How Did Buster Keaton Influence His Films

Buster Keaton is considered to be one of the greatest comic actors of all time. His influence on physical comedy rivaled only by Charlie Chaplin. As many great actors of the silent film era, Keaton’s work did not receive much praise until many years later. Only toward the end of his life was there a renewed interest in his films. However, the work that Keaton did both as an actor and director influenced his popularity in cinema. Keaton’s feature silent film Sherlock Jr is one of his many films that affirms his standing as one of the most talented and innovative artists of his time by portraying him as a physically and physiologically talented comedian. In Sherlock Jr, Keaton’s technique of presenting most of the narrative from a character’s

He was able to incorporate many of these illusions into this film. From the scene where Keaton’s character jumps through a window and ends up being fully clothed in a ladies dress, to the scene where he jumps through a woman’s suitcase and disappears from his enemies, he shows his ability to perform illusions. These scenes that take place in Sherlock Jr. are influences of his childhood, especially by Henry Houdini. In fact, not only did Houdini influence his tricks and interest with magic, but he also is responsible for giving Keaton his famous name “Buster”. This nickname was given to him because he was clumsy, and always being at risk of injury. The only source of schooling Keaton had was at Vaudeville, where he learned tricks and illusions. He stocked his comic imagination with gags that would appear on the big screen many years later in his

This led Keaton to move to Hollywood. The consequence of his move led him to a meeting with one of the most famous actors of that time, Roscoe Arbuckle. Arbuckle took Keaton on and showed him the ropes of the movie industry, and he is considered to be Keaton’s biggest influences. This ultimately steered Keaton in the direction of film, and led to the start of Buster Keaton’s film career. Sherlock Jr. is one of Keaton’s most creative films. For the year of 1924, his film contained a remarkable use of cinema technology for that time, and he did not only create funny scenes, but also activated the part of the viewer’s mind that thinks. His advancement in cinema could be accredited to the many film makers he encountered on his journey and is a consequence of his artistic evolution over a short amount of