Quicksand Fans

Every so often, browsing for QS images, in this case pete boggs quicksand, brings up something interesting and worth posting here, a genuinely great comedian who is long missed. Yes, this was a result on Google images.

Back when I was a teenager, we were shown a film at school. We were told in advance that it was silent, and in black and white. We all scoffed, and looked forward to ninety minutes or so of idle nonsense.

Then we saw The General. To this day it's in my all-time top ten.

A few years later, I nearly fell off my chair when I learned that the first half of the film is based on a true story.

Ah, Buster Keaton! A true original, and a genuine artisl.

Possibly one of the last films he did is called The Railrodder by the National Film Board of Canada, done back in the 1970s. In this short film, he plays this chap from England who reads a newspaper ad stating "See Canada," so he promptly jumps off a bridge into the ocean, and wades out of the surf in the Maritimes, gets on board one of those motorized carts railway workers use, and heads across Canada to the west coast, never leaving the railroad cart. This comical treasure and travelogue is done without a word of dialogue, and is genuinely funny, as Mr. Keaton weaves his silent film magic.

Saw it numerous times in school in geography class... and the film never failed to generate laughs.

I think the Railroader was a bit earlier, more like 1965. Keaton died in 66.

PM2K wrote:Ah, Buster Keaton! A true original, and a genuine artisl.

Possibly one of the last films he did is called The Railrodder by the National Film Board of Canada, done back in the 1970s. In this short film, he plays this chap from England who reads a newspaper ad stating "See Canada," so he promptly jumps off a bridge into the ocean, and wades out of the surf in the Maritimes, gets on board one of those motorized carts railway workers use, and heads across Canada to the west coast, never leaving the railroad cart. This comical treasure and travelogue is done without a word of dialogue, and is genuinely funny, as Mr. Keaton weaves his silent film magic.

Saw it numerous times in school in geography class... and the film never failed to generate laughs.

I think the last film Keaton did was "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," which was released in 1967. He played the character of Erronius, who was described in the opening scene as, "a befuddled old man, abroad now in search of his children, stolen in infancy by pirates."

Keaton had a remarkable comeback in the 1950s that started when his old movies were shown on television. Television helped revive the careers of other great comedians, like the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.

I recall Keaton did an episode of "The Twilight Zone" where he actually spoke. He had a hilarious but brief role in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World."

I don't think we have any comedians today who can compare with Keaton. We are the poorer for it.

Big Bad John

Fred588 wrote:I think the Railroader was a bit earlier, more like 1965. Keaton died in 66.

PM2K wrote:Ah, Buster Keaton! A true original, and a genuine artisl.

Possibly one of the last films he did is called The Railrodder by the National Film Board of Canada, done back in the 1970s. In this short film, he plays this chap from England who reads a newspaper ad stating "See Canada," so he promptly jumps off a bridge into the ocean, and wades out of the surf in the Maritimes, gets on board one of those motorized carts railway workers use, and heads across Canada to the west coast, never leaving the railroad cart. This comical treasure and travelogue is done without a word of dialogue, and is genuinely funny, as Mr. Keaton weaves his silent film magic.

Saw it numerous times in school in geography class... and the film never failed to generate laughs.

Ah! I do believe you are right! Maybe that was the first time I seen it was in the 70s...

PM2K wrote:Ah, Buster Keaton! A true original, and a genuine artisl.

Possibly one of the last films he did is called The Railrodder by the National Film Board of Canada, done back in the 1970s. In this short film, he plays this chap from England who reads a newspaper ad stating "See Canada," so he promptly jumps off a bridge into the ocean, and wades out of the surf in the Maritimes, gets on board one of those motorized carts railway workers use, and heads across Canada to the west coast, never leaving the railroad cart. This comical treasure and travelogue is done without a word of dialogue, and is genuinely funny, as Mr. Keaton weaves his silent film magic.

Saw it numerous times in school in geography class... and the film never failed to generate laughs.

It was done in 1965. Here it is! Enjoy!

http://www.nfb.ca/film/railrodder

Boggy Man wrote:
It was done in 1965. Here it is! Enjoy!

Thank you, Boggy Man! I totally loved it.

It looks like that's what the photo is from. He is wearing that little hat and having tea while railrodding. Some of the scenery in this is fantastic. And he is mighty funny.

Nessie

I am a major fan of silent comedy, belonged once to the SONS OF THE DESERT, the official Laurel and Hardy organization. Buster filmed RAILRODDER in 1965 and more interesting is the documentary filmed about the making of the film, BUSTER KEATON RIDES AGAIN. A wonderful look into this gifted man. I have a number of his short and some sound films as well on my computer. Particularly memorable always is the brief scene he shot with Chaplin in LIMELIGHT.

Yes, you can tell I like Laurel and Hardy from my profile picture, that wonderful film dedicated to the team.