first edition Softcover
(c.1996) · Carbondale/Edwardsville
by Oldham, Gabriella
Carbondale/Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. Near Fine. (c.1996). 1st Edition (softcover issue). Softcover. 0809319527 . [nice tight book, minor soiling to bottom of text block, otherwise as-new with no discernible wear]. Trade PB (B&W photographs) "This study of Buster Keatons nineteen silent short films shot between 1920 and 1923 provides the first book-length examination of the independent silent short films of one of the acknowledged kings of comedy." The author "reconstructs each of these rarely seen films [not among the people I hang out with!] in such a way as to enable the reader to 'watch' Keaton's performance, devoting a separate chapter to each. She analyzes each film's strengths to plumb the depths of what seems to be surface comedy through philosophical, biographical, historical, and critical commentary, thus linking the shorts together into a cohesive study of Keaton's growth through his three-year independent venture as a filmmaker." (This spinning noise you hear in the background might just be Buster spinning in his grave over all this depth-plumbing of what he himself no doubt considered "surface comedy.") . (Inventory #: 23645)