Buster Keaton's Estrellados to be Released by Warner Archive

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Rob Farr
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Buster Keaton's Estrellados to be Released by Warner Archive

Postby Rob Farr » Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:01 pm

From the WA website:
FREE AND EASY/ESTRELLADOS BUSTER KEATON DUAL LANGUAGE DOUBLE FEATURE (1930) It’s Buster’s Talkie debut with a special “as you’ve never heard it before” bonus! Keaton skewers Hollywood itself with the tale of a wannabe starlet (Anita Page) that arrives in Tinseltown with some extra baggage — an over-protective mother (Trixie Friganza) and an even more over-protective gas station attendant (Keaton). A coterie of star cameos make an appearance, and co-starring Robert Montgomery who plays a “Latin lover,” no less!
BONUS FEATURE: Free and Easy is now paired with its Spanish language version, Estrellados (1930) complete with English captions. Rarely seen since its initial overseas release, Estrellados is a prime example of the once customary practice of “parallel production” that helped Hollywood market their fare overseas during the silent-to-sound transition. It’s a fully alternative version of the film, shot simultaneously with Free and Easy on the same sets but with Buster alongside a totally different Spanish speaking cast. ¡Viva la Comedia!
Rob Farr
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Re: Buster Keaton's Estrellados to be Released by Warner Arc

Postby Gary Johnson » Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:57 am

L&H's foreign versions have been quite common for decades but has anyone come across any of Keaton's foreign versions for MGM before this?

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Re: Buster Keaton's Estrellados to be Released by Warner Arc

Postby Rob Farr » Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:26 pm

It will be interesting to see if Keaton does any physical comedy not found in the English-language version, tho I'm sure that all of these versions were ground out so quickly that improvisation was neither encouraged nor appreciated. At least we will get to see more Raquel Torres.
Rob Farr
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Re: Buster Keaton's Estrellados to be Released by Warner Arc

Postby Gary Johnson » Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:58 pm

I like the story of MGM being forced into turning out foreign versions because of the success of Roach's foreign versions, And then they pressured Roach into halting those versions because it was making their versions look inferior.
It sounds like the Roach production crew put a little more thought and care into the overseas product.

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Re: Buster Keaton's Estrellados to be Released by Warner Arc

Postby Ed Watz » Wed Feb 12, 2014 6:16 am

The Warner Archive text erroneously states that ESTRELLADOS was "shot simultaneously" with FREE & EASY. FREE & EASY was completed and assembled for previews before scenes were filmed for the Spanish-language version. FREE & EASY was trimmed after previews, while ESTELLADOS contains additional scenes that were originally in the English version and dubbed into Spanish.

Among other bits and pieces of footage, Richard Carle appears in ESTRELLADOS, his scenes deleted from the American release, with his dialogue dubbed into Spanish. I've also seen Keaton's German-language WIR SCHALTEN UM AUF HOLLYWOOD which is neither an export version of HOLLYWOOD REVUE OF 1929 nor THE MARCH OF TIME.

All of these films (and of course a lot more) will be discussed in the Buster Keaton talkie book that Bill Cassara and I are currently preparing for BearManor Media.
"Of course he smiled -- just like you and me." -- Harold Goodwin, on Buster Keaton (1976)


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