The Great Stone Face - The Films of Buster Keaton

Agee was, of course, referring to Keaton’s uncanny ability to keep a nearly expressionless face no matter how startling or absurd the events happening around him got. It was this trademark deadpan performance which earned Keaton the handle of “the Great Stone Face;” very different from Charlie Chaplin’s “little tramp” character. Keaton’s characters never became overtly discouraged or broke down into tears of frustration. Rather than coax viewers into sympathizing with him, Keaton’s performances would play down the drama and allow the audience to project their own feelings onto the empty canvas of his serene, unflinching face.

Keaton did find other ways to express to the audience his character’s motivations and desires. In many of his films, such as Sherlock Jr., he used dream sequences to this end, showing the fantasy of his character’s d

Keaton began his career in show business at the tender age of three when he joined his parents’ circus act “The Three Keatons.” There his father taught him not to smile during performances; this was the origin of Buster’s now famous “stone face.”

An even more elaborate and seemingly dangerous sequence in the film Sherlock Jr. has Keaton riding on the handlebars of an unmanned motorcycle, which starts across a dilapidated bridge which not only ends mid-air, but is also missing a middle section. Just as he is about to go flying off the edge of the first chasm, two tall trucks pass under the bridge at precisely the right moment for Buster’s motorcycle to coast right over their tops, safely on to the other side of the bridge. Then as he reaches the final section of the causeway before it cuts off, the structure gently collapses, lowering like a platform, dropping the motorcycle back onto the main road and allowing it to continue on its out-of-control course. In a sequence which lasts only a few seconds two bridges have been created, and then destroyed as soon as there was no longer any need for them.

He was known for his uncanny ability to take a dive and recover unscathed. This he also learned from his days in the circus, where his main role was to fall down constantly. It’s where he earned the nickname “Buster,” and its something he took with him in his film career – falling from through a roof while constructing a house, then falling again from the second floor while running out of the bathroom.

The genius of Keaton’s films was apparent not

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