Buster Keaton, lecture-projection, by Robert Démure, associate professor of History, and Keaton film

UTB-Centre d'Autun and the Arletty cinema propose an evening on Buster Keaton on Thursday 6 April 2023, at the cinema, hosted by Bob Démure. The screening of the film The Mechanic of the "General" (a silent film from 1926) will be preceded by a presentation of Buster Keaton and his film, and followed by a discussion on the film and its author for those who wish.
Buster Keaton, one of the greats of American burlesque, is perhaps less well known than Charlie Chaplin, but deserves to be better known. His comedy, different from Chaplin's, is nevertheless remarkable. "The Man Who Never Smiled (not true, as can be seen in the early shorts where he plays with "Fatty" Arbuckle), the Man with the Marble Face is an actor (and director) of prodigious inventiveness, of incessant renewal of his inspiration. But for various reasons (not really the arrival of talkies as is sometimes said, but rather because MGM imposed conditions on him that forced him to abandon his working methods, perhaps also because he had difficulty regenerating his style and gags, and certainly because of his personal life, notably a dissolute love life and alcohol) he stopped producing, or even playing interesting roles. The General's Mechanic is one of his masterpieces. Keaton turns a fact of war that happened in 1862 into a slapstick action film.