Buster Keaton on-line

I have always been a huge fan of Charlie Chaplin and for a long time I knew him only as the king of silent comedies. Many years later I discovered other legends: Harold Lloyd, Max Linder and Buster Keaton. I discovered Keaton through his masterpiece The General: a comedy about a locomotive in the civil war. That was the definition that someone gave to me what I was going to watch the film, and it sounded strange, however it was worth it until the last minute.
Linder inspired Chaplin with his very expressive character “Max”, Lloyd kept this tradition with his “Glasses Character” and Keaton did the opposite. His trademark was physical comedy with a stoic, deadpan expression on his face, earning him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”. It sounds weird if you never watch any of his films, but believe me, he was hilarious.
I watched more of his films in the last few months than in all my previous years. It’s easy to find popular films here, even the short classic silent films are available in DVD collections. Silent films from Murnau, Lang and Hitchcock are the easiest to find: there are many, not just their best. Excluding those guys and some other famous ones, don’t expect to find the whole collection of your favourite silent actor or director here: if you find two or three consider yourself lucky.
And that’s why I love so much the internet: it’s the place where I can find “obscure” films. Keaton isn’t exactly obscure, but thanks to sites with films in public domain I watched many of his films that I didn’t knew already. Internet Archive has a very nice list with his films and Public Domain Movies has two good collections to download. The best part: there are always new additions of contributors.
My research showed me 23 Buster Keaton’s films on-line to download, including two different versions of The General. I made a list with them, with links to where download, watch, the IMDb page and Wikipedia article. Not all articles about his films are good, but most of them have images of posters and other interesting stuff. And if you are searching for more information about Keaton try The International Buster Keaton Society Website and this site with 10 galleries of his pictures.
- Buster Keaton shorts 1 to download with the films The Blacksmith, The boat, The paleface and Daydreams.
- Buster Keaton shorts 2 contains The Playhouse, The Balloonistic, My Wifes Relations and The Electric House.
- Convict 13 (1920): article – download – watch it.
- Cops (1922): article – download – watch it.
- Daydreams (1922): download – watch it.
- Film (1965): article – download.
- Li’l Abner (1940): download or here – watch it.
- My Wife’s Relations (1922): download – watch it.
- Neighbors (1920): article – download – watch it.
- One Week (1920): article – download – watch it.
- Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931) – download – watch it.
- Sherlock Jr. (1924): article – download – watch it.
- Speak Easily (1932): download or here – watch it.
- Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928): article – download or here – watch it.
- The Balloonatic (1923): download – watch it.
- The Blacksmith (1922): download or here – watch it.
- The Boat (1921): download – watch it.
- The Butcher Boy (1917): article – download – watch it (with subtitles in French).
- The Cameraman (1928): article – download – watch it
- The Electric House (1922): download – watch it.
- The Frozen North (1922): download – watch it.
- The General (1927): article – download – watch it or download – watch it (two different versions).
- The Goat (1921): download – watch it.
- The Love Nest (1923): article – download – watch it.
- The Paleface (1922): article – download or here – watch it.
- The Play House (1921): article – download – watch it.
- The Scarecrow (1920): article – download – watch it.
- Three Ages (1923): article – download – watch it.

Update: watch all the videos at Videos with Bibi