Review of Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) by Carlos M — 03 Nov 2015

Buster Keaton, one of silent cinemas finest and also most damn crazy, the guy nearly kills himself in nearly every film he's ever in. Steamboat Bill Jr. is no exception to Keaton's insane stunts and the skill in which he does them is amazing, stunt doubles today should be using this guy's ways, he is impeccable. Listen I'm not going to write this and say this movie had a good story, the thing basically throws it's story around a lot but it was only after finishing this that I realised just how fantastic the things going on in this were though, superbly directed but even more so, excellent acting from the main man Keaton.

The plot see's a steamboat captain named Bill sent his son William, or Bill Jr. (Keaton). The story then see's him trying to change Junior Bill into a worthy crew member, but Bill Jr. has his eyes on the rival boat captains daughter. The story really picks up as soon as Bill Jr. goes after the girl, it can't be said the beginning is particularly exciting or anything but still Keaton holds his own and makes some of the duller moments a little more exciting. Keaton plays Bill Jr. in such a way where he feels stupid, but at times he can really stand up and surprise others, even in such a short film the character is already one you like in the first 20 minutes.

Charles Reisner and an uncredited Buster Keaton were the directors behind this, they both make this what it is, a great movie. It maybe as said before takes a little time to get into a flow of things but both Reisner and Keaton even more so make the film's ending superb, the stunts, the weather and even just the way the sets are built are just sublime, and very costly too. You can't say much about this without yet again mentioning those stunts, I won't go too into them as there's just so many but the tree stunt, the hospital bed, the bread and of course the most famous, the window stunt (which is so stupid that it is perfect) are very well done.

If you're not too accustom to Keaton then you may find the lack of story fairly annoying but this manages to bypass the plot a little and really inject all of its energy into the way it flows. Keaton doesn't need long sequences of dialogue to create his plot; he only needs the odd word and then his signature style of insanity. It's maybe also in my opinion a little slower paced than some of his others but all in all this is fun and doesn't need to go super quick, it feels the right length, too long and it would have become boring, too short and you miss out all of the awesome acrobatics the little guy pulls off.

So overall this is considered a masterpiece, wouldn't quite agree but I see why it is for sure. If you're looking for a silent movie this is very recommendable, really good fun all round for the whole family, it actually has really quite a few laughs in it too which really shows me that Keaton really knew how to make movies which would be valued years after.