the Internet Movie Database
The Metaphysics of Buster Keaton - Video/C 4607

Books

Amiel, Vincent.
Le corps au cinema: Keaton, Bresson, Cassavetes / Vincent Amiel. 1re ed. Paris : Presses universitaires de France, c1998. Series title: Perspectives critiques.
UCB Main PN1995.9.B62 A44 1998

Benayoun, Robert.
The look of Buster Keaton / Robert Benayoun ; edited and translated by Randall Conrad. New York: St. Martin's Press, c1983.
UCB Moffitt PN2287.K4 B3613 1983

Benayoun, Robert.
Le regard de Buster Keaton / Robert Benayoun. Paris : Herscher, c1982.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 B36 1982

Bengtson, John
Silent echoes: discovering early Hollywood through the films of Buster Keaton Santa Monica, Calif.: Santa Monica Press, 2000.
BANC: \pf PN1995.67.C2 B46 2000; Storage Info: W 163 354 Non-circulating; may be used only in The Bancroft Library

The Best of Buster : the classic comedy scenes direct from the films of
Buster Keaton / edited by Richard J. Anobile ; introd. by Raymond Rohauer. [New York : Darien House: distributed by Crown Publishers, c1976.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 .B4

Blesh, Rudi
Keaton. New York, Macmillan [1966].
UCB Main PN2287.K4 B51
UCB Moffitt PN2287.K4 B5

Brownlow, Kevin.
"Buster Keaton" In: The parade's gone by. New York, Knopf, 1968.
MAIN: PN1993.5.U6 B7
PFA : PN1993.5.U6 B76 1968
MOFF: PN1993.5.U6 .B7 1968b

"Buster Keaton. The Great blank page."
In: Great film directors : a critical anthology / edited by Leo Braudy and Morris Dickstein New York : Oxford University Press, 1978
UCB Main Stack PN1998.A2.G74

Chaplin, Keaton : Verlierer und Gewinner der Moderne
Herausgegeben von Thomas Koebner Munchen : Edition Text + Kritik, [2006]
MAIN: PN2287.C5 C51 2006

Coursodon, Jean Pierre.
Buster Keaton; les films, la mise en scene, le gag, rapport au monde, rapport aux autres, themes keatoniens, la querelle du "comique pur." Choix de textes, chronologie, filmographie, Biofilmographies. [Paris] Seghers [1973]. Series title: Cinema club.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 C61

Carroll, Noël
Comedy incarnate : Buster Keaton, physical humor, and bodily coping Malden, MA, USA : Blackwell Pub., 2007.
MAIN: PN2287.K4 C37 2007

Chaplin, Keaton : Verlierer und Gewinner der Moderne
Herausgegeben von Thomas Koebner Munchen : Edition Text + Kritik, [2006]
MAIN: PN2287.C5 C51 2006

Coursodon, Jean Pierre.
Keaton et Cie, les burlesques americains du "muet." Presenation par Jean-Pierre Coursodon. Choix de propos de Buster Keaton et Harold Lloyd. Scenarios, panorama critique, temoignages, chronologie,... [Paris] Editions Seghers [1964]. Series title: Cinema d'aujourd'hui 25.
UCB Main PN1993 .C4 v.25

Dale, Alan S.
"Junior: Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton." In: Comedy is a man in trouble : slapstick in American movies / Alan Dale. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c2000.
Main Stack PN1995.9.C55.D35 2000

Dardis, Tom.
Keaton, the man who wouldn't lie down / Tom Dardis. New York: Scribner, c1979.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 .D3

Dardis, Tom.
Keaton, the man who wouldn't lie down / Tom Dardis. 1st Limelight ed. New York: Limelight Editions, 1988, c1979.
UCB Moffitt PN2287.K4 D3 1988

Higgins, Dick
Buster Keaton enters into Paradise / Dick Higgins. [United States]: Left Hand Books, 1994.
NRLF W 131 691

Horn, Rebecca
Rebecca Horn: diving through Buster's bedroom. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art; Milan: Fabbri Editori, c1990.
UCB Main NX550.Z9 H67 1990

Keaton, Buster
Buster Keaton : interviews Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2007.
MAIN: PN2287.K4 A3 2007
Table of contents: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip072/2006033949.html

Keaton, Buster
My wonderful world of slapstick / Buster Keaton with Charles Samuels. lst ed. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, 1960.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 A3

Keaton, Buster
Buster Keaton : interviews Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2007.
MAIN: PN2287.K4 A3 2007
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip072/2006033949.html

Keaton, Eleanor
Buster Keaton remembered New York: H.N. Abrams, 2001.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 K43 2001

