1920-1929

Eisenstein's fictionalised account of the critical month of the Russian Revolution.

Alonzo, the armless knife-throwing, gun-toting, stroking his chin with toes circus act desperate to woo Nanon, the circus owner's daughter (an 18 year old Joan Crawford) and to thwart his Strongman rival, Malabar the Mighty! Unmissable?

I watched this last year. I remember I enjoyed it, but I need to watch it again before I review it here.

OK. So. I had to give up trying to write my blog posts in the order of viewing the movies. In fact, I strongly suspect that I may not actually get to see all 1001 movies, much less write about them.

Hey...what happened in 1926? No top quality movies? There must have been something to slow our progress towards Metropolis - a mess of a movie.

Finally got hold of a copy. Was it worth it...?

Well, he may be the Great Charlie Chaplin...but he ain't no Keaton (nor Eisenstein either).

Not for the squeamish. A lot of marching boots, running crowds, screaming mothers...and maggots. The infamous baby carriage seems somehow majestically immobile in comparison.

A lot of fuss about very little. Shoots, reshoots, cuts, rereleases, revisions, tinting, colouring and colourising. There's a saying that you can't polish a ...well...you know.

Keaton with some great physical acting, a very silly premise and humour right up to the last shot.

"A nameless hotel doorman loses his job." There's a bit more to it than that, but Murnau apparently didn't want the happy ending the studio insisted upon, so this quote from Wikipedia will suffice.

Worth it for the final scene where Buster is sat next to his girl while acting out the tips he is getting on how to chat her up and kiss her from the movie he is watching.