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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The Palm Beach Story
Directed by Preston Sturges • 1942 • United States
Starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary AstorThis wild tale of wacky wedlock from Preston Sturges takes off like a rocket and never lets up. Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert play Tom and Gerry, a married New York couple on the skids, fin...
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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...
