Practice Writings: The Railrodder

On the same day that I signed out a beautiful photobiography of Buster Keaton from the Burlington Library, I found this clip (or, rather, these three clips) on YOUTUBE.

According to that book (Buster Keaton Remembered by Eleanor Keaton, who was Keaton's third wife, and Jeffrey Vance), The Railrodder was made in 1965. Eleanor Keaton writes that her husband "had a ball making The Railrodder. It was directed by Gerald Potterton, who had asked Buster to go to Canada to make the short film for the National Film Board of Canada. Buster agreed, and for six weeks in the autumn of 1964 we traveled more than four thousand miles across Canada from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Vancouver, British Columbia. The plot of the film is simple: Buster stumbles upon a 'speeder' (a small, motorized rail car) and drives it across the country.

"At one point in the film, there is a scene where Buster's little speeder travels across a very high trestle bridge. At that moment, the large map Buster has been reading blows up into his face, completely enveloping him. It is a great gag-- but very dangerous. Gerry Potterton and buster argued about it for over an hour. Gerry did not want Buster to put himself in danger, but Buster was stubborn and would not give in. Finally, they did the gag the way Buster wanted it, and it is one of the best scenes in the film. Buster never had an ego, but in moments like this, he just knew what he was doing -- it was as simple as that.

"Although The Railrodder would not be Buster's last film, it proved to be his last film in the classic silent style of filmmaking. Indeed, The Railrodder, completed at the twilight of Buster's career, plays much like one of his early two-reelers (silent comedy shorts from the 20s--mhs)... Only three months after The Railrodder was released, Buster Keaton, who began his career as a knockabout child prop and completed it on the harrowing high rail, was finally at peace. Yet, as long as the films of Buster Keaton endure and new generations continue to embrace his genius, the great Keaton, once and forever silent, shall never be stilled."

Here is The Railrodder in three parts: part one...