IMDb RATING
7.0/10
5.3K
YOUR RATING
The misadventures of Buster in three separate historical periods.The misadventures of Buster in three separate historical periods.The misadventures of Buster in three separate historical periods.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Kewpie Morgan
- The Emperor
- (as Horace Morgan)
- …
Lionel Belmore
- Undetermined Role
- (unconfirmed)
- (uncredited)
George Davis
- Roman Guard Knocked Down
- (uncredited)
Louise Emmons
- Old Fortune Teller
- (uncredited)
F.F. Guenste
- Butler
- (uncredited)
Blanche Payson
- The Amazon
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe most famous stunt in the movie was actually built around what went wrong with the original stunt. Buster Keaton intended to leap from a board projecting from one building onto the roof of another building, but he fell short, smashing into the brick wall and falling into a net off-screen. He was injured badly enough to be laid up for three days. However, when he saw the film (the camera operators were instructed to always keep filming, no matter what happened), he not only kept the mishap, he built on it, adding the fall through three awnings, the loose downspout that propels him into the firehouse and the slide down the fire pole.
- GoofsIn the medium shot of the Stone Age soothsayer scene, Buster's hands are resting together near the side of the turtle. But in the cut to a close-up, we see only a hand double's right hand, and it's directly in front of the turtle's mouth. (It's clearly a hand double, since Keaton was missing his right index finger tip.)
- Alternate versionsIn 1995, Film Preservation Associates copyrighted a version with an orchestral score; no details were specified on the print.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Golden Age of Buster Keaton (1979)
Featured review
Great Early Keaton Film
Although the movie is clearly dated, audiences can still easily identify with the plight of hapless Buster in this timeless and very funny underdog tale. Buster fights against unkindly odds in three different ages: the Stone Age, The Roman Age, and the Moden Age, playing almost the same character with just a change of scenery to help us identify the different "ages". In this movie we see one of the earliest comedic depictions of the "caveman" stereotype, who wins his love not by romance but by brute force, as well as a funny twist on Roman gladiatorial combat, two comedic sketches that long predate such spoofs as Mel Brooks' "History of the World: Part I". The underlying theme of the movie is simple yet convincing: Although the times may have-a-changed, we still face the same struggles even in modern times that we fought in prehistoric times in order to "win the girl" (keep in mind this is the theme of 1923 America, a time when chauvinism was still en vogue). It is interesting to look at this movie over eighty years later, and consider how dramatically things have changed from this movie's "modern times" to now.
helpful•61
- ionelx
- Oct 14, 2006
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Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $177
- Runtime1 hour 3 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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