Complete Buster Keaton Short Films 1917-1923 [Edizione: Regno Unito] [Edizione: Regno Unito]

A succession of the most timeless, classic comedy shorts ever realised in a luxurious four-disc box set, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK

SYNOPSIS:

Containing thirty-two films - with a running time of over 740 minutes - this collection documents Buster Keaton's short films between 1917-1923.

Capturing Keaton's first steps in front of a camera this box set charts his early association with ex-Keystone Kop Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle through to starring in, headlining, and directing his own box office smash hits. Using Chaplin's old Hollywood studios in 1920, Keaton's sophisticated technical inventiveness coupled with his haunted-yet-handsome 'Stone Face' persona, created a succession of the most timeless, classic comedy shorts ever realised. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the following films in a luxurious four-disc box set, on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

Featuring: The Butcher Boy (1917), The Rough House (1917), His Wedding Night (1917), Oh, Doctor! (1917), Coney Island (1917), Out West (1918), The Bell Boy (1918), Moonshine (1918), Good Night Nurse (1918), The Cook (1918), Backstage (1919), The Hayseed (1919), The Garage (1919), The ''High Sign'' (1920/21), One Week (1920), Convict 13 (1920), The Scarecrow (1920), Neighbors (1920), The Haunted House (1921), Hard Luck (1921), The Goat (1921), The Playhouse (1921), The Boat (1921), The Paleface (1922), Cops (1922), My Wife's Relations (1922), The Blacksmith (1922), The Frozen North (1922), Daydreams (1922), The Electric House (1922), The Balloonatic (1923), The Love Nest (1923)

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• 1080p presentations from new restorations
• Multiple scores on selected shorts
• Audio commentaries by Joseph McBride on The High Sign, One Week, Convict 13, The Playhouse, The Boat, and Cops
• Newly discovered version of The Blacksmith containing four minutes of previously unseen footage
• Alternate ending for Coney Island
• Alternate ending for My Wife's Relations
• That's Some Buster, a new exclusive video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns
• An introduction by preservationist Serge Bromberg
• The Art of Buster Keaton, actor Pierre Étaix discusses Keaton's style
• Audio recording of Keaton at a party in 1962
• Life with Buster Keaton (1951, excerpt) - Keaton re-enacts Roscoe Arbuckle's ''Salomé dance'', first performed in The Cook
• PLUS: A 184-PAGE BOOK containing a roundtable discussion on Keaton by critics Brad Stevens, Jean-Pierre Coursodon, Dan Sallitt; a new essay and detailed notes on each film by Jeffrey Vance, author of Buster Keaton Remembered; a new essay by Serge Bromberg on the two versions of The Blacksmith and other discoveries; the words of Keaton; and archival imagery.

REVIEWS:

''an unprecedented series of delights, combining daredevil stunts, sublime timing, technical artistry and increasingly sophisticated characterisation with some of the greatest belly-laughs in film history, as fresh and funny today as they were some 80-odd years ago'' - Time Out

''rapturously pleasurable definitive collection'' - The Telegraph