Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Ultimate Edition)

The last of the independent features made in the prime of Buster Keaton's career, Steamboat Bill, Jr.. is a large-scale follow-up to the General substituting a Mississippi paddle-wheel for the locomotive, and replacing the spectacle of the Civil War with a catastrophic hurricane. Keaton stars as William Canfield, Jr.., a Boston collegian who returns to his deep-southern roots to reunite with his father, a crusty riverboat captain (Ernest Torrance) who is engaging in a bitter rivalry with a riverboat king - coincidentally, the father of Willie's sweetheart (Marion Byron). Keaton's athleticism and gift for inventive visual humor are in top form, and the cyclone that devastates a town (and sends houses literally crashing down around him) is perhaps the most ambitious, awe-inspiring and hilarious slapstick sequence ever created. In the silent era, it was common practice for filmmakers to create two separate negatives of their films - each comprises of differing takes and camera angles. This DVD edition contains both versions of Steamboat Bill Jr..: The Buster Keaton Estate version, each mastered from archival materials.

Director: Charles "Chuck" Riesner
Director: Charles F. Reisner
Director: Charles Reisner
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Actor: Buster Keaton
Actor: Carl Harbaugh
Actor: Ernest Torrence
Actor: Tom Lewis
Actor: Tom McGuire
Actor: Marion Byron
Actor: Joe Keaton