Keough, William
"Celluloid pun(ch)sters: the silent clowns." In: Punchlines: The Violence of American Humor / William Keough. pp: 125-50. 1st ed. New York: Paragon House, 1990.
Main PS430 .K46 1990

Kline, Jim.
The complete films of Buster Keaton / by Jim Kline. New York, N.Y.: Carol Pub. Group, c1993.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 K65 1993
UCB Moffitt PN2287.K4 K65 1993

Knopf, Robert,
The theater and cinema of Buster Keaton / Robert Knopf. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1999.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 K67 1999
Contents via Google books

Lebel, Jean Patrick
Buster Keaton. Paris : Editions Universitaires [1964]. Series title: Classiques du cinema, 17.
UCB Main PN1993 .C5 v.17

Lebel, Jean Patrick
Buster Keaton, by J.-P. Lebel. Translated [from the French] by P.D. Stovin. London, Zwemmer; New York, Barnes [1967]. Series title: The International film guide series.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 L412 1967

Lutkus, Alan.
"Buster Keaton." In: Fools and jesters in literature, art, and history: a bio-bibliographical sourcebook / edited by Vicki K. Janik et al. pp: 265-72. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Doe Refe PN1583.F66 1998 Biographies Non-circulating.

McPherson, Edward.
Buster Keaton : tempest in a flat hat Published: New York : Newmarket Press, c2005.
MAIN: PN2287.K4 M36 2004
PFA : PN2287.K4 M36 2005
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip059/2005006810.html

Meade, Marion
Buster Keaton : cut to the chase / Marion Meade. New York : HarperCollins, c1995.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 M43 1995
UCB Moffitt PN2287.K4 M43 1995
Contents via Google books

Moews, Daniel.
Keaton: the silent features close up / Daniel Moews. Berkeley : University of California Press, c1977.
UCB Main PN2287.K4M6
UCB Moffitt PN2287.K4M6

Neibaur, James L.
Arbuckle and Keaton : their 14 film collaborations Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2007.
MAIN: PN2287.A68 N45 2007;
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip072/2006033182.html

Oldham, Gabriella.
Keaton's silent shorts : beyond the laughter / Gabriella Oldham. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, c1996.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 O48 1996

Oms, Marcel.
Buster Keaton. Lyon, Societe d'etudes, recherches et documentation cinematographiques, 1964. Series title: Premier plan ; 31.
UCB Main PN1993 .P7 no.31

Rapf, Joanna E.
Buster Keaton : a bio-bibliography / Joanna E. Rapf and Gary L. Green. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, c1995. Series title: Popular culture bio-bibliographies.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 R36 1995

Reinholtz, Eric L.
"Dinner as machine in the silent films of Buster Keaton." In: Reel food : essays on food and film / edited by Anne L. Bower. New York : Routledge, 2004.
Main Stack PN1995.9.F65.R44 2004
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0413/2004001358.html

Reinholtz, Laurel
"Supper, slapstick, and social class: dinner as machine in the silent films of Buster Keaton." In: Reel food : essays on food and film / edited by Anne L. Bower. New York : Routledge, 2004.
Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0413/2004001358.html
Main Stack PN1995.9.F65.R44 2004

Robinson, David
Buster Keaton. London, Secker & Warburg; British Film Institute, 1969. Series title: Cinema one, 10.
UCB Main PN1993 .C45 v.10

Robinson, David
Buster Keaton. Bloomington, Indiana University Press [1969]. Series title: Cinema one, 10.
UCB Moffitt PN2287.K4 R6 1969

Sarris, Andrew.
"Buster Keaton." In: "You ain't heard nothin' yet" : the American talking film, history & memory, 1927-1949 / Andrew Sarris. New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.
Main Stack PN1995.7.S27 1998
Moffitt PN1995.7.S27 1998

Slide, Anthony
"Buster Keaton." In: Silent players : a biographical and autobiographical study of 100 silent film actors and actresses / Anthony Slide. Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, c2002.
Main Stack PN1998.2.S547 2002

Terkel, Studs
"Buster Keaton." In: The spectator : talk about movies and plays with the people who make them / Studs Terkel. New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co., c1999.
UCB Main Stack PN1583.T39 1999

Wead, George.
Buster Keaton and the dynamics of visual wit / George Wead. New York: Arno Press, 1976, c1973. Series title: Dissertations on film series. Series title: The Arno Press cinema program.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 W41 1976

Wead, George.
The film career of Buster Keaton / George Wead and George Lellis. Boston: G. K. Hall, c1977. Series title: A Reference publication in film.
UCB Main PN2287.K4 .W43

