Buster Keaton at the Stadtkino

Although Buster Keaton did not see a camera until he was 21, within  a very short time thereafter he was runing his own Hollywood Studio.  Keaton is the famous paleface, wide-eyed silent film comic, famous for spectacular action-packed movies in which he performed most of the stunts himself.  Over 12 evenings at the Stadtkino, there is a tribute to the actor and genius of comedy on the silent screen.  You can catch such great films as The Navigator, 1924, The Balloonist, Go West, 1925, College, 1926, The Cameraman, 1928, Battling Butler and The General, 1926. Keaton worked in the theater and on short films with the acclaimed comedian Fatty Arbuckle, with whom he mastered the mechanics of stage and film.  This fantastic retrospective collection of short and long masterpieces will be shown by real, live music in the theater performed on classical piano, violin and a host of other fantastic sounding instruments that made the period of the 1920's come to life on the silver screen: the fairground accordian, vibraphone, flute, contrabass, kalimba and kazoo.

The General, filmed in 1926 is the most well-known of Keaton's films, particularly because it involved spectacular scenes, extraordinary stunts, and the General ... the steam locomotive, then there's the famous crah on the bridge and the plunge into the river below.