The Cameraman (1928)

Starring Buster Keaton. (10/4/1895 ~ 2/1/1966)

The Cameraman is an excellent example of the genius of Buster Keaton.  Buster co-directed and produced the film. And even though he is not credited as a writer he always had a hand in the gags and stunts in all of his films.

Buster plays a Tintype street photographer who longs for the excitement and fame of being a newsreel cameraman. His newfound interest in being a cameraman is also fueled by a pretty office worker that he met at the MGM newsreel offices.

One amazing sequence in the film was shot on an a staircase when Buster is expecting a call from his love interest. Buster is in a room on the top floor and the phone is of course on the bottom floor. The sequence was recreated in the Warner Brothers cartoon "The Case Of The Stuttering Pig" (1937) which was a Porky Pig short. Also, the stateroom sequence in the Marx Brothers film "A Night At The Opera" was based on the scene in The Cameraman with Buster in the changing room. Buster choreographed for many other comedians including The Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin and often reused many of his gags from earlier films.  

The film was almost lost forever. The master copy of it used today was made using a print that was found in Paris, in 1968, and a master positive copy of nearly the entire film, found in 1991. In modern copies of the film, the quality of the image varies dramatically; the scenes with best quality were obtained from the material found in 1991.

The film was shot in various locations in Los Angeles and New York. The pool sequence was shot at the Venice Municipal "Plunge" in Venice Beach Ca. The fire truck sequence was shot around Hollywood Blvd. and Vine St. in Hollywood Ca. The baseball stadium is Yankee Stadium in NY.

On the studio's insistence, Keaton shot an ending with him smiling. It was previewed, and hated, so it was replaced with the ending the film now has.

In the scene where Buster falls off of the bus, you can see a billboard in the background for the film "The Actress" a film starring Norma Shearer and written by Joseph Farnham who also wrote The Cameraman.

Continuity: During the Yankee Stadium sequence, an elevated train goes by in the background in one shot, but disappears before leaving the frame in the next shot.

Continuity: When Buster breaks the glass in the door for the first time, the remaining pieces change in between shots.

Continuity: As Buster goes to the newsreel office for the first time, we can see the same girl leaving the building in consecutive shots.

Please enjoy this amazing film and keep your eye out for my next "In The Spotlight" selection!

Thank you! John Zander