Silent Sundays: The Cameraman (1928)

“Don’t be discouraged. No one would ever amount to anything if he didn’t try.”

            In The Cameraman from 1928, Buster Keaton plays the typical down and out guy with something to prove in order to get the girl. 

            Buster carries around a portable tintype camera and takes photos of people who willingly stand for them. As he tries to take a man’s photo one day a large crowd of people clamor around him and ticker tape begins to fall and soon the corner he was in becomes packed with people and news cameras. The event is for someone important that is not specified. Buster gets pushed into a beautiful woman. When the group dissipates Buster asks the girl if he can take her photo. In the few seconds it takes to develop her photo she has taken off with one of the news reel cameramen.

            The following day he takes the photograph and heads to MGM Newsreels’ offices to look for the girl. He finds out her name is Sally and that she is a secretary in the office. In order to impress her Buster goes out and spends his entire savings on a new camera so he can try to catch some news stories on film. She encourages him to film whatever he sees so he can get the hang of it. Unfortunately his reel comes out terrible. Many of the shots have been over or double exposed and other shots are just no good.

            Buster had asked Sally out on a date. She told him she already has a date but if they cancel she will call him. All day Buster waits for her call and when she finally does he is beyond happy. They go out for a day to an indoor pool which does not turn out too well. After they pool Sally sees the one newsreel guy Harold who has been making fun of Buster ever since he started and also likes her. He gives them a ride but makes Buster sit in the rumble seat in the pouring rain.

            Sally gets a call from someone in Chinatown that there could be something interesting going on during the parade that day and that she should send someone down to film it. Thinking of Buster she sends him down. On his way Buster accidentally hits a small monkey that was part of a street performer’s act. Thinking the monkey has died he pays for it and takes the body with him. Turns out the monkey was just stunned. Buster gets down to Chinatown just in time because a big gang war erupts. He captures the whole thing and is saved by the police just in time. When he gets back to the office Buster is sad to see that there was no film in there the entire time.

            Trying again later, Buster heads down to the beach to try to capture some boat racing. When he is on a boat he realized the monkey switched out his film of the gang war he did manage to capture the entire thing. On the beach he is filming a speed boat that is being driven by Harold with Sally as his passenger. Harold drives the boat way to fast into a turn and they fly out of the boat. Buster immediately stops filming and jumps into the water to save them. After he gets Sally onto the beach he runs to the nearest drug store to get things to help her. Harold comes out of the water and Sally comes to. She thinks Harold was the one who saved her and he takes the credit for it. Thankfully Buster has kept the monkey around because the monkey kept on filming and got the whole rescue on film.

            Buster sends the Chinatown shoot out to MGM Newsreels and tells them he is giving it to them for free. He also gives the speed boat incident to them as well. Sally sees that Buster is really the one who saved her and the boss loves both reels. Sally gets Buster to come back to the company.

            The Cameraman was cute. As usual it is the typical Buster Keaton style of story. There were some scenes I felt were too long and did not really need to be included but it is a comedy and all the scenes were drawn out comedic ones. I will suggest only seeing The Cameraman if you are a Buster Keaton fan. I do not consider The Cameraman one of the best silent films I have seen but unless you really like Keaton it is not really worth watching. 

Silent Sundays: Go West (1925)

 “Some people travel through life making friends wherever they go, while others - Just travel through life.”

            In life we become attached to certain things be them stuffed animals as a kid or a collections of movies or books or pieces of clothing or even our smart phones. Some even become very attached to their animals. For example, my one aunt brings her small dog pretty much everywhere she goes. I love my dog and sometimes I would love to bring my Indy Bones with me everywhere but she is a massive pain in the ass (yet incredibly cute) big yellow lab. Indy is like a bull in a china shop wherever she goes. Things life like animals can bring us comfort and joy. Yes, I do know my DVD and book collections are inanimate objects and cannot replace the interaction and sometimes joy of being around other humans but the characters and stories are always there for me when I am feeling lonely and down. Films are always there to lift me up and sometimes I come across a film that perfectly speaks to me in that moment of my life. One such film and its character that has recently spoken to me is the silent film Go West.

