Lost Keaton on Blu-Ray

Sixteen Comedy Shorts (1934-37)
A TWO-DVD SET

For Buster Keaton, the era of the talkies was a tumultuous time. After signing with MGM, the quality of his ambitious, eclectic comedies began to decline, leading to a period of personal setbacks. In 1934, he signed a contract with Earle W. Hammons¹s Educational Pictures which, despite its name, specialized in comedy short subjects ("The Spice of the Program"). Keaton's move to Educational was a return to his roots, crafting a stream of two-reel comedies in rapid succession, as he had done in the early 1920s, when he first refined his cinematic craft.

The films Keaton made at Educational (all sixteen of which are collected here) pay homage to his earlier work (such as Love Nest on Wheels, which revives a number of gags from his very first film, The Butcher Boy), while exploring new possibilities for his recurring comic persona "Elmer".

• THE GOLD GHOST
  1934 21 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• ALLEZ OOP
  1934 20 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• PALOOKA FROM PADUCAH
  1935 20 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• ONE RUN ELMER
  1935 19 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• HAYSEED ROMANCE
  1935 20 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• TARS AND STRIPES
  1935 20 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• THE E-FLAT MAN
  1935 20 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• THE TIMID YOUNG MAN
  1935 20 Min. Dir: Mack Sennett
• THREE ON A LIMB
  1936 18 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• GRAND SLAM OPERA
  1936 20 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• BLUE BLAZES
  1936 19 Min. Dir: Raymond Kane
• THE CHEMIST
  1936 19 Min. Dir: Al Christie
• MIXED MAGIC
  1936 16 Min. Dir: Raymond Kane
• JAIL BAIT
  1937 19 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• DITTO
  1937 17 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont
• LOVE NEST ON WHEELS
  1937 18 Min. Dir: Charles Lamont

  These DVDs were transferred from 35mm negatives and fine grain masters culled from Keaton's personal collection and other archival sources by Raymond Rohauer. Some films exist in less-than-perfect condition, which is not atypical for low-budget "orphan" films such as these.

  Images courtesy of Bruce Lawton and David Macleod
  Special thanks to David Kalat, Tim Lanza, Patricia Eliot Tobias, and the International Buster Keaton Society Inc.
  Digital restorations © 2010 Kino International Corp.
  

  --synopsis and DVD image courtesy of KINO. For more great films on DVD, visit the KINO website.

  This DVD is being offered at a special price - the Damfino discount does NOT apply.