The Railrodder and Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965)

The Railrodder (top) and Buster Keaton Rides Again (bottom)

After leaving Columbia Pictures in the early 1940s, Buster Keaton shifted his focus away from the field of short subjects and instead focused on other ventures, including gag writing at MGM and television appearances. However, he did do a few more short subjects during this later period in his life. Paradise for Buster (1952), which was an industrial short, did manage to maintain Keaton's style of humor, but was a bit long and wore out its welcome towards the end. The Scribe (1966) was a mediocre educational film for worker safety that basically involved Keaton running away from construction workers while also showing them a list of safety rules. Film (1965) was written by Samuel Beckett...and like Beckett's other works, I just flat out don't understand it.

...I don't get it.

Then there's The Railrodder, also released in 1965. This short film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada and basically served as a travelogue of Canada. It was directed by Gerald Potterton, a young animator who would later go on to direct Heavy Metal...

...OK, yeah, that doesn't sound too promising. But Potterton clearly did have lots of respect for Keaton and it shows in the final product.

The film begins in England, showing Keaton reading a newspaper that advertises seeing Canada. It's pretty obvious from the background that Keaton did not actually film this in England, and also leads me to believe that he's not doing the stunt afterwards when his character jumps off the bridge. I have no doubt that Keaton would have been up for doing this stunt, but budget and/or insurance concerns probably prohibited Keaton from coming out to England and performing this stunt.

Afterwards, Keaton's character swims all the way to Canada and comes across a speeder that he accidentally activates. The rest of the film basically consists of Keaton's journey on this speeder and all of the gags that he could do on it.

First of all, the film is visually stunning. It was shot in color and, assuming the point of it was to get people interested in seeing more of Canada, well...they've sold me on it. The scenery is beautiful to look at, to the point that I don't mind those little moments where they focus on that instead of Keaton. The soundtrack also has this rustic feeling to it that contributes enormously to the atmosphere that they're clearly trying to convey.

At first, Keaton sitting on a speeder doesn't sound like a good idea, considering that he's basically confined to one space for the majority of it. But Keaton was the kind of person who could make the best out of any situation when given as much freedom as he was allowed. Occasionally, Keaton did reuse some gags from his older films, but put new twists on them that managed to make them feel fresh and worth reusing. For example, at one point he decides to have a map blown into his face, similar to a gag he did in his first solo film, The High Sign. However, some suspense was added to this version. Whereas in The High Sign, he's sitting (later standing) on a bench trying to read, here, he's going over a bridge and chasing three other speeders without even knowing it!

Potterton and Keaton take advantage of their environment in other ways, too. There's a really funny moment where Keaton is trying to read, then suddenly gets scared and falls out of his seat after hearing the sound of a passing train. Later, when it shows signs of raining, Keaton takes his cup of tea and puts a little plate over it to act as a little umbrella of sorts. Even later, when Keaton sees a flock of birds, he decides to go hunting, and ultimately hides his little speeder in a bunch of branches, along the way managing to scare a group of construction workers.

The Railrodder is a fun short that demonstrates that even this late in his life (Keaton died a little less than a year after its release), Keaton still had what it took to be the Buster Keaton that we all loved. Even with such a confined space (ironically in the middle of a ton of space), Keaton still could sell great material with subtle body movements and even more subtle expressions (he may have been "The Great Stone Face," but he really could be expressive even without having to smile). Potterton and Keaton both did an excellent job with what they had to work with.

As great as The Railrodder is, though, the real gem that came from this production was actually the accompanying documentary, Buster Keaton Rides Again.

Buster Keaton Rides Again isn't so much a biographical documentary as much as a rare glimpse into Keaton's work process. It honestly amazes me that someone actually thought to film this at all. While today it's common practice for behind-the-scenes footage of film to be shot for promotional purposes, back then it was not really done that often; most of the behind-the-scenes footage that does survive is from silent home movie footage. This film does have sound and is edited in a way to show both what Keaton was like in real life and how he collaborated with others. Considering how much creative freedom Keaton was given, it could even be argued that this shows a glimpse of what his work process was like during the silent era.

One scene in particular that really fascinates me is when he talks to Potterton and other crew members about Laurel and Hardy. The film that he describes is Leave 'Em Laughing, one of the duo's early silent films (coincidentally directed by Keaton's frequent collaborator, Clyde Bruckman). What really amazes me is not only how well he remembers it, but also the fact that he just has nothing but good things to say about the duo. Leave 'Em Laughing was released when Keaton was still a known feature film attraction, so I think it says a lot about his character that he willing praised another act's films that were made during his golden period of filmmaking. There are also other good looks into Keaton's personality: getting to see him enjoy baseball, showing good patience when signing autographs, and even the ending when he performs a little song.

Keaton acting out Laurel and Hardy's Leave 'Em Laughing

The film also gives a good idea of just how much Keaton cared about his own films. He helped sort out issues with extras who didn't speak English, planned out gags with Potterton, and even got into an argument with Potterton about one gag in particular. The gag in question was the aforementioned "map" gag. Potterton devised the idea of using the other speedcars, but initially rejected Keaton's idea of being wrapped in a map while doing it. Potterton's reason for doing so was completely understandable; there was a risk of Keaton possibly falling off the bridge. Keaton was insistent, though, and seemed to show no fear (as Keaton said regarding the gag: "That is not dangerous; that's child's play"). They ended up shooting the scene Keaton's way, showing just how dedicated the filmmakers were to making a good Buster Keaton film, not just a film with Buster Keaton in it.

For all that's interesting about Buster Keaton Rides Again, there's also just a hint of sadness in it. There are occasional moments where we see Keaton getting having serious coughing issues and his wife Eleanor talking about his health issues. It serves as an unfortunate reminder that Keaton wasn't going to be with us much longer, but thankfully most of the film hides that by demonstrating Keaton's vitality and dedication to his work.

Buster Keaton was a dedicated entertainer and filmmaker right up until the very end, and both The Railrodder and Buster Keaton Rides Again serve as proof of it. That dedication is a huge reason why many of his works still hold up so well today and hopefully they will continue to entertain others in the future.

The Railrodder and Buster Keaton Rides Again can both be seen through the NFB's official YouTube channel, (The Railrodder is embedded below).

This post is part of the Sixth Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon hosted by Silent-ology. To read more of the entries in this blogathon, click on the banner below: