For some reason this film is less well-known than a lot of Buster Keaton's others...yet I find it a lot more satisfying than something like Steamboat Bill, Jr. or even Sherlock Jr.! It's got his fixation with trains in the first act, a very fun depiction of old narrow-gauge trains that, like most historical depictions in Keaton films, is based on actual accurate history (exaggerated for comic effect). It's got great comedy and suspense in the main plot, which involves Buster inadvertently stumbling into the home of a family, after falling for the girl who lives there, who are the Hatfields to his family's McCoys (or is that the other way around?), and relying on the family's strict Southern Hospitality rules to keep himself from being shot. Of course, if you know much about Keaton you probably already know this film, but if you've just seen a little, this is one of his best.
As for the Blu-Ray: the main musical option is the Thames Silents score by Carl Davis. This alone is reason to get this edition...his scores for this, Keaton's The General, and other silent era films are among the best...fun, tuneful, entirely appropriate yet exciting and never falling into hackneyed contrivances. The transfer is decent...a little more money might have allowed cleaning up the title cards, where the tiny and dense scratches of this print (not as pristine as the one used for Kino's The General Blu-Ray) are very obvious and kind of distracting over the black title card backgrounds. But luckily they don't really show up much in the actual scenes. The transfer is at 1080i from reading around online that seems to be because this HD transfer was done a few years back before they'd decided 1080p was the way to go for releases, not for any reasons relating to frame rate or anything like that. But again, I'm sure money wouldn't allow a new HD transfer, and I doubt anyone could tell by watching it that it wasn't 1080p...it looks fine to me.
The extras are interesting and worth watching. One extra that needs a slight disclaimer is the unreleased earlier test version, "Hospitality," which seems to be a test cut with mostly just the dramatic scenes, speculation being that Keaton wanted to see if they played before adding in the funny business. It's a nice historical artifact to have, but the print is a very poor reduction print of an original which had suffered major nitrate damage. So, it's historically of interest and I'm glad it's on here, but it would take a fairly obsessed Keaton fan to actually watch more than a few minutes of it.
So: if you are at all a fan of Keaton, or of silent comedy in general, or you think you might be, make sure to snap this up and help assure that the rest of Keaton's library is financially worth putting out in HD! I keep mentioning finances, but silents aren't exactly big sellers, so you take what you can get, and overall this is a great release! If only some Spielberg-type would spend a couple bucks and pay for a fancy restoration/clean-up of one of these historic and still-entertaining films. Oh well.
PS: Yes, silent films can look great in HD! Film's resolution, even back then, was/is much higher than 1080p. This print isn't as wonderful as the one used for The General, but it's still quite an improvement over previous versions and is worth seeing in HD. Plus, Keaton (and other silent era filmmakers) worked in a purely visual medium seeing a detailed, quality image is definitely worth it!
The picture quality of this film is superb, even better for that it is in HD. The Carl Davis score creates such a beautiful and climatic mood which this film requires. The extras are fantastic and the the film itself I have always enjoyed, but now with the Carl Davis score and the beautiful way it has been presented now shoots up amongst my favourite Keaton movies.
Buy Our Hospitality: ULTIMATE EDITION (1923) Now
OUR HOSPITALITY (writ./dir. Buster Keaton, 1923, 73 minutes) is another favorite of mine given to us by the immortal Buster Keaton. I rank this with his The General (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition) and Our Hospitality/Sherlock, Jr. (I recommend this awesome two-fer DVD set). HOSPITALITY is BK's first great feature-length film, though he had already done a couple of them.
Set in the Antebellum South (1830, Keaton was impossibly ahead of his time making this period authentic-looking) Buster plays Willie McKay, a New York-bred unwilling member of the old Canfield-McKay feud. (Yes, loosely based on the Hatfield-McCoy feud that really lasted only a few years.)
Returning to Kentucky to claim his inheritance (an "estate" that will make you howl with laughter when you see it), Willie soon falls right into the arms of the waiting Canfields. They are, of course, waiting to kill him. Luckily for him he is already sweet on the young Canfield girl (played by his 1st wife Natalie Talmage Keaton) and this will save him later. Uniquely, Buster's son Buster, Jr., plays him at age 1.