Willeford, William.
"The Fool and His Sceptre." In: Jungian Literary Criticism / edited by Richard P. Sugg. pp: 275-84. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1992.
UCB Main PN98.P75 J8 1993

Journal Articles

Bilton, Alan.
"Buster Keaton and the South: The First Things and the Last." Journal of American Studies Dec 2006. Vol. 40, Iss. 3; p. 487 (16 pages)
UC users only

Bishop, Christopher.
"An Interview with Buster Keaton." Film Quarterly 12:1 (1958:Fall) 15
UC users only

Bishop, Christopher.
"The Great Stone Face." Film Quarterly 12:1 (1958:Fall) 15
UC users only

Bullot, Erik; Stevens, Molly, tr
"Keaton and Snow." October (Cambridge, Mass.) no. 114 (Fall 2005) p. 17-28
UC users only
"A translation of a French essay that first appeared in Art Press 24 (2003). The writer discusses the relationship between the films of Buster Keaton and those of Michael Snow. Between 1917 and 1929, Keaton's filmic art attained a rare perfection, establishing a complex relationship between the burlesque, modernism, devastating humor, and geometry. Keaton's art finds its systematic extension in Snow's films. This relationship allows one to approach Snow's work in terms of categories other than those of experimental or Structural cinema. It then enables one to switch back and forth between two bodies of work that seem dissimilar, casting new light on the relationship between cinema and contemporary art in terms of the return of form." [Art Index]

Canby, Vincent.
"Buster Keaton, deadpan in a crazy world." (Buster Keaton film retrospective) (Living Arts Pages) New York Times v141 (Fri, Dec 27, 1991):B1(N), C1(L), col 1, 31 col in.

Cazals, Thierry.
"Un monde à la démesure de l'homme." Cahiers du Cinema, no393 (Mar. '87) p. 27-31

Corliss, Richard.
"Keaton the magnificent: the great film comedian's centenary brings tributes galore." Time v146, n15 (Oct 9, 1995):81 (2 pages).
Buster Keaton was one of the first comedic actors, and he starred in 30 films from 1920 to 1928. Keaton would turn 100 years old in Oct 1995, and many products are available to mark his birthday. A video collection of his films and a biography celebrate his work.

Cott, J.
"The limits of silent film comedy." Literature/Film Quarterly Vol III nr 2 (Spring 1975); p 99-107.
Analyses the silent film comedy of Chaplin and Keaton.
UC users only

Crowdus, Gary
"Sprucing up the silents: an interview with David Shepard." Cineaste v 21 no3 1995. p. 17
"In an interview, silent film restoration specialist David Shepard discusses his work on The Art of Buster Keaton, a series of three boxed sets of videos that include eleven feature films and nineteen two-reel shorts, brought out to mark the centennial of Buster Keaton's birth. Topics discussed include the "speed correction" of the films, the manner in which they have been digitally transferred, the use of tints, and Shepard's future plans for giving the same treatment to the films of Douglas Fairbanks." [Art Index]

Du Pasquier, Sylvain, Silverstein, Norman
"Buster Keaton's Gags." Journal of Modern Literature, Vol. 3, No. 2, Film as Literature and Language (Apr., 1973), pp. 269-291
UC users only

Feinstein, Herbert; Keaton, Buster
"Buster Keaton: An Interview." The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Winter, 1963), pp. 392-407
UC users only

Friedman, Arthur B.
"Interviews: Buster Keaton." Film Quarterly 19:4 (1966:Summer) 2
UC users only

Gillett, John
"Laughter and Spite marriage." Sight and Sound v 40 no1 Winter 1970/1971. p. 45

Gunning, Tom.
"Buster Keaton or the work of comedy in the age of mechanical reproduction." Cineaste v21, n3 (Summer, 1995):14 (3 pages).
UC users only
Comedian Buster Keaton adapted a slapstick style in acting that has been regularly compared with his contemporary Charlie Chaplin. However, Keaton's works were more concerned with portraying people who were increasingly overwhelmed by the complexity of modern society, particularly the machines that seemed to dehumanize existence while ostensibly trying to ease its burdens. These films have been remastered and released as a set of of feature films and reel shorts by Kino on Video.

Hinson, Hal.
"Buster Keaton, the quiet riot: a centennial salute to the silent screen's great stone face." (Kino Video will release a 30-film boxed set of Keaton's movies; details of his life are given) Washington Post v118 (Sun, Oct 22, 1995):G1, col 4, 47 col in.

