The Triumph of Lester Snapwell! Keaton!

[Osi Osgood]

I have always had a fondness for Buster Keaton and I take great pleasure in discovering anything new concerning Keaton, whether commercials or TV shows, but it has been along time since I discovered something new, until just now, AND, on super 8! The Triumph of Lester Snapwell! This film is not even listed on Wikipedia, concerning Keaton, as one of his films. This was made, in color, in 1963, for the Kodak company as a "Hybrid" commercial/history of photography. Buster stars as an intrepid early photographer, trying to take a picture of his beloved, "Clementine", with the mother in law constantly interfering. Trying to escape the wrath of the mother in law, he accidentally gets himself killed. "Father Time" then takes him into the future, showing him the advances in photography, until the early 1960. This, although, "educational", is really constructed as a silent film, complete with subtitles, and a musical soundtrack, and in color. In my opinion, the subtitles are a little amateurish, but there is some fun humor, and this is really treated as a two reel comedy. There is an occasional Narrator who butts in here and there, but this really is played for laughs and I personally look upon it as a short. During the 1920's portion of the short, Buster even wears his flat straw hat! even more fascinating, is that it ended up on super 8! I don't know who released this, and the Eastman color is fading, but I am perfectly happy just using a filter and largely treating this as a black and white film! What a joy to find something new, Keaton wise, and even on Super 8!!! ... and, as I always sign off on reviews ... Long live Super 8!!! P.S. this is on YouTube, so I highly encourage you to look it up and watch it and, if you can find a copy on super 8 for yourself.

[Steve Klare]

This sounds like a spectacular find, Osi!

Personally, I've never seen anything with Buster Keaton that wasn't great to watch! Every so often some very late Keaton short will pop up at CineSea like the Twilight Zone episode he did, and I know I'm in for something special.

Buster Keaton - The Art of the Gag

[Osi Osgood]

Well, I'd suggest you check out the YouTube video of this film! Could someone put a link up for the YouTube video of this film?

[Osi Osgood]

I have discovered that this was distributed on Super 8 by "Glenn Photo Supply". The image quality is OK, but not as good as many. Just average.