The Cameraman Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

 Title: The Cameraman
Year: 1928
Director: Edward Sedgwick
Country: US

The advent of sound came in 1927 and Joe Schenck stopped producing films as an independent in order to run United Artists. Keaton's beloved studio closed and thus the comic decided to sign with MGM at the protest of Lloyd and Chaplin. This proved to be a poor decision; shortly after he acquiesced to pathetic roles in limp, big-budget spectaculars, and gave in to a long-creeping alcoholism. He pitched to Irving Thalberg a full-length parody of the recent MGM megahit Grand Hotel, which was immediately denied. The Cameraman (1928) would remain the only MGM comedy with a clear imprint of Keaton's vision. 

After becoming infatuated with a pretty office worker for MGM Newsreels, Buster trades in his tintype operation for a movie camera and sets out to impress the girl (and MGM) with his work.

 This film was used for many years by MGM as an example of a perfect comedy. The studio would get all its directors and producers to watch it and learn. Although unlike Keaton's earlier masterpieces, very few stunts were improvised on the fly/ Sadly, Keaton was originally given very limited creative freedom. Only when the original Director Edward Sedgwick couldn't get the set-ups he wanted, couldn't get the actors to understand his direction, and eventually gave up, was Keaton given a temporary chance to flourish in a studio system that always attempted to undermine him at every turn.

Not surprisingly, some of the funniest and most inspired moments were not in the script but were improvised by Buster during filming: when he pantomimes a baseball game in Yankee Stadium, when he calmly demolishes his room in an effort to open his piggy bank, and when he attempts to change into a swimsuit in a small cubicle shared with an irascible fat man. The Cameraman reflects Buster's fascination with film-making and the mechanics of the camera. His character's clumsy initial efforts are a textbook of film-making mistakes. The romance is much more developed in this picture, than any of his earlier films.

The Cameraman is a terrific blend of humor, drama and romance. If Keaton was never allowed to make a a picture in his vision again- and subsequently, he never was- this is a last great swan song. The current print, from the TCM archives, is rather poor however. Hopefully a good restoration is in the works. Praise it! 4/5