In his later years, Charlie Chaplin directed a film called "The Stage". In this film, Charlie Chaplin, who was also the greatest comedian and director of the silent film era, He and Buster Keaton shared the same stage for the first time, but this was supposed to be a film in which the two comedy kings competed together, but Keaton's role was pitiful. It is said that because his performance in it was so exciting, Chaplin, as a director and protagonist, was afraid of being robbed of the limelight, so he deliberately deleted some of Keaton's most exciting scenes in the later stages to ensure that he would be the first protagonist. attraction.

Although the authenticity of these historical gossips and rumors needs to be verified, it can be seen from them that Buster Keaton is definitely a talented filmmaker. His talent even made Chaplin All jealous. But for most audiences, compared to Chaplin's household name, the name Buster Keaton can be said to be very unfamiliar, so that when he and Chaplin shared the stage, everyone only regarded him as As Chaplin's Green Leaves, I never imagined that this was actually a contest between Thor's Quake and Captain America's Shield.

Generally speaking, the four comedy masters of the American silent film period are Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Mike Senat, and Harold Lloyd. However, due to Chaplin, Belin continued to create after the advent of the sound film era, so some people do not classify him as one of the four comedy masters of the silent film era, replacing him with Ha Lai Langdong. Among them, the one with the most outstanding achievements, the most amazing talents, the most profound works, and the most active creations is undoubtedly Chaplin. He not only created a comedy paradigm, but also collaborated with Griffith, Mary Pickford, and Douglas. Fairbanks founded United Artists, which was different from the stereotypes of the five major studios and delivered a large number of excellent art films to the subsequent film industry.

However, even Chaplin had to admire another comedy master, Buster Keaton. As a "sneer-faced comedian", he is famous for his peaceful temperament and lack of facial expressions in his performances. His comedy image is different from Chaplin's expressive and funny tramp Charles, who looks stiff, dull and dead-headed, even if he is In the scenes of intimacy with the heroine, his expression was solemn and solemn, with almost no passion. But it is such an image that is often in a funny situation without knowing it, thus creating a "contrast" comedy effect.

It has to be said that in the early silent film trend of slapstick comedy, which was dominated by antics such as spanking, throwing cakes, and somersaults, Buster Keaton was one of the very few except Chaplin who could A comedian who has created a personal image brand is the only director who not only has superb interpretation skills, but also can direct and arrange highly watchable comedy films. In addition to creating a comedic image with contrasting effects, Buster Keaton is best at precise and extremely difficult thrilling action scenes. He is nicknamed "the track and field athlete delayed by the performance."

As Chaplin’s filmmaking frequency decreased in the 1920s, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were the most popular comedians during this period, and Keaton’s films The greatest film of his career, "The General" (1926), was also produced during this period. Among the "100 Most Beautiful Movies in the World" selected by the French "Cahiers du Cinema", "The General" ranked eighteenth, which shows its high quality. Even if you watch this film now, its exquisite action design, magnificent scene scheduling, and relaxed plot control are still amazing. Keaton plays the driver of the General train. Although he is weak in stature, he is dexterous and resourceful. He can easily gain the upper hand in the pursuit of enemies. The action scenes of the train chase are breathtaking.

"Sherlock Holmes II" (1923) also maintains the same high level. Sherlock Holmes II, played by Keaton, battles wits and courage with the prisoners during the investigation of the case, and finally has the ability to embrace the beauty. The happy ending. In this film, the relationship between reality and dreams, reality and movies, and movies and dreams is precisely controlled. There are three intertextual texts of reality, movies, and dreams, which simultaneously tell the story of Keaton's final innocence after being wrongly accused of theft. The story is full of spectacles, such as a set of clips in which Keaton hallucinated while watching a movie and substituted himself into the film, and the thrilling adventures of dreaming that he became Sherlock Holmes II, which are all breathtaking.

In addition, Keaton's feature films include "Our Hospitality" (1923), "The Voyager" (1924), "Seven Chances" (1924), " "Steamboat Little Bill" (1928) and so on. His expressionless face was brilliant throughout the 1920s. Unlike Chaplin, who was limited to the performance of small characters, Keaton could not only interpret the hardships and bitterness of small people's survival, but also He has a unique aristocratic temperament, and he doesn't feel out of place when he plays a noble, country squire or intellectual.

He has a calm face, but is full of explosive power; he is short in stature, but agile and agile. His comedy movies are more in line with screen aesthetics, with thrilling actions replacing sad emotions, and calm attitudes replacing guided panic. Both Keaton's own performance and the film directed by him reveal a scalpel-like calmness, precision and restraint. There is neither crying nor sharp criticism. It may be criticized as superficial in depth. Not enough, but from a cinematic perspective it's definitely top quality.

However, what is lamentable is that due to the box office failure of "The General", Keaton accepted the producer's suggestion and joined MGM, but lost his autonomy and his own technical team. . Without improvisation, unable to design jokes himself, strict shooting schedule and budget control, coupled with severe alcoholism, this creative talent gradually lost all its glory, and his works also changed from high quality, high freedom and profound content. Great films with personal imprints gradually degenerate into generic comedies. After that, Keaton could never return to the glory of the 1920s, and he himself, like Murnau, Fritz Lang and other directors, became a victim of the Hollywood studios' elimination of personal style directors.