Buster Keaton: The Wonderful Gags of the Founding Father of Visual Comedy

Tony Zhou’s video essay series, Every Frame a Paint­ing, returns with “Buster Keaton: The Art of the Gag.” Although his series nev­er dis­ap­points, this par­tic­u­lar install­ment may be one of Tony’s best, tak­ing you inside the comedic gags of Buster Keaton, a found­ing father of visu­al com­e­dy. If you’ve ever found it hard to appre­ci­ate the artistry of film­mak­ers from the silent era, then you will def­i­nite­ly want to give this a watch. And once you’ve tak­en it all in, you’ll like­ly want to spend time with our pre­vi­ous post: The Gen­er­al, “Per­haps the Great­est Film Ever Made,” and 20 Oth­er Buster Keaton Clas­sics Free Online. Also don’t miss this col­lec­tion fea­tur­ing anoth­er found­ing father of visu­al com­e­dy: 65 Free Char­lie Chap­lin Films.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

The Art of Mak­ing Intel­li­gent Com­e­dy Movies: 8 Take-Aways from the Films of Edgar Wright

The Geo­met­ric Beau­ty of Aki­ra Kuro­sawa and Wes Anderson’s Films

The Film­mak­ing Craft of David Finch­er Demys­ti­fied in Two Video Essays

The Pow­er of Silent Movies, with The Artist­Di­rec­tor Michel Haz­anavi­cius