Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I bought this Keaton set expecting the prints too be poor, because f the very low price. I was very wrong. About half of the films in this collection appear to be from "The Art of Buster Keaton" that costs $200 in America.
This 6-DVD set includes almost all of Keatons finest films (it misses the High Sign and Hard Luck) including the Saphead. The best features in this set are the General, College, Our Hospitality, the Navigator and the Saphead. The two best shorts are probably Neighbours and the Love Nest.
Most of the features in the collection are in excellent condition, apart from College and the Tree Ages, both of which are from the Rohauer Collection and suffer from focus and contrast problems. The General and Our Hospitality are the Thames Silent versions that are beginning to look dated (but still have the brilliant Carl Davis scores).
Most of the music is very good especially the jazzy Sherlock Jr. score.
The shorts in this collection generally look OK, but many of the films do not fill the screen or are not really restored. Once again the prints from the Rohauer collection are quite poor.
The only extra is a 1968 documentary, "The Great Stone Face" which does not offer much but contains most of Fatty at Coney island. Overall a very good set.
This 6-DVD set includes almost all of Keatons finest films (it misses the High Sign and Hard Luck) including the Saphead. The best features in this set are the General, College, Our Hospitality, the Navigator and the Saphead. The two best shorts are probably Neighbours and the Love Nest.
Most of the features in the collection are in excellent condition, apart from College and the Tree Ages, both of which are from the Rohauer Collection and suffer from focus and contrast problems. The General and Our Hospitality are the Thames Silent versions that are beginning to look dated (but still have the brilliant Carl Davis scores).
Most of the music is very good especially the jazzy Sherlock Jr. score.
The shorts in this collection generally look OK, but many of the films do not fill the screen or are not really restored. Once again the prints from the Rohauer collection are quite poor.
The only extra is a 1968 documentary, "The Great Stone Face" which does not offer much but contains most of Fatty at Coney island. Overall a very good set.
61 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a big collection and merits a bigger review than I'm going to give it, but as noone else has so far attempted it, here goes. I am not going to review each individual film; that information is readily available elsewhere.
I guess most people who are reading this are like me, and never bought a Keaton recording before. This collection at about £22 (currently) for nearly all of the silents directed by and starring Keaton seemed almost too good to be true. However that is what I got. I was able to enjoy again the films I'd seen before and discover some gems among the ones I hadn't. I am thoroughly satisfied with the purchase.
I guess most people who are reading this are like me, and never bought a Keaton recording before. This collection at about £22 (currently) for nearly all of the silents directed by and starring Keaton seemed almost too good to be true. However that is what I got. I was able to enjoy again the films I'd seen before and discover some gems among the ones I hadn't. I am thoroughly satisfied with the purchase.
A few warnings to the unwary: It may seem obvious to say this, but these are films made in the 1920's. In these days of spectacle it may be difficult to appreciate the innovation and technical skills of the special effects, and indeed the stunts, without having an idea of the technology of the time. But more than this, the films contain attitudes to race, women's roles, child care and animal treatment that may jar today.
One further consequence is that the original negatives and prints have not survived. These films are all, at best, copies of copies of copies, and have had to be converted from the original frame rate(s) eventually to the 25 frames per second of the DVD. None of the films can said to be in crisp focus compared with modern films, all suffer from some flickering but all are still watchable without any eyestrain.
The films vary quite a lot in visual quality; many are clear, but some are scratchy and dusty and have sections missing and may be tinted by a heavy hand. The soundtracks vary too, some with full orchestra, some with a cinema organ, some with a small band or piano and a few with sound-effects added.
I am sure with modern technology these films could be cleaned up enormously so I guess that there may be future (more expensive) releases of these films. I understand there is already such an edition of "The General".
With six discs packed with feature material, there isn't really room for much bonus material. The one extra offered here, "The Great Stone Face", itself a period piece, is a bit of disappointment. The bulk of the film consists of excerpts from films in the collection with little extra information offered. The best part is the beginning of the film which does give a brief biography of Keaton and a large excerpt from a Roscoe Arbuckle short that featured Keaton.
I didn't intend this review to seem so negative. This package will surely more than satify most people who, like me, aren't avid collectors or lack the money to be one.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
this is the kind of dvd release i have been waiting for, and here it is.
presented here for the first time, is every major film from the best period of "the great stone face" buster keaton.
observing these short and feature films, i can understand keaton rivalling chaplin as a genesis in silent slapstick and film-making. it amazes me how a man can take all the risks and endure the pain with his various stunts and live to tell the tale.
to really compliment this dvd set, a documentary about buster keaton was released on the same day, entitled " a hard act to follow." i have it on video and makes for a fascinating two and a half hours.
network have done an exceptional job of digitally remastering footage as old as this. i really hope they give harold lloyd the credit he deserves, and dedicate a dvd set of his films.
in the meantime, buy the keaton collection and treasure it.
presented here for the first time, is every major film from the best period of "the great stone face" buster keaton.
observing these short and feature films, i can understand keaton rivalling chaplin as a genesis in silent slapstick and film-making. it amazes me how a man can take all the risks and endure the pain with his various stunts and live to tell the tale.
to really compliment this dvd set, a documentary about buster keaton was released on the same day, entitled " a hard act to follow." i have it on video and makes for a fascinating two and a half hours.
network have done an exceptional job of digitally remastering footage as old as this. i really hope they give harold lloyd the credit he deserves, and dedicate a dvd set of his films.
in the meantime, buy the keaton collection and treasure it.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good choice, but not the best.
This dvd set is just fine. To be honest, the copies are not the best. I have already bought the complete collection of Buster's short films and I have to say that those copies do... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Alexander-N.
Wot a revelation.
I never really got to see much of Keaton when |i was a kid. It was hooray for harold lloyd on at tea time, and the odd chaplin et al. Read more
Published 19 months ago by E. Coolican
A good Keaton set for beginners
This set contains all ten features made by Buster at his own studio in the 1920s, plus 17 of his nineteen shorts and his early acting role in the Metro feature "The Saphead". Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by R. J. Warner
Great comedy
I bought this for my girlfriends family. We already have all his work. It is absolutely brilliant!!
Published on 11 Jan 2010 by Mark Jones
A great collection - but with very variable picture quality
Network's 6-disc set The Buster Keaton Chronicles is pretty much the closest thing available in the UK to The Art of Buster Keaton boxed set from the US. Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2009 by Trevor Willsmer
Warning:
Do not let word get out you've got this boxset if you know more people than will fit in front of your telly. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2008 by Ursa Dextra
Great Films Awful Copies
Let's Get this straight Buster's Films are wonderful but these copies are not
if these copies were the only ones available it wouldn't be so bad but they aren't, there are... Read more
if these copies were the only ones available it wouldn't be so bad but they aren't, there are... Read more
Published on 21 July 2007 by .
Classic, timeless Stoneface
For lovers of pure comic genius this is a must, and lets face it Buster Keaton is unparalleled in cinematagraphical comedy. Read more
Published on 29 May 2006 by David Double
Not a complete collection
This a very disappointing collection. Firstly it does not contain "Hard Luck". Also, whilst they have "The General" and "Our Hospitality" with the sublime Carl Davis scores, they... Read more
Published on 25 May 2006 by Diane Rhodes
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