Hogue, Peter.
"Eye of the Storm: Buster Keaton." Film Comment v31, n5 (Sept-Oct, 1995):20 (9 pages).
"Buster Keaton's greatness as a comedian and as a filmmaker lies in his vision. The typical Keaton character--a small, lone, acrobatic figure--is usually pitted against larger, massed forces. The humor and surprise of his films derives from this character's spur-of-the-moment ingenuity. The article reviews a new collection of Keaton's work on video, "The Art of Buster Keaton." [Art Index]

Houston, Penelope
"Great blank page." Sight and Sound v 37 no2 Spring 1968. p. 63-7

Irwin, Bill.
"Beauty in the form, and even in the face." (new releases of Buster Keaton's films on video) New York Times v144, sec2 (Sun, July 2, 1995):H9(N), H9(L), col 3, 22 col in.

Kenner, Hugh.
"The Man of Sense as Buster Keaton." Virginia Quarterly Review: A National Journal of Literature and Discussion. 41:77-91. 1965. Charlottesville, VA

King, Rob
"Slapstick and Mis-Remembrance.." New Review of Film & Television Studies; Dec2007, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p333-351, 19p
UC users only

Kramer, Peter.
"A slapstick comedian at the crossroads: Buster Keaton, the theater, and movies in 1916/17." Theatre History Studies v17 (June, 1997):133 (14 pages).
Buster Keaton's transition from vaudeville to motion pictures in 1917 shows how movies could preserve theatrical traditions. Keaton's decision to make films was based on careful considerations of the limitations of vaudeville, offers from agents and entrepreneurs, and the new possibilities film offered for slapstick. Keaton joined performers like Fatty Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin who realized their type of stage performance needed a new venue.

Lane, Anthony.
"The fall guy: Buster Keaton's genius turned slapstick and catastrophe into comic gold." New Yorker v71, n33 (Oct 23, 1995):66 (7 pages).

Linville, Susan E.
"Black Face/White Face." New Review of Film & Television Studies; Dec2007, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p269-284, 16p
UC users only

Magny, Joël.
"Keaton l'authentique." Cahiers du Cinema, no426 (Dec. '89) p. 78

McCaffrey, Donald W.
"The Mutual Approval of Keaton and Lloyd The Mutual Approval of Keaton and Lloyd." Cinema Journal, Vol. 6, (1966 - 1967), pp. 9-15
UC users only

McCaffrey, Donald W.
"A Comedian Revisited." North Dakota Quarterly 1963 31(4): 93-99.
"On the basis of examining scenarios created by means of a scene-by-scene viewing of Chaplin's silent films, the author concludes that the comedian's story-lines were always weak, and that Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton presented better-structured stories. Chaplin's great strength in the silent movie was his acting skill, which enabled him to create "comedy which effectively blended serious elements with the comic."" [from ABC-CLIO America: History & Life]

"On first looking into Chaplin's humour." Sight & Sound Vol.LIV nr.2 (Spring 1985); p.110-111
Consideration of the virtues peculiar to the work of Charles Chaplin and of Buster Keaton

Orgeron, Devin Anthony; Orgeron, Marsha Gabrielle.
"Eating Their Words: Consuming Class a Ia Chaplin and Keaton." (relationship between eating and social classes in the films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton) College Literature v28, n1 (Wntr, 2001):84.
UC users only

Orvell, Miles
"Film: The Camera and the Magic of Self-Transformation in Buster Keaton." Western Humanities Review 27:3 (1973:Summer) 300

Pasquier, Sylvain du
"Buster Keaton's Gags." Journal of Modern Literature 3:2 (1973:Apr.) 269-291

Patterson, G. G
"Keaton in Canada." Films in Review v 22 Mar 1971. p. 183-4

Perez, Gilberto
"The Bewildered Equilibrist: An Essay on Buster Keaton's Comedy." Hudson Review 34:3 (1981:Autumn) 337
UC users only

Pernod, P.; Le Fanu, Mark; Codelli, Lorenzo
"Trois comiques du muet." Positif; SO: nr.367 (Oct 1991); p.87-101
Three studies of comedians from the early US cinema: Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel and Raymond Griffith.

