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Reading Room — Kino-polis

Reading Room

Essays, interviews, programme notes and archives about early cinema, from the festivals, critics and archives that publish them. Every entry opens on the publisher's own site.

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Every kind Essays954 Videos10 Websites8 Foundations3 Archives2 Museums1 Distributors1

Biographical Video Essay

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10 entries, newest first

Videos
Archives
Foundations

Essays

“Buster Keaton”

Essay
Fatty + Buster: The Comique World of Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)
By Imogen Sara SmithSan Francisco Silent Film Festival1 Apr 2020
On Buster Keaton and Roscoe Arbuckle
Essay
Think Slow, Act Fast: Buster Keaton Shorts, 1920–21 (opens silentfilm.org in a new tab)
By Richard HildrethSan Francisco Silent Film Festival20 Jan 2020
Essay
The Scarecrow (Buster Keaton, 1920) — Bethany Lee's Film Studies Blog (opens filmstudiesleeb.wordpress.com in a new tab)
Analysis of Keaton's farmland comedy and innovative gadget-based visual gags.
On The Scarecrow
Essay
A Gag Every Minute: Buster Keaton in The Blacksmith (1922) (opens thewonderfulworldofcinema.wordpress.com in a new tab)
Analysis of Keaton's comedic techniques and endless string of gags around the blacksmith theme.
The Wonderful World of Cinema
On The Blacksmith
Essay
Our Hospitality: Buster Keaton and gravity (opens rogerebert.com in a new tab)
Analysis of Keaton's physical comedy and dangerous stunts in this family feud melodrama.
Roger Ebert
On Our Hospitality
Essay
The Crux of Buster Keaton's Our Hospitality Is Ridiculous Tradition (opens trettleman.medium.com in a new tab)
Essay exploring themes of ingrained Southern hospitality tradition as social satire.
Medium
On Our Hospitality
Essay
Remembering Buster Keaton and The Navigator (1924) — Now See Hear! (Library of Congress) (opens blogs.loc.gov in a new tab)
Essay on Keaton's commercial breakthrough with mechanical gags and innovative underwater sequences.
On The Navigator
Essay
Buster Keaton in COLLEGE (1927) (opens aurorasginjoint.com in a new tab)
Film review examining Keaton's athletic comedy and slapstick innovation.
Aurora's Gin Joint
On College
Essay
The Symmetry of Buster Keaton's The General (opens trettleman.medium.com in a new tab)
Analysis of the film's compositional balance and artistic design.
Medium
On The General
Essay
The Cameraman (1928): Buster Keaton's Last Great Silent Film (opens theeverydaycinephile.com in a new tab)
Analysis of Keaton's character development and physical comedy.
The Everyday Cinephile
On The Cameraman