"The Boat" written and directed by Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline is a quintessential Buster Keaton Film, containing many familiar gags. Buster blunders, fumbles and wrestles with the mechanics of his created environment. Though we may sympathise with Busters' family he never comes across as a fool or idiot, but bounces from mishap to mishap with a charming wistfulness. Ingeneous and determined always, it is with Buster I found myself sympathising.
I am not sure weather it is all silent film, or good silent film, or just Buster Keaton films , but I find I am engaged with the medium in a way that is more akin to reading a book than watching a film. I don't feel like a passive viewer, I am relied upon to embellish elements of sound, narrative and even character. It's a good thing to be a more active viewer I think.
The technological limitations of the time seem to enhance the work rather than detract from it. The black and white, still, silent, long shots render the film with a certain romance. I don't think colour and sound would in any way enhance the work but rather give it a cartoon quality and indeed it would seem the 'Looney Tunes' cartoons owe a lot to Buster Keaton. The black and white, silent format gives the work a grace and sophistication that could perhaps be achieved no other way.
