Directed by Buster Keaton and Charles Reisner • 1928 • United States
Starring Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Tom McGuire
STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. was Buster Keaton’s last independent silent comedy and also one of his finest. He stars as the sensitive son of a gruff riverboat captain (Ernest Torrence) who struggles to earn both his father’s respect and the love of beautiful Marion Byron. But the film is best remembered for the climactic cyclone sequence—a slapstick tour de force in which Keaton’s comedic stunts are performed amid the full-scale destruction of an entire town.
Up Next in Classic Hollywood
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It Happened One Night
Directed by Frank Capra • 1934 • United States
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Twentieth Century
Directed by Howard Hawks • 1934 • United States
Starring John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter ConnollyCarole Lombard established her genius for screwball comedy with this madcap classic, which practically set the template for the genre. Scripted by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (adapting th...
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Ball of Fire
Directed by Howard Hawks • 1941 • United States
Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper make sparks in this snappy screwball take on the Snow White tale. She’s a burlesque queen with a colorful vocabulary who needs to lay low for a while as the police close in on ...