Pernod, P.
"L'odyssée des espaces keatoniens." Positif; nr.367 (Oct 1991); p.89-93

Pesch, Ronald D.
"Vaudevillians By The Lake: Buster Keaton & Friends." Michigan History 1995 79(5): 36-42. "Recounts the history of the Actors' Colony, 1908-26, founded on Muskegon Lake, in the Bluffton section of Muskegon, Michigan, by Buster Keaton's father, Joe. The author discusses the vaudevillians who came to perform in Bluffton every summer, the lives of the Keatons, and Buster Keaton's career as a comedian." [from ABC-CLIO America: History and Life]

Rapf, Joanna E.
"Mesh, Match or Blend." New Review of Film & Television Studies; Dec2007, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p317-331, 15p
UC users only

Robinson, David
"Rediscovery: Buster." Sight and Sound v 29 no1 Winter 1959/1960. p. 41-3

Sanders, Judith; Lieberfeld, Daniel.
"Dreaming in pictures: the childhood origins of Buster Keaton's creativity." Film Quarterly v47, n4 (Summer, 1994):14 (15 pages).
UC users only
"The traumatic childhood of silent film star Buster Keaton was a major influence on his work. Keaton's father, a vaudeville performer, was an alcoholic who beat his son, not only onstage as part of their slapstick performances but also in private. By Keaton's own admission, his father's threats forced him to develop an expressionless "stone face" on stage, a habit that became a major part of his comic persona in films. After leaving his father for Hollywood, Keaton created achingly brilliant and intensely physical films, full of risky stunts that may have allowed him to recreate the physical dangers of his childhood, but this time under circumstances of his own choosing. Keaton usually cast himself as a lonely young man adrift in a coarse and uncomprehending world, struggling to earn the approval of scornful, threatening men and the love of distracted, ineffectual women." [from ArtAbstracts]

Sanders, J., et. al.
"A letter from The Keaton chronicle." [discussion of Summer 1994 article, Dreaming in pictures: the childhood origins of Buster Keaton's creativity]. Film Quarterly v. 49 (Winter 1995-1996) p. 48-54
UC users only
"Patricia Eliot Tobias, editor of The Keaton Chronicle, and others discuss Judith Sanders and Daniel Lieberfeld's article "Dreaming in Pictures: The Childhood Origins of Buster Keaton's Creativity," which appeared in the summer 1994 issue of Film Quarterly. The writers allege that the majority of the quotations in the article are selectively incomplete, mistakenly attributed, or historically misplaced and that the authors have theorized in advance of their data. They also accuse the authors of unloading their pet theory onto Keaton's work regardless of comedy traditions, comic films of the time, Keaton's theatrical history, or his personality. Furthermore, the writers declare untenable the authors' theory that Keaton repressed his resentment against an abusive father and that his resentment is echoed in the content of his films. Sanders and Lieberfeld reply." [Art Index]

Sarris, Andrew
"Buster Keaton and Samuel Beckett." Columbia University Forum , XII, Winter, 42-3. (1969)

Sarris, Andrew,
"Buster Keaton and Samuel Beckett." Columbia University Forum, XII, Winter, 42-3. 1969

Saunders, Thomas J.
"Comedy as Redemption: American Slapstick in Weimar." Culture Journal of European Studies vol. 17 no. 4 (68) pp: 253-277 (1987 Dec.)
"Analyzes the universal appeal of American slapstick humor in Germany after World War I. The popular appeal of American slapstick in the early 1920's at first met with intellectual disdain, but gradually the works of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd gained critical acclaim. German critics found in slapstick a humanity that allowed an escape from the modern world and an iconoclastic function that provided a meeting ground for the elite and the masses. Slapstick served as a mode of communication that overrode the limitations of rational discourse and transcended social and intellectual distinctions." [from ABC-CLIO America: History and Life]

Savedoff, Barbara E.
"Reconsidering Buster Keaton's Heroines." Philosophy and Literature vol. 21 no. 1. 1997 Apr. pp: 77-90.
UC Berkeley users only

Sesonske, Alexander.
"Pre-established harmony and other comic strategies." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, v. 55 (Summer '97) p. 253-61
"The writer applies Leibniz's ideas on the conjunction of causally independent events to comedy. He suggests that Leibniz's notion of Pre-established Harmony, while not a credible account of the world, is a fundamental strategy in comedy. He discusses various formative strategies of comedy, including Pre-established Harmony, with reference to silent films by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton." [from ArtAbstracts]

Sweeney, Kevin W.
"Agee, Comic Discourse, and Buster Keaton's Cops." Film Criticism vol. 13 no. 1. 1988 Fall. pp: 33-44.
UC users only
Analysis of a 'gag' structure in "Cops" in terms of comedy theories by James Agee and others.

Telotte, J. P.
"Keaton is missing." Literature/ Film Quarterly (LFQ) vol. 23 no. 2. 1995. pp: 91-98.
UC users only
"Critical perspectives link the negative aspects of Buster Keaton's works to Derrida's theory of deconstruction, that allows Keaton to suppress the depiction of certain essential features of a film, such as social relevance. Keaton's work displays a playful humor, the unpredictable nature of this world, and the struggle that individuals have within that context." [Expanded Academic Index]

Tibbetts, John C.
"The Hole in the Doughnut: The Last Days of Buster Keaton." Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism vol. 10 no. 1. 1995 Fall. pp: 78-99.

Tibbetts, John C.
"The Whole Show: The Restored Films of Buster Keaton." Literature/ Film Quarterly vol. 23 no. 4. 1995. pp: 230-42.
UC users only
"Raymond Rohauer's restoration of the Buster Keaton films is commendable except for his deletion of Joseph Schenk's name as producer, unscrupulous editing and rewriting of the title cards to assure his copyright. David Shepard's restoration had started from scratch. Altogether, however, film connoisseurs and historians owe both much for the 11 features and 19 shorts of Buster Keaton." [Expanded Academic Index]

Tobias, Patricia Eliot; Artzt, Alice
"A letter from The Keaton chronicle." [response to 1994 article, Dreaming in pictures: the childhood origins of Buster Keaton's creativity] Film Quarterly v 49 Winter 1995/1996. p. 48-54
UC Berkeley users only
Patricia Eliot Tobias, editor of The Keaton Chronicle, and others discuss Judith Sanders and Daniel Lieberfeld's article "Dreaming in Pictures: The Childhood Origins of Buster Keaton's Creativity," which appeared in the summer 1994 issue of Film Quarterly. The writers allege that the majority of the quotations in the article are selectively incomplete, mistakenly attributed, or historically misplaced and that the authors have theorized in advance of their data. They also accuse the authors of unloading their pet theory onto Keaton's work regardless of comedy traditions, comic films of the time, Keaton's theatrical history, or his personality. Furthermore, the writers declare untenable the authors' theory that Keaton repressed his resentment against an abusive father and that his resentment is echoed in the content of his films. Sanders and Lieberfeld reply.

Trahair, Lisa.
"The Ghost in the Machine: The Comedy of Technology in the Cinema of Buster Keaton." South Atlantic Quarterly. 101(3):573-88. 2002 Summe
UC users only

Trahair, Lisa.
"The Narrative-Machine: Buster Keaton's Cinematic Comedy, Deleuze's Recursion Function and the Operational Aesthetic." Senses of Cinema: An Online Film Journal Devoted to the Serious and Eclectic Discussion of Cinema, vol. 33, pp. (no pagination), Fall 2004.

Trahair, Lisa.
"Short-Circuiting the Dialectic: Narrative and Slapstick in the Cinema of Buster Keaton." Narrative. 10(3):307-25. 2002 Oct
UC users only

Weddle, David.
"Deadpan afterlife: Buster Keaton." Sight & Sound, ns10 no4 (Apr. 2000) p. 18-21
"The writer challenges the view that Buster Keaton's career as a comic genius was stalled by the coming of sound and declined into alcoholism and poverty. After Keaton's cinema career was over, he reinvented himself as a television star, appearing in hundreds of television programs between 1949 and 1966. He wrote most of the material himself and had complete control over how it was staged and shot. Most of the sketches were reprisals of his classic pantomimes, but there were also many new ones, and although these were cut from the same cloth of rough-and-tumble slapstick, the audiences did not care. A solitary guest slot on The Ed Sullivan Show was seen in an instant by 25 million people, which was more than had seen any of his silent films." [from ArtAbstracts]

Weddle, David.
"From Buster to Marty." Sight and Sound ns5 July 1995. p. 36-7
"The writer describes his interest in the work of Buster Keaton and how through it he discovered the comedy of Marty Feldman. He discusses how Feldman was an important transitional figure in the progression of British comedy from the Goons to Monty Python and comments on Feldman's roles in various films, including The Last Remake of Beau Geste. He also recounts working with Feldman in Hollywood on the script for a never-made film about the life of Buster Keaton." [Art Abstracts]

Weddle, David.
"Sheer Exertion." Sight and Sound vol. 5 no. 7. 1995 July. pp: 18-21.
Ron Shelton, the director of 'White Men Can't Jump' and the baseball film 'Cobb, is a big fan of Buster Keaton. He likes how Keaton's heroes fight to exist in a merciless world. He also admires Keaton's chase sequences and Laurel and Hardy's struggle to maintain their dignity. Shelton's emphasis for the physical exertion and the rhythm of the body in action is manifest in the baseball games in 'Bull Durham' and the basketball matches in 'White Men Can't Jump'.

Welsh, Jim.
"Celebrating Buster Keaton, 1993–2007." Journal of American Culture, Jun2008, Vol. 31 Issue 2, p202-204, 3p
UC users only

Wolfe, Charles
"Introduction to Issue on Buster Keaton." New Review of Film & Television Studies; Dec2007, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p249-252, 4p
UC users only

Articles and Books About Individual Films

The Blacksmith

Kramer, Peter.
"Derailing the Honeymoon Express: Comicality and Narrative Closure in Buster Keaton's The Blacksmith." The Velvet Light Trap ( vol. 23. 1989 Spring. pp: 101-116.
UC users only
Also in:
Hollywood comedians, the film reader / edited by Frank Krutnik. London ; New York : Routledge, 2003. In focus--Routledge film readers.
Main Stack PN1995.9.C55.H65 2003

Whalen, Tom.
"The balloon of equilibrium: symmetry, structures and narrative authority in Buster Keaton's "The Blacksmith."." Literature-Film Quarterly v25, n1 (Jan, 1997):55 (7 pages).
UC users only
The structure of Buster Keaton's "The Blacksmith" and his relationship with the film as its author and main character cannot be adequately described by narrative theory. In fact, the film's narrative is incidental and peripheral to what Keaton was trying to accomplish. More central to the film is Keaton's interest in symmetry and order, which can be found in a number of scenes. The final scene merges Keaton's roles as the author and the actor.

The Cameraman

Boone, Youri.
"The Pose of the Misfit: Buster Keaton in 'The Cameraman'." Image (&) Narrative, vol. 7, pp. (no pagination), 2003.
"This paper offers an analysis of the film The Cameraman (Sedgwick, 1928, feat. Buster Keaton) by re-examining a case made in an earlier analysis by the French Keaton critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon. The main focus is on the tension between stasis and dynamism with regard to the issues of physical performance and technical form. The analysis is secured by a close examination of one distinctively illustrative scene, and afterwards extrapolated to the rest of the film." [Author's abstract]

Orvell, Miles.
"The camera and the magic of self-transformation in Buster Keaton." In: After the machine : visual arts and the erasing of cultural boundaries / by Miles Orvell. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c1995.
Main Stack E169.1.O7828 1995

Parshall, Peter F.
"Buster Keaton and the space of farce: Steamboat Bill, Jr. versus 'The Cameraman.'" Journal of Film and Video v46, n3 (Fall, 1994):29 (18 pages).
UC users only
Buster Keaton's use of space ended up a failure in 'The Cameraman,' while the cyclone scene in Steamboat Bill, Jr. was overplayed. A profusion of dialogues marks the pattern in both the films, 'The Cameraman' having 88 dialogue intertitles in comparison to 49 in 'Streamboat Bill, Jr.'.

Cops

Parshall, Peter F.
"Demonic Farce, Saturnalia, and Buster Keaton's The Cops." Perspectives on Contemporary Literature vol. 7. 1981. pp: 18-25.

Sweeney, Kevin W.
"Agee, Comic Discourse, and Buster Keaton's Cops." Film Criticism vol. 13 no. 1. 1988 Fall. pp: 33-44.
Analysis of a 'gag' structure in "Cops" in terms of comedy theories by James Agee and others.

Film (Samuel Beckett)

Brater, Enoch.
"The Thinking Eye in Beckett's 'Film'." Modern Language Quarterly, Jun75, Vol. 36 Issue 2, p166, 11p
UC users only

Friedman, Alan W.
"Samuel Beckett Meets Buster Keaton: Godeau, Film, and New York." Texas Studies in Literature & Language, Spring2009, Vol. 51 Issue 1, p41-46, 6p
UC users only

McKee, Al
"Buster's Hat." Film Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 31-34, Summer 2004.
UC users only
"Alan Schneider's 1964 short Film, scripted by Samuel Beckett and starring Buster Keaton, is the only film made with Beckett's active participation and one of the last to feature Keaton in a major role. In the film, whose theme is that to be perceived is to suffer, Keaton eludes the scrutiny of everyone he encounters and is finally left waking from a sleep to find his own face looking at him. A cryptic narrative need not hamper one's enjoyment of a film provided its internal logic is discernible and its execution sufficiently skilled, but Film never quite approaches this. Without the crib sheet of its author's notes, viewers do not get enough from the screen to understand the film's message themselves. Forty years later, Beckett's theme seems incredibly dry and Keaton's presence is the film's main attraction." [Art Index]

The General

Carroll, Noel.
"Buster Keaton, The General, and Visible Intelligibility." In: Close Viewings: An Anthology of New Film Criticism / edited by Peter Lehman. pp: 125-40. Tallahassee: Florida State University Press; Gainesville, FL : Orders to University Presses of Florida, c1990.
UCB Main PN1995 .C543 1990

Kirby, Lynne.
"Temporality, Sexuality and Narrative in The General." Wide Angle: A Film Quarterly of Theory, Criticism, and Practice vol. 9 no. 1. 1987. pp: 32-40.

Rohmer, Éric.
"The General." Positif; nr.400 (June 1994); p.114-116
Éric Rohmer analyses "The General", a film which he admires

Warshow, Paul
"More is less: comedy and sound (Keaton's The General)." Film Quarterly v 31 no1 Fall 1977. p. 38-45

Go West

Anderson, Kristen.
"Go West!": The Representation of Los Angeles in Silent Film Comedy." Spectator: The University of Southern California Journal of Film & Television, Fall2001, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p82-90, 9p

Wolfe, Charles
"Western Unsettlement." New Review of Film & Television Studies; Dec2007, Vol. 5 Issue 3, p299-315, 17p
UC users only

Hard Luck

Ballo, Francesco.
"Notes on Keaton's Hard Luck." Griffithiana: Journal of Film History, 2004 Issue 73/74, p141-163, 23p
Focuses on Buster Keaton's 1921 motion picture "Hard Luck." Comparison of the Lobster Arte and Kino on Video copies; Comparisons between "Hard Luck" and other Keaton two-reelers, such as "The Blacksmith"; Construction of the film as a model in which Keaton is the absolute protagonist and epicenter of all the action; Comic structure of the movie; Roles of practicability and the crossing of spaces as the foundations on which Keaton constructs the action of the film.

The Railrodder

Tibbetts, John C.
"Railroad man: the last ride of Buster Keaton." Films in Review v46, n5-6 (July-August, 1995):2 (10 pages).
The movie 'The Railrodder,' directed by Buster Keaton, is based on a long journey along a Canadian track in a small, motorized handcar. Keaton had a strong fascination with trains which was reflected in all of his films. The movie was structured on the lines of the silent short comedies of Keaton. An excellent mixture of music and sound effects in the movie compensated for the lack of dialogue.

The Saphead

Kramer, Peter
"The making of a comic star : Buster Keaton and The saphead (1920)." In: Classical Hollywood comedy / edited by Kristine Brunovska Karnick and Henry Jenkins. Place/Publisher New York : Routledge, 1995.
Main Stack PN1995.9.C55.C56 1995
Also in:
The silent cinema reader / edited by Lee Grieveson and Peter Kramer. Place/Publisher London ; New York : Routledge, Date 2004.
Main Stack PN1995.75.S547 2004
PFA PN1995.75.S547 2004

Sherlock Jr.

Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr.
Edited by Andrew Horton. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1997. Series title: Cambridge film handbook series.
UCB Main PN1997.S4717 B87 1997
UCB Moffitt PN1997.S4717 B87 1997

Eberwein, R.T.
"The filmic dream and point of view." Literature/Film Quarterly VIII/3, 80; p.197-203.
UC users only
Examines the use of subjective and objective shots and point-of-view in dream sequences in "Lady in the lake", "Sherlock, Jr." and "Wild Strawberries".

Sweeney, Kevin W.
"The dream of disruption: melodrama and gag structure in Keaton's Sherlock Junior." Wide Angle XIII/1, Jan 91; p.104-120.
Recalls Buster Keaton's scorn for film comedies which disregarded narrative concerns, and his wish to integrate humour into the story of feature-length films; examines his attempts in "Sherlock, Jr.", and that film's use of melodrama.

Telotte, J. P.
"The Detective As Dreamer: The Case of The Lady in the Lake Journal of Popular Film & Television. 12(1):4-15. 1984 Spring

Steamboat Bill

Eberwein, R.T.
"The filmic dream and point of view." Literature/Film Quarterly; ol.VIII nr.3 (1980); p.197-203
Examines the use of subjective and objective shots and point-of-view in dream sequences in "Lady in the lake", "Sherlock, Jr." and "Smultronstället".

Parshall, Peter F.
"Buster Keaton and the space of farce: Steamboat Bill, Jr. versus 'The Cameraman.'" Journal of Film and Video v46, n3 (Fall, 1994):29 (18 pages).
Buster Keaton's use of space ended up a failure in 'The Cameraman,' while the cyclone scene in Steamboat Bill, Jr. was overplayed. A profusion of dialogues marks the pattern in both the films, 'The Cameraman' having 88 dialogue intertitles in comparison to 49 in 'Streamboat Bill, Jr.'.

Rubinstein, E.
"Observations on Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr" Sight and Sound v 44 no4 Autumn 1975. p. 244-7

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