The man who never laughed
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The man who never laughed |
| Original title | The Buster Keaton Story |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1957 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Sidney Sheldon |
| script |
Robert Smith , Sidney Sheldon |
| production | Robert Smith, Sidney Sheldon |
| music | Victor Young |
| camera | Loyal Griggs |
| cut | Archie Marshek |
| occupation | |
| |
The Man Who Never Laughed is a 1956 American film "biography" about the famous silent film comedian Buster Keaton . Considerable parts of this film are pure fiction, however. Directed by Sidney Sheldon , Donald O'Connor played the title role.
action
Buster Keaton, often referred to as "the man who never laughed" because of his consistently serious expression in his silent films, his trademark, was born into a family of traveling vaudeville performers. Early on, shortly after the turn of the century, the artists and entertainers Joe and Myra incorporated their son Buster into their vaudeville performances. They call themselves now "The Three Keatons". During the First World War, Buster decides to leave the small show troupe of his struggling parents and try his luck in Hollywood. Buster goes to the Famous Studios and sneaks into the film studio area, where he tries to prove his comedic skills to the director Kurt Bergner. Although Bergner only mocks the clown comedian, Gloria Brent, the casting director, recognizes Buster's talent and persuades Larry Winters, the studio boss, to give the young man a chance. Buster is a huge success right from the start, although he only got a small role in his first film. Then Keaton was offered a studio contract, which he did not want to sign until he was allowed to direct these productions.
Larry Winter reluctantly gives in to Buster's demand, and at the party that follows, Buster takes Peggy Courtney, the scheming studio star, to dinner. After making fun of his modest table manners, the newcomer Keaton pulls Peggy out of the bar and then prefers to go to a bar for dinner with the friendly Gloria. There he tells her about his life as a vaudeville artist, how he once his career began when he was only three days old and since then has had to experience a rather barren and deprived youth without school or education. Keaton's career path is steep, and in the course of the 1920s he celebrated one film success after another. Now finally getting some money, Buster acquires a bombastic 32-room mansion in Hollywood. When Gloria learns that the star comedian actually bought the palace for Peggy, she is deeply sad. He, in turn, is devastated that the adored Peggy is not in the least interested in him, but rather looking for a man of nobility and with a title. She finds him in an ominous Duke Alexander Michael David. The two become engaged, and Buster Keaton is now fully focused on his film work.
Despite his unprecedented success as a comedy star, Buster remains an unhappy and sad person because of these personal experiences. He starts drinking. He is now demanding a share in the profits on his next film and is taking out a mortgage on his villa in order to be able to share 50 percent of the production costs of the cinema project "The Gambler" (The Gambler). This film was a big letdown, because on the same evening in 1927 the officially first sound film The Jazzsinger celebrated its world premiere. Buster is financially ruined and forced to submit to studio conditions and attempt a sound film directed by the unpopular Kurt Berger. Bergner, however, is very fixated on the spoken word, while Buster's previous successes have been based entirely on facial expressions and his body language. As expected, this collaboration will be a disaster, the film a flop. And again the brilliant comedian who feels misunderstood drowns his frost in alcohol.
Meanwhile, Gloria has returned from a trip to Europe on which she tried to forget her unrequited love for Buster and is engaged to Tom McAfee, the production company's lawyer. On their wedding day, however, Gloria leaves Tom standing to get the drunk Buster out of prison. The next morning, Keaton, suffering from a terrible hangover, is informed that he and Gloria are married. It is actually true, but Gloria only took this step to save the Buster, who had obviously passed away at the time, from further self-destructive trips. But even Gloria can no longer tame the demons inherent in Keaton. Buster Keaton is now barely employed, and by the early 1930s he is a largely forgotten man in the industry. You don't live on Glorias' abundant savings. Buster now has to seize every opportunity to be able to earn money and agrees to first take on a small role in a production by Famous Studios. But then he discovers a photo of himself from better days, and his pride forbids him to sell himself, as he believes, “below value”.