            A young man, simply known as Friendless (Buster Keaton), lives in a small town in Indiana. There are no work opportunities for him in Indiana so he must leave to go to the big city. In the city he is one of millions of small people making their way through life looking for opportunities. Having not found success Friendless gets the inspiration to move out West. He hops on a cargo train and travels out to find his place in life.

            Friendless is traveling with barrels of food. As the train rolls through the dry desert the barrels begin to move all over the place. He manages to get stuck in one and is ejected out of the train right into the desert. After walking around he comes across a cattle ranch. Friendless sees some men toss their left over clothes on the ground so he grabs the discards and puts them on. He figures out who the ranch owner is and asks for a job. The owner says there are no jobs but quickly changes his tune when another ranch hand leaves. Friendless is given the task of milking a cow named Brown Eyes.

            Friendless and Brown Eyes quickly become friends. The cow follows the human around as though she was a dog. When Brown Eyes has to be branded like the other cows with a hot iron Friendless takes her away and tries to hide her at first. When all else fails he takes out his razor and shaving cream and shaves the brand into the cow himself.

            The ranch owner has to send all his cattle to the slaughter house including Brown Eyes. Friendless is distraught that his only friend, something who truly cares for him, has to be taken away and killed. He tries to play some ranch hands in a poker game to win the money to buy her but he cannot get it. The owners daughter tries to plead with her father to just let Friendless have the cow but the cow is another one to sell and he needs the money.

            Friendless travels on the train with the cows. There is a shoot out at some stretch of journey and he is there more or less to save the cows than the other hands. He makes it back on the train and into the city. He comes up with the idea in the city to take Brown Eyes off the train and keep her. Sometime later all the cattle on the train manage to get off the train and run amok in the city. The police are frantic and the people are terrified.

            To make a long story short, the ranch owner and his daughter come into town after hearing about their cattle. The owner takes Friendless and Brown Eyes back with him in his car.

            Go West was really cute. I feel like at this moment in my life I can relate to Friendless. I do have friends but they are not around as much or they live far away. I feel lonely and sad over where my life is right now like how Friendless felt at the beginning when he is looking for a job. I cannot find a goddamn full time job to save my life at the moment. I wish I could jump on a cargo train like Friendless and head west. I would love to go live in California! I loved Friendless’ friendship with Brown Eyes because it is a way people feel when they find an actual human friend. When you get an attachment to someone or something you hold on to it for dear life. If it makes you happy and gives you purpose to keep going you hang on to it. If it is an activity like reading or watching movies or YouTube vloggers you keep reading and watching. Go West is one of my favorite Buster Keaton films. The story was perfect for the down and out characters he usually played. 

Silent Sundays: College (1927)

“The student who wastes his time on athletics rather than study shows only ignorance.”

            As much as I struggled in school I always valued it. I value all the knowledge I have gained from classes over the years no matter how boring the subject. I look at the boring subjects as something I did not know before so it is a bonus. If I will ever use it again only God knows.

            One night my mom had some friends over. Her one friend has a son who was still in college but he was already drafted by a major league baseball team to play for them as a pitcher. I was curious to see what he declared as a major since obviously baseball was more important than academics. He just looked me dead in the eye in all seriousness and said “baseball.” I kid you not a now major league baseball player who has pitched for two teams so far told me he majored in baseball with all the seriousness in the world. I guess I should not judge him for that though I mean he is a professional pitcher. He did, however, tell me that he was taking a lot of anthropology classes because those classes fit his schedule around baseball practice.

