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The Navigator – 1924 Crisp and Keaton
- a brilliant
realization of Buster Keaton’s set-piece (the boat), long shot auteur-driven
genius
- takes aim
at the rich—starts with the “every family tree must have its sap” with a
deadpan and affluent heir (Keaton) walking into the bath with his clothes
on and taking the car across the street
- the way the
frame is set on the ship, Keaton is one level above the Kathryn McGuire
character—they’re running as fast as they can in circles and can’t find
each other
- amazing
wide shots—long shot distance
- the
ineptitude of the rich—a hilarious scene of them making coffee together
- another
long shot of Keaton pulling the massive ship with a row boat at 24 minutes
- another set
piece long shot gag with the doors opening and closing at the same time as
the ship moves
- the
underwater sequences with squid and swordfish – great shot of Keaton
emerging from the water in the scuba suit at 48 minutes and even there
there’s the long shot gag as he scares the crowd
- certainly a
precursor to his masterpiece, The
General, machine set-piece (ship instead of train here) and long shots
- takes the
camera upside down in the submarine—again using the camera for the gag (Keaton)
instead of placing the camera and doing the gag in front of it (Chaplin)
- certainly an influence
on every big set piece director in cinema—especially comedy—from Jerry Lewis’ The Ladies Man with the living dollhouse
to Tati’s long shot visual superiority
- the set piece is from
Murnau’s Nosferatu– wonderful idea
- I’m calling it a
Must-See—top 5 of the year quality
Drake2020-03-02T16:16:06+00:00
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