One Steamboat, Two Steamboat
Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 4:54 pm
I thought this had come up in this forum already, but for the life of me I can’t find it! (Is it me?) Anyway, here’s Kino’s official posting of their upcoming blu-ray release of STEAMBOAT BILL JR.
http://kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=1088
The set consists of two different versions of the film, consisting of alternate takes and camera angles. Here’s a side-by-side that Kino posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkPktbZVsOQ
I made the assumption that if one is the “Keaton Estate” version, and one is the Killiam version, that they’ve both made it to DVD at some point. So I did my own side-by-side of both the current Kino DVD and the print of STEAMBOAT BILL JR. offered on the UK "Buster Keaton Chronicles" DVD (Network) -- and the UK DVD is indeed different from the Kino version (although it has very elaborate “Raymond Rohauer Presents” titles). I couldn’t say if this is the same version that will appear on the new Kino blu-ray, but it does involve different takes, reactions from Ernest Torrence and Marion Bryon, etc.
What’s interesting is that most of the takes are different in oh-so subtle ways. If Buster called Elgin Lessley "the human metronome", he might have applied that moniker to himself as well -- his timing from take-to-take is astounding in its precision, and remarkably similar from one to the next.
Chris
http://kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=1088
The set consists of two different versions of the film, consisting of alternate takes and camera angles. Here’s a side-by-side that Kino posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkPktbZVsOQ
I made the assumption that if one is the “Keaton Estate” version, and one is the Killiam version, that they’ve both made it to DVD at some point. So I did my own side-by-side of both the current Kino DVD and the print of STEAMBOAT BILL JR. offered on the UK "Buster Keaton Chronicles" DVD (Network) -- and the UK DVD is indeed different from the Kino version (although it has very elaborate “Raymond Rohauer Presents” titles). I couldn’t say if this is the same version that will appear on the new Kino blu-ray, but it does involve different takes, reactions from Ernest Torrence and Marion Bryon, etc.
What’s interesting is that most of the takes are different in oh-so subtle ways. If Buster called Elgin Lessley "the human metronome", he might have applied that moniker to himself as well -- his timing from take-to-take is astounding in its precision, and remarkably similar from one to the next.
Chris