The Cameraman (1928)
Directed by: Edward Segdwick
Starring: Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin
Length: 67 min
Genre: Comedy
Based On: Screenplay by Clyde Bruckman, Lew Lipton
Another bonus movie as this was on the same DVD as Spite Marriage.
The story begins with Buster (Buster Keaton), a tintype portrait photographer, on the streets of New York City. He ends up having someone agree to have their portrait done, and is struck by her beauty. Sally (Marceline Day) is followed by Buster to her place of work, MGM News. Buster trades in his tintype camera for a movie camera, an out of date but cheap movie camera, and tries to impress her by recording what he sees to sell to MGM News.
His first attempt is a disaster. He doesn't know how to use the camera and all of his footage is overexposed, backwards, double exposed...every mistake he could make, he made.
The next day, Sally feels sorry for him and passes a tip to him that something gib is going to happen in Chinatown. He goes and films a gang war, narrowly escaping death multiple times.
This was the first film that Buster Keaton did for MGM, and for the most part, it was a Buster Keaton film. However, MGM didn't like the final result even though it was well recieved by critics. Keaton thought the success of The Cameraman was proof that the studio should let him have more control of his films. MGM thought the opposite and would take complete control of everything. The result was that after several years, Keaton's reputation was destroyed.
He had joined MGM mainly because of his lifestyle....his wife's lifestyle. By now, Keaton's marriage was all but over, but the lifestyle of him and his wife was very expensive. MGM came promising money and he took it even though both Lloyd and Chaplin told him not too. All of the movies before this one were made independantly.
My Rating: 7/10
IMDB User Rating: 8.3/10 (3005 votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (8.8/10 - 12 reviews)