There is a waterfall scene in this, and all I'll tell you is Keaton designed and had built the entire thing on one of his lots. Goes to show you, alongside works like THE GENERAL, what Keaton was capable of achieving. You will marvel at Keaton's partly rebuilt, partly restored Stephenson's Rocket locomotive ... and yes, they really did ride those once upon a time.
Another bittersweet detail: Joe Roberts (Old Man Canfield), a dear friend and traditional heavy in Keaton's films, suffered a heart attack while filming. He insisted on returning to finish the film and died very shortly after they wrapped. Keaton's films are filled with disasters, hair-raising, realistic and funny as hell. Just as often they are filled with tragedies: in this film, along with Roberts' heart attack, Keaton was brutally carried off by water and almost drowned. The scene remains in the film.
While this does not have the accolades of THE GENERAL (then again, how could it), no one can miss watching it. Here for the first time, Keaton experiments fully with his signature lighting, model sets and daring camera shots. The acting is refreshing and surprising: everyone seems extremely realistic except for good old Roberts, bless him. Once in a while Keaton had to have the Old Schoolers in there too. Although it certainly does not quite reach the heights of THE GENERAL, this is Buster Keaton at his prime!
How can anyone remotely interested in film miss this?!
Read Best Reviews of Our Hospitality: ULTIMATE EDITION (1923) Here
Our Hospitality (1923) was Buster Keaton`s first true feature film. Keaton's previous "feature," Three Ages (1923) was actually three short films assembled together. There was both an artistic and a commercial reason for this: Three Ages was a parody of the similarly structured D.W. Griffith feature Intolerance (1916). Additionally, Keaton had proved his audience appeal in shorts. Metro Pictures realized the inherent risk of a Keaton feature, and the structure of Three Ages created the option of breaking it down into three shorts. Fortunately for all concerned, Three Ages was a commercial and critical success.
Our Hospitality may be seen, in retrospect, as a model for Keaton's features and a precursor to The General (1926). What separates Keaton from his peers (Chaplin, Lloyd, Langdon) is the way his character integrates into a larger narrative. That is not to say that Keaton's films are not character driven, but the character serves the narrative, not vice versa.
Our Hospitality opens with a prologue of the ongoing feud between the Canfields and the McKays. A young Canfield and the McKay patriarch are killed in a rainy shoot out at night. To avoid the curse of the feud and further bloodshed, the McKay widow takes her infant son, Willie, and sends him north to New York. Meanwhile, the Canfields swear revenge.
Twenty years later, Willie (Keaton) is the personification of a 19th century New York Yankee, adorned in a dandified suit. His mother has since passed away when Willie learns he has inherited his father's estate. Imagining a southern mansion waiting in the wings, Willie hops onto the next train like a salmon returning to its birthplace. Before departing, he is warned by his guardian to stay clear of the Canfields.
The trip south foreshadows the archaic world Willie is about to enter. The train itself is primitive and, naturally, encounters numerous mishaps along the way. Luckily for Willie, the ordeal is made bearable because his fellow passenger is a pretty girl (Natalie Talmadge, the first Mrs. Keaton). Unfortunately, Willie's spawning choice here, unknown to him, is a Canfield daughter.
There are numerous aquatic metaphors. Willie stands apart from his fellows, like a fish out of water, with city clicker suit and queer umbrella. While fishing, he catches a minnow, throws it back, and then gets pulled into the water by a bigger fish. Willie's mansion turns out to be a dilapidated shack and he unwittingly finds himself in the home of his sworn enemies. True to Southern hospitality, the Canfields vow not kill Willie while he is a guest in their home. When Willie learns of this, he naturally tries to remain a permanent houseguest. Almost forced out, Willie is saved from leaving by the sudden appearance of a heavy downpour. A dam blows up, nearly drowning Willie, but it also safely conceals Willie from his predators, the Canfield boys. In a reversal of the fishing line, Willie is tied, by rope, to a Canfield son. Both get hauled into the water. A descent into the rapids brings further peril, as does a waterfall. Willie dangles over the waterfall like that salmon on a line. Yet, it is the waterfall which unites Willie with his girl, allowing him to spawn.