            I think students who do athletics plus are fantastic at academics are amazing. They were always the type of student I wanted to be. I would dream of being on the track team even though I could not (and still cannot) run to the mailbox down the block without being winded. I dreamed I getting straight As but I could never sit down and do my homework without getting frustrated (to be fair to myself I went undiagnosed with ADHD up until I was twenty-six). There was one type of student I never dreamed of being or wanted to be and that was the athletes who were full of themselves, did poorly in academics, were the dumbest of dumbs the world ever crapped out, and were “popular” for god knows what reason. I may have even hated the students who liked those asshat jocks more than the jocks themselves.

            All this rambling about academics and sports and school is relevant to this Silent Sunday post I promise. For this edition of Silent Sundays I watched a Buster Keaton film called College. I bet you can already kind of tell what the story of this film is going to be about based off my rant/observations.

            On the day of high school graduation it is pouring. Ronald (Keaton) and his mother walk through the rain without an umbrella for most of the way. Once at the graduation, like all the other boys in the class, Ronald only has eyes for the popular girl Mary Haynes. Since he is late he has to sit off to the side next to a heater. His clothes are soaked and from the heat they shrink. The principal of the school calls Ronald up to the stage since he is the best scholar in the school. Ronald manages to infuriate the entire class with his speech on how knowledge and school mean more than sports ever will. Mary is furious with him for his speech and tells Ronald that unless he changes his attitude about athletics she will never be with him. On the way home Ronald tells his mother that he wants to go to college. His mother tells him they have no money. Ronald however is determined to prove to Mary he can be an athlete and decides to work his way through school like all the other boys.

            The first day of college Ronald sees Mary. She just brushes him off and walks away. Once in his room he unpacks his one suitcase full of sports equipment with books on how to play baseball and do track and field. The Dean of the school comes to see Ronald. The high school principal has given a Ronald a glowing recommendation and the Dean is excited that maybe once and for all the school will be known for something other than athletics. As the Dean leaves the room, in walks Jeff the stupid athlete from his high school and all of Jeff’s sports friends. They look at Ronald like hungry lions looking forward to making him their next meal.

            Ronald gives baseball a try first and that bombs very quickly. He is chosen to play third base. He lets the ball go right between his legs and barely knows how to throw. Next Ronald gives track and field a try. After much fumbling and creating chaos Ronald gives up.

            The Dean calls him into his office. Ronald has been failing his classes because he is focusing on sports. He confesses to the Dean that he loves a girl and the only way he can win her is if he can become good at sports. The Dean understands since he had lost a woman he loved over wanting to be a scholar. The coach for the rowing team comes in with a list of students he wants as potential coxswains (they are the ones who yell out orders why the others row). The Dean tells the coach to put Ronald on the team since he is smart and has the small build for sailing.

            The coach and the team are not happy with Ronald as their new teammate at all. The coach comes up with the idea to drug him so he cannot be in the race. Well this being a Buster Keaton film and a comedy from the 1920s Ronald manages to switch out the drinks either knowing it was drugged or because he is just really silly and wanted the other guy’s drink.

            You all should know that Ronald wins the race for the team after several silly mishaps. Unfortunately Mary was not there to see him win the race. Before the race Jeff went to Mary’s room to tell her that he has been expelled and he wants her to come away with him so they can get married. When she refuses he does not let her go until she says yes. In desperation Mary calls any number on the school’s telephone line. The call happens to go to the locker room where Ronald is and he picks up the phone. He hears Mary ask for help just before Jeff comes over and rips the phone out of her hands. With adrenaline running through his entire body from the race and hearing Mary in distress Ronald all the sudden has the athletic ability he had tried to possess when he arrived at the school. He jumps over hedges, pole vaults into Mary’s room on the second floor, and throws things right at Jeff like a baseball player or a discus thrower, and even bats some things away.

            Ronald saves Mary and the two of them get married in the church on campus  right away.

            College was a cute film. Of course there is more of Keaton’s high jinks and screwball antics than what I have written. The baseball and track and field scenes were a little too long for my attention span but they were funny enough. I felt bad that Ronald felt the pressure of being an athlete over a scholar but in the end he was the one who made the big guy feel like a small idiot. College is worth watching at least once. It is available to view in full on YouTube.