Buster Keaton’s second full length feature film is certainly his most beautiful. The slogan used in 1925 for this seven-act work was “Once you go in, you’ll be swept away!” The story of clueless young William McKay is masterfully told in loving detail, while evoking memories of the first railroads. Having grown up in New York, the day he reaches adulthood William is due to inherit an estate in the American mid west. However, this legacy is the cause of a blood feud with the Canfield family, and the unsuspecting William is soon caught up in a maelstrom of dangerous situations. To cap it all, he falls in love with Virginia, the Canfields’ beautiful daughter, which raises the stakes even higher. As an uninvited guest on the Canfields’ property, as long as he remains in the house, he is protected by the traditional laws of hospitality. But everyone needs to leave eventually, and the audience is treated to a turbulent finale involving trains, canyons and waterfalls. By the end everyone’s nerves will be absolutely shredded and there won’t be a dry eye left in the house!
Tickets via lichthaus.info/karten
Release: USA 1923
Format: dcp, viragiert, English title cards
Duration: 75 Minuten
Director: Buster Keaton, John G. Blystone
Screenplay: Buster Keaton, Jean C. Havez, Clyde Bruckman, Joseph A. Mitchell
Camera: Gordon Jennings, Elgin Lessley
With: Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Roberts, Francis X. Bushman Jr., Craig Ward, Monte Collins, Joe Keaton, Buster Keaton Jr.
Archive: FPA Classics
Live music: Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach
Composer & conductor: Robert Israel
Project leadership: Simon Frisch, Gerrit Heber, Dirk Heinje, Sven Opel, Katrin Richter, Jens Riederer, Richard Siedhoff
Funding: Thüringer Staatskanzlei, Sparkasse Mittelthüringen, Stadt Weimar, Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Thüringen, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Co-operation partners: British Film Institute, Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv Berlin, La Cinémathèque française, Danish Film Institute, Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum Frankfurt a. M., EYE Filmmuseum Amsterdam, Filmarchiv Austria, Filmmuseum Düsseldorf, Filmmuseum München, FPA Classics, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Musikgymnasium Schloss Belvedere Weimar, Ralph Turnheim, Stummfilmmagazin.de
With the musicians and voice artists: Günter A. Buchwald, Thomas Grysko, Sebastian
Herzfeld, Matthias Hirth, Robert Israel, Elaine Brennan, Richard Siedhoff, Mykyta Sierov, Ralph Turnheim, Silent Light Ensemble: Kristoff Becker, Andrea Marcelli & Ekkehard Wölk, Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach
Series produced by: Lichthaus Kino Weimar, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Stadtarchiv Weimar & Kunstfest Weimar