And again, instead of in front of the camera, Keaton drags himself straight back to the next bar. His fall into the insignificance determined by drunkenness seems unstoppable, and Gloria pulls the rip cord and leaves Buster, who doesn't really want to be helped. Keaton is forced to sell his huge estate. Only now does he see what he had in Gloria and ask her to come back to him. He will stop drinking and go back to his roots, the stage variety of vaudeville shows, because to make people laugh ... this is his real calling. Gloria, however, wants to wait and see if her husband keeps his promise. She secretly travels to Buster and waits for him behind the stage. Keaton really wants to incorporate his wife into his comedy act, ideally under the banner of "The Two Keatons". Gloria smiles at him mildly, points three fingers up and says that it should be called "The Three Keatons" again soon. You and Buster become parents.
Production notes
The Man Who Never Laughed was written between June 25th and August 8th, 1956 and premiered on April 21st, 1957. The German premiere took place on April 25, 1958.
The film construction was done by Hal Pereira and Carl Anderson , the equipment was in the hands of Sam Comer . Edith Head designed the costumes. Wally Westmore was a makeup artist. The visual special effects were created by John P. Fulton .
Buster Keaton was listed as a technical advisor according to the credits. He received $ 50,000 for the rights to film his life story. The film is fictional in many respects, for example, the three times married Keaton never had a wife named Gloria Brent and did not make a film called "The Gambler" . The career path presented - great successes and an elaborate lifestyle in the 1920s, then the crash of success and alcohol problems, finally a certain comeback - is at least roughly the case.
Reviews
The New York Times on April 22, 1957 read: “The inventive slapstick comedy that eases the worries of a previous generation shows no sign of wear and tear in 'The Buster Keaton Story' ... but admittedly 'free fictionalized 'facets of the career of one of the comic titans of the silent film era, into which these really funny numbers were interspersed, are obviously as outdated as a teardrop from 1910. (...) How the stone-faced clown ... flits, stumbles, falls and imitates himself Mr. O'Connor makes his way through half a dozen of the cabinet bits that make up Mr. Keaton's work. (…) Among his leading actresses, Rhonda Fleming is merely decorative as an opportunistic film queen, and Ann Blyth is sweet, pretty, and quite unlikely to be his adoring, truly constant companion. Peter Lorre is skilled as a director who defies his ideas, and Larry Keating adequately portrays his compassionate studio boss. "
In its May 18, 1958 edition, Der Spiegel called the film “An anecdotal reverence for the pantomime joke” of Keaton and went on to write: “In this film, shot in a simple colportage manner, the actor Donald O'Connor gets rid of the unusual with some skill The task of not only slipping into the mask of his older colleague for biographical purposes, but also to reproduce scenes from his more successful silent films true to the original. Buster Keaton acted as the company's technical advisor, according to the opening credits; he succeeded in the disappointing proof that the medium of talkies is just as alien to him today as it was at the time when he had to leave Hollywood because of this lack of adaptability. "
The lexicon of international film states: “An effort, but hardly adequate, biography of the rise and failure of the famous silent film comedian Buster Keaton (1895-1966), who allegedly worked as a technical advisor. Excerpts from Keaton's classics are skilfully staged and woven in. "
Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide located "little comedy in the story about a great comedian" and also stated: "Weak fiction ignores the facts of the great silent film star Buster Keaton and creates its own story".
Halliwell's Film Guide characterized the film as follows: “An interesting recreation of Hollywood of the 1920s and 1930s is the main asset in this otherwise bleak tribute to the man whose size the star (note: O'Connor is meant) is unable to show apart from a few acrobatic moments. "
Individual evidence
- ^ The Buster Keaton Story in The New York Times
- ↑ The man who never laughed on Der Spiegel, 20/1958
- ↑ The man who never laughed. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 11, 2019 .
- ^ Leonard Maltin: Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 182
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 157
Web links
- The Buster Keaton Story at the American Film Institute
- The man who never laughed at the Internet Movie Database (English)