What Can We Learn from Buster Keaton?

They say art is timeless, but eighty-seven years is an incredibly long time in the world of movies.

Buster Keaton is perhaps one of the most influential film makers of the silent film era (1894-1929) being known best for his popular slapstick comedy shorts and feature films. And, while popular in their time, Keaton's films are hardly ever viewed by modern audiences.

Last night I watched what is perhaps Keaton's most famous film "The General," which was made in eighty-seven years ago in 1926. The movie industry has advanced so much since that time, making many of his tropes outdated. However, I believe there is still a lot that modern movie makers can learn from Keaton today.

One of the many original posters used to promote "The General."

The largest theme for "The General" that remains prevalent in mainstream media today is the use of physical comedy. Of course Keaton didn't have the luxury of sound or dialogue in his movies so if he wanted his audience to laugh, he had to use his own body and various props for jokes. We often equate modern slapstick with low-brow entertainment (i.e. Adam Sandler movies), but I think that is an unfair comparison.

Now, I'm not saying that "Grown Ups 2" was a masterpiece of physical comedy, but I believe that if done right, slapstick can remain a useful tool in modern movie making. Slapstick is by far the easiest form of humor to digest as it requires little to no thinking or any extensive knowledge of pop culture that many comedies today rely on. The key, I believe, is pacing.

Take, for example. Buster Keaton's 1920 short "One Week." The film is entirely slapstick, but holds your attention because of the incredible rate that the gags are handed to you, and the sense of technical astonishment you get from viewing some of them. Even when you're not marveling at how impressive a gag was to pull off, the comedy is often clever enough to keep you laughing until the next gag is rapidly fired at you seconds later. Below is the short in it's entirety.

It might be harder today to make a film entirely out of slapstick gags, mainly because there are so many other ways to make audiences laugh nowadays it might not hold their attention for long enough. Or, maybe it's because everything looks funnier in black and white with vaudeville music playing in the background. Whatever the case is, I think it's a shame that there's almost no such thing as "intelligent physical comedy" anymore. Keaton's work is nearing one hundred years old and, in my opinion, still holds up to this day.

What do you guys think? Does slapstick comedy belong in 2013? Is there any way that we can use Keaton's films to help influence or own film making?