Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century

I have almost all the Buster books anyone might mention. Here's my take on this one: Excellent - though if you are a real die -hard fan you might wonder why so much time is spent on non-Buster business; this is how I felt about halfway through it the first time. But you know, going through it the second time I realized how much research about his LIFE and TIMES went into this book. So much is in here that you don't know about the characters in the play of BK's life, the politics, the business - very very rich tapestry of information. I guess if anyone asked me I would say to start the study of Keaton's life with this book! Great job, Dana.

I bought several biographies of Buster Keaton, this is a good one .-Nate

You will not learn anything new if you’ve read previous bio’s like the wonderful book by Marion Meade, “Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase” or “Buster Keaton: Interviews,” edited by Kevin W. Sweeney.And this bio does not stand as more definitive and comprehensive than anything prior to the recently published “Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life” by James Curtis. This definitive bio comes blurbed from the highest possible source: Kevin Brownlow, author of the best single volume on the Silent Film era, “The Parade’s Gone By…” from 1976.Yet I strongly urge you to buy and read Dana Steven’s take on Keaton’s life and work. She has fresh critical insights and her prose is a dream to read. And hey, you can never have enough Keaton, in my view.However, Ms. Stevens has been poorly served by her publisher. They should *immediately* hire back all the copy editors and proof readers they downsized.No writer as good as Ms. Stevens should have a howler like the one on Page 266 where she credits Lon Chaney as creating the Wolfman on screen a dozen years after his death.It was, of course, his son Creighton who played that part, billed as Lon Chaney, Jr.Not her fault! Blame the editors who lack basic knowledge of their subject. They should've caught this one!

Having recently discovered the magic of Buster Keaton's films, I dove into this book with eagerness. Author Dana Stevens has done a tremendous amount of research not only on Keaton, but on the environment in which he grew up and worked, and struggled in. This book is a wonderful complement and companion to his amazing movies. Highly recommended.

Such a joy to read, so much so that one wants to read it slowly to soak in everything. I'm a silent film scholar and historian and even I didn't know all the details Dana Stevens brings out in this biography. A must for Buster Keaton fans. She's done a lot of wonderful research here.

I've known Dana Stevens' from her film criticism and the Slate Culture Gabfest. It's been a pleasure to see her eye turned towards a longer form project such as this one with her characteristic intelligence and generosity of spirit! Wonderful read.

This is a reasonably entertaining book when focused on Buster Keaton, maybe less successful in some sections that supposedly are trying to describe the times, which often seem like unrelated tangents (and sometimes aren’t especially interesting). For instance, a lot of time is spent on talking about Alcoholics Anonymous and describing its founders and founding, but notes that Buster Keaton never went to AA. Same issue with a chapter the spends a lot of time describing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unhappy time in Hollywood, while noting that while they worked on the same lot at MGM, Buster and Fitzgerald probably never actually met. I wish instead of these tangents, more time was spent describing his early silent shorts and features, many of which don’t even get a mention.My only other real complaint is that the author repeats certain anecdotes surprisingly often, like describing the way Buster developed the famous gag of a house falling over him three different times. I good editor should have trimmed out some of these repeated stories.I did like the way the author isn’t afraid to share her opinions and be a little more personal at times, even if sometimes I disagreed (like with some of her negative views about Chaplin). For me, she paints a too rosy picture of Buster’s later years – overrating a bit his involvement with early television, clips of which I’ve also watched online, and seem to be mostly re-enactments of scenes from his earlier films. Not exactly earth-shattering stuff.That said, the book provides a decent overview of Keaton’s life, while not being overlong or overly detailed, and if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s worth picking up.

This is a good book that goes into the background, circumsxtances, and fellow actors of the era.