... but Buster Keaton wasn't one of them. This film shows the tragedy of the silent era stars that were so young at the transition from silent film to sound - in their 20's and 30's - that they could not fathom that they had become obsolete overnight. Thus they would make the mistake of walking out in a huff on contracts that the studios were only too glad to vacate and only after the Great Depression really hit hard did they realize that their time in the spotlight was over with their fortunes gone and many turning to drink as solace. Dick Van Dyke plays silent comedian Billy Bright whose life pretty much follows this composite trajectory. Van Dyke was great at physical comedy, so he is perfect in this part as a silent film comedian whose downfall is partly his own doing and partly just the result of the march of time.
The film starts with Billy's funeral in 1969 with him doing his own commentary on the poor turn out and the eulogy as he looks on at the proceedings. At one point Billy Bright thinks back on what a great funeral he would have had if he had died in 1929 instead of 1969 - throngs of fans crowding around the church, women throwing themselves at the coffin, and one can't help but think of Rudolph Valentino who was the great lover of the silent era and who died suddenly in 1926. Had Valentino survived into old age, would he also have wound up forgotten and alone, living in a cheap room in near poverty, setting his alarm for 4:30 in the morning to get a glimpse of one of his old films on TV?
So many compare this story to that of Buster Keaton, and there are several similarities between Billy's and Buster's stories in just a few ways. The combination of Keaton's failed first marriage and his downfall at MGM did lead him to nearly drink himself to death, and he was quite the womanizer in the last years of his first marriage. He also wound up in a disastrous second marriage that was the result of one of his alcoholic benders. However, unlike Billy Bright, Keaton had a happy ending. His third marriage was very happy, lasting 26 years and only ending with his death. In the late 40's revivals of his silent films - most prominently the artistically brilliant box office failure "The General" - won him a whole new wave of popularity with many appearances on TV, supporting roles in films, and live performances that continued until shortly before his death. At the end of his life in 1966 he was very much living in the present not his past and in fact often said he dreaded reunions with silent film stars because many of them seemed to be stuck in the 1920's.
I would highly recommend this one to people interested in the sometimes tragic life of the silent film stars, but don't think of this as Buster Keaton's biography - it is not.
The film starts with Billy's funeral in 1969 with him doing his own commentary on the poor turn out and the eulogy as he looks on at the proceedings. At one point Billy Bright thinks back on what a great funeral he would have had if he had died in 1929 instead of 1969 - throngs of fans crowding around the church, women throwing themselves at the coffin, and one can't help but think of Rudolph Valentino who was the great lover of the silent era and who died suddenly in 1926. Had Valentino survived into old age, would he also have wound up forgotten and alone, living in a cheap room in near poverty, setting his alarm for 4:30 in the morning to get a glimpse of one of his old films on TV?
So many compare this story to that of Buster Keaton, and there are several similarities between Billy's and Buster's stories in just a few ways. The combination of Keaton's failed first marriage and his downfall at MGM did lead him to nearly drink himself to death, and he was quite the womanizer in the last years of his first marriage. He also wound up in a disastrous second marriage that was the result of one of his alcoholic benders. However, unlike Billy Bright, Keaton had a happy ending. His third marriage was very happy, lasting 26 years and only ending with his death. In the late 40's revivals of his silent films - most prominently the artistically brilliant box office failure "The General" - won him a whole new wave of popularity with many appearances on TV, supporting roles in films, and live performances that continued until shortly before his death. At the end of his life in 1966 he was very much living in the present not his past and in fact often said he dreaded reunions with silent film stars because many of them seemed to be stuck in the 1920's.
I would highly recommend this one to people interested in the sometimes tragic life of the silent film stars, but don't think of this as Buster Keaton's biography - it is not.