{"id":736,"date":"2022-02-26T19:11:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T19:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/?p=736"},"modified":"2022-02-26T19:15:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T19:15:11","slug":"the-blacksmith-1921-1922","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/2022\/02\/26\/the-blacksmith-1921-1922\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blacksmith (1921\/1922)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In The Blacksmith<\/em>, Buster Keaton is a blacksmith. Which makes sense, I suppose (even if he wasn’t a goat in The Goat, or a boat in The Boat, and so on). Although he also seems to be a wheelwright, a farrier, and a car mechanic, too. Which makes slightly less sense, probably. Although is probably just further proof that Buster’s a very talented boy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This one’s pretty rough, thematically at least, mostly just being a series of disparate sketches occasionally but not always related to blacksmithing. And although I wouldn’t say this is one of Buster Keaton’s best, I still enjoyed it a lot, especially the strangely charming scene where Buster has to get some shoes for a horse. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Which I liked a lot, I really did. I could not tell you why.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

_________<\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> I watched both versions of this on blu-ray. I captured the images from this version<\/a> on youtube.<\/em><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> The Blacksmith has quite an interesting history. <\/em><\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> For a long time it was considered completely lost, before James Mason found a copy of it in the loft of Buster Keaton’s old house, 30 years or so after Buster Keaton had last lived there. <\/em><\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> This was assumed (unsurprisingly) to be the release version of the film, but after someone discovered another print of it about ten years ago, it turned out this was only a pre-release version.<\/em> <\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> This new version (released in 1922), has a few new sequences, omits some old ones, has a different start, and some tighter editing in places (I think).<\/em><\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> The version I grabbed the screenshots from was the 1921 pre-release version.<\/em><\/p>\n

7.<\/strong> Which is a lot worse than the 1922 actual release version.<\/em><\/p>\n

8.<\/strong> And although there’s not actually that much that’s different between the two versions (maybe 3 or 4 minutes), it’s quite interesting watching them both just to see how much difference editing can make to the overall quality of things.<\/em><\/p>\n

9.<\/strong> Unfortunately I can’t find this version on youtube, so you’ll just have to trust me on this.<\/em><\/p>\n

10.<\/strong> Or buy the Buster Keaton box set I’ve been watching.<\/em><\/p>\n

11.<\/strong> Which you should, because it’s wonderful.<\/em><\/p>\n

12.<\/strong> Anyway, here’s an old article about the new version<\/a>, with a minute or so of some of the new stuff embