Directed by Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline • 1923 • United States
Starring Buster Keaton, Margaret Leahy, Wallace Beery
A brilliant historical satire teeming with inventive flourishes, Buster Keaton’s THREE AGES is a silent comedy of truly epic proportions. Keaton’s first feature is a clever parody of D. W. Griffith’s INTOLERANCE that follows Buster’s hard-luck romantic adventures throughout world history: from the dawn of man in the Stone Age, through the gladiatorial arenas of ancient Rome, to the city streets of Jazz Age America. By flavoring the ancient stories with bits of modern comedy (e.g. the “spare tire” with which Buster repairs his chariot and the “home run” that he scores against an angry caveman), Keaton not only won raucous laughter from the audience but forged an original approach to history, humor, and cinema that clearly foreshadowed the Mel Brooks and Monty Python films that followed half a century later.
Up Next in Comedies
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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Directed by Frank Tashlin • 1957 • United States
Starring Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy DrakeIn adapting George Axelrod’s hit Broadway play for the screen, former Looney Tunes cartoonist Frank Tashlin discarded everything but the title and breakout star Jayne Mansfield—and brought his ow...
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The Smiling Lieutenant
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch • 1931 • United States
Starring Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam HopkinsMaurice Chevalier’s randy Viennese lieutenant is enamored of Claudette Colbert’s freethinking, all-girl-orchestra-leading cutie. Yet complications ensue when the sexually repressed pri...
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The Butcher Boy
Directed by Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle • 1917 • United States
Starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Al St. JohnBuster Keaton makes his film debut as one of a number of troublesome customers at a general store.