Our Hospitality is replete with inventive sight gags (a tunnel is cut to fit the train, a horse's rear-end is disguised as Willie in drag), but it's really a sophisticated, yet simple retelling of the Romeo and Juliet narrative.
* My review was originally published at 366 weird movies.
Want Our Hospitality: ULTIMATE EDITION (1923) Discount?
This new Blu-ray release boasts COLOR TINTS which enhance the experience of watching the movie. Especially in the cabin scene which is tinted Amber until the lights get turned out, the the tint switches to Blue.
The picture is very slightly trimmed at the bottom, the old DVD had a little more picture, so this indicates that it is a new film transfer. But outside of the slight trimming and color tints, this looks like the same transfer as the old DVD.
I really was hoping to see more details in the outdoor scenes. It is not a bad transfer, just not as sharp as I had hoped. The Blu-ray case clearly states that this is 1080i, not 1080p as is the standard format today.
The English Titles & dialogue cards show much more negative damage (scratches & flairs) than the actual movie that this leads me to believe that the bulk of the film came from a cleaner foreign Nitrate negative and the English titles came from a worn U.S. negative. Just speculation here.
The real selling point here is the new bonus material that was not on the old DVD!
There is a shorter alternate version of the movie, running just 49 minutes. It is in rather poor shape, but well worth the inclusion for comparison into the production process of the film.
Another new welcome addition is a 1925 19 minute short subject called "The Iron Mule".
Then we have the much wanted documentary on the making of the film.
Final thoughts: I am not sorry for upgrading to the new Blu-ray transfer, but I had higher hopes based on the sharp transfer of "The General". Still, it looks good and the tints add to the ambiance.
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Last week I gave away an Electrolux vacuum cleaner. It was purchased by my mother in New Jersey in 1968. It cleaned our homes in New Jersey and Florida for 15 years, and it is still functioning perfectly. I only gave it away because today's lightweight vacs are much easier to tote. I tell this story because there was a time in this country when companies took pride in their products and ripping consumers off was unheard of, or at the very least, it seldom occurred. But the years have passed and companies don't care about quality anymore. Now it's all about getting top dollar for inferior products that promise you everything and deliver nothing. Such is the case with Kino's The Selznick Collection. All five films in this boxed set claim the following: MASTERED IN HD FROM AN ORIGINAL NITRATE 35MM PRINT PRESERVED BY THE GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE MOTION PICTURE DEPARTMENT. If this is actually true I am willing to eat all five DVDs and then the cardboard box itself. All five films are of substandard quality, some of them so awful that they are barely viewable. The most disastrous of them all is BIRD OF PARADISE, with the lovely Dolores del Rio, which is not only marred by visuals worthy of bad public domain piracy but is also afflicted with a distortion of its soundtrack from the very beginning of the film, making the dialog unintelligible, to say nothing about Max Steiner's fabulous score, which is distorted beyond recognition. I have seen public domain copies of this film which are superior to this absolute merde Kino claims came from an original nitrate negative. Sound and image problems plague all five releases. The two Technicolor classics, A STAR IS BORN and NOTHING SACRED suffer from color variations which go from a pinkish hue to something that looks like three-strip Technicolor. At no time during these two films does one get any semblance to real Technicolor or anything close to it. The best of the worst are LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY and A FAREWELL TO ARMS, which is not saying much because the visuals are still substandard and so is the sound. It's just that compared to the other three aberrations, these two fare a little better. But I would like to stress that the entire set is no better than a bad public domain copy of any of these films. Kino has added no extras whatsoever, not even English subtitles. It's a no frills package of unacceptable prints at premium prices. This is an insult and a slap in the face to consumers and collectors. There should be an agency that handles situations such as this, and Kino should be made liable, and be forced to reimburse EVERYONE who has fallen prey to their false claims and advertising and has purchased these five films, whether singly, or all together in a boxed set. So be warned, if you spend any money on any of these 5 releases, you are just throwing your money away. If you absolutely must have one or more of these films, I suggest borrowing them from your public library or renting them and making dubs. It's exactly what Kino deserves for putting out crap like this.
