The Cameraman (1928)

Such a frustrating disappointment

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is such a brilliant little movie, so far ahead of its time, and like the rest of Keaton's work, so influential for generations to come. There are comedy bits that are still fresh today, a sweet romance blended in, and what seems like one great scene after another for 67 minutes.Keaton's character is lovable as a sweet guy who has fallen for a women (Marceline Day) who works in a newsreel agency, and who tries his best to 'make good' there as a cameraman. He runs to jump on a firetruck on the way to filming a fire, only to find out it's going back to its station. He goes out to the ballpark to cover the game, only to find out the Yankees are on the road in St. Louis that day, and then proceeds to skillfully pantomime pitching, batting, and running the bases. Later in the film, he'll get a monkey as a sidekick on his way to filming a Chinese holiday celebration that turns into an all-out gang war. By the way, that monkey is fantastic, and clearly well-trained.On the romantic side, Keaton convinces Day to go out with him, and after eagerly waiting for her call, tears down the stairs when the phone rings, with the camera following him in a nice side view all the way. Day is pursued by others who are more polished and better off than Keaton, but her character recognizes his sweetness and tries to look out for him. Keaton's physical comedy is brilliant while embarrassed in a room full of girls at her residence while waiting for her to come out, and then later as he crawls from the top of a double-decker bus to the lower level where she sits after they've been separated. There are then some excellent scenes at the pool: first, him changing in a very small space with another man, and then later losing his oversized swim trunks in the pool.This is a comedy that shows a lot of creativity and skill, but also manages to be touching and heartfelt. Its pace is great and there is never a dull moment with Keaton on the screen. Day is quite fetching as well. Great movie.

Hopelessly in love with a woman (Marceline Day) working at MGM Studios, a clumsy man (Buster Keaton) attempts to become a motion picture cameraman to be close to the object of his desire.This seems like a pretty good film, with a similar premise to many other silent comedies: boy wants to win over girl. Perhaps due to Keaton not directing, the physical humor is greatly toned down. Unfortunately, the copy I saw looked terrible. I guess copies exist from terrible to pretty decent, but mine was not one of those. This hurt my viewing experience.Within a little over a year, MGM would take away Keaton's creative control over his pictures, thereby causing drastic and long-lasting harm to his career. Keaton was later to call the move to MGM "the worst mistake of my career."

Buster (Buster Keaton) is a lowly sidewalk tintype portrait photographer in NYC. He is infatuated with Sally (Marceline Day) who is a secretary at MGM Newsreels. He needs his own camera to even get a trial so he spends his savings to purchase an old film camera from the pawnshop. The others laugh at his incompetent work but Sally admires his attempt and goes out with him. Sally gives him a tip and he stumbles onto a big shootout in Chinatown. The problem is that he forgets to put film in the camera but maybe the monkey switched out the film... The monkey... Harold takes Sally on a boat race and crash. Buster rescues Sally but when she wakes up, she thinks that Harold saves her. The monkey had filmed the rescue and the studio finds Buster's Chinatown film as well as the rescue. Sally discovers the truth and they live happily ever after (with the monkey?).Buster Keaton is at his stone-faced pratfall best. He is absolutely charming and hilarious. His stunts are terrific. He is the bumbling stunt machine as he keeps trying to impress Sally. He is the adorable poor sap.

Buster Keaton is easily my favourite filmmaker of the silent era. There may not be a word spoken in any of his movies, but they still speak to me a lot more than most 21st century comedy films. No-one does it like Buster Keaton; the fun plots, the gut bursting gags, the supremely silly, slapstick, the daring stunts. Definitely one of the greatest comedians of all time, and even though he himself rarely smiled his films will made pretty much everyone smile and might be the most accessible of all silent films. This is a less well known one and apparently it isn't available on DVD, but it should be watched. The plot is your average Keaton movie: A man tries to win the heart of a girl by becoming a successful cameraman. This one, admittedly not his best film, is a little similar to other Keaton outings and is slightly slow to start, but once it does the laughs are merciless and relentless.As usual, Buster Keaton is great as the main character and shows great technical skill as a filmmaker. The gags, especially a wonderful scene is a swimming pool, are winning and painfully funny. The Cameraman oozes charm throughout and once it gets going there's no stopping it. It's not as good as say, The General, Sherlock Jr or One Week, but it is another great silent comedy with heaps of laughter and fun. All the other actors and characters in the film are good as well, and the main character, while a bit of cliché in Buster Keaton films, is very easy to root for. In general, this is a very funny movie and one of those forgotten gems. Hopefully one day this will have a proper DVD release, as it really deserves it.9/10