Search - Buster Keaton Rides Again/The Railrodder on DVD

I Can See Clearly Now!

vicki5cats | 03/06/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Buster Keaton Rides Again/The Railrodder" is here on DVD! After watching the VHS version for several years, the improvement in picture and sound quality of the DVD is striking! Colors are vivid, picture is crystal clear, and the music sounds 100 times better than on the video version. This compilation is a must-have for true Keaton fans. "The Railrodder" is a short silent film (with music) which shows an aging Keaton doing what he did best. One of the last films he made (he died a year and a half after it was filmed) it is also an homage to the beauty of Southern Canada.But the real gem of this collection is "Buster Keaton Rides Again," a b&w documentary of the making of "The Railrodder." It is a rare look at Keaton being himself, something that was usually kept from the public eye. We see how he worked, relaxed, and what made him smile. There is touching and endearing footage of him interacting with his wife Eleanor and a priceless scene of him singing and playing ukulele. Additionally, there is a short biography interwoven throughout, with some beautiful vintage photos and footage of Buster's early days. Highest recommendations!"

Long Live Buster!

David Benson | London United Kingdom | 05/22/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Really beautiful double-bill, featuring some of Buster's final appearances. The Railrodder comes up sumptuously in DVD colour, with many sound and vision details I have never noticed before. Almost better is the 55-min documentary about the making of the film: a wonderful, all-too brief glimpse of Buster and Eleanor at work and play; very candid, funny - it moved me to tears at times. I love Buster so much, as an artist and as a human being. There's a delightful moment when a bunch of Canadian children talk direct to camera, beside themselves with excitement at the prospect of visiting their hero in his private carriage. Unforgettable."

A Keaton Gem

Scott T. Rivers | Los Angeles, CA USA | 09/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""The Railrodder," a 25-minute Canadian film, finds Buster Keaton riding a motorized handcar from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Released in 1965 shortly before Keaton's death, this memorable short proves that the Great Stone Face, at age 69, was a vital artist who instinctively knew comedy. One is grateful that Keaton lived long enough to appear in this mini-masterpiece. The National Film Board of Canada had the foresight to make an hour-long documentary on "The Railrodder" production. The result was "Buster Keaton Rides Again" (1965) - an excellent, revelatory study of a genius at work. Both films now are available in pristine condition on this glorious DVD, which is a must-own for Keaton aficionados."

Essential candid footage of Keaton at work and at play

calvinnme | 11/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Railrodder is an interesting and funny silent short Keaton made in 1964 in which he travels - rather accidentally - via a tiny motorized rail car from the East coast to the West coast of Canada as part of a Canadian travelogue. Meant to be just one of the various industrial films Keaton starred in late in his career, it turned out to be much more than that. This is because filmmaker John Spotton decided to "film the filming of" the Railrodder and thus make a documentary - "Buster Keaton Rides Again". As a result, we get rare - maybe the only - footage of Keaton at work as he comes up with gags, fights for his ideas when the director thinks a particular stunt is too dangerous, and as he basically co-directs by placing a group of workmen where he thinks they should be in a particular shot. We also get to see Keaton at rest and at play - his passion for bridge and baseball, his shyness around large crowds when he is honored by a town he is passing through, and the adorable relationship he had with his third wife Eleanor as she insists that he lie down and rest after a busy day and his response is "I should sell her".

The short and documentary were shot in the autumn of 1964, just some 16 or so months before Keaton's death in February 1966 from lung cancer. A few of Keaton's coughing fits captured on the documentary are thus somewhat sadly prophetic of what is soon to come. Thus this travelogue/documentary combo is essential viewing for any Keaton fan because we get to see him as he was at the end of his life - a happy man who still insisted on putting out the best work he could after 65 years in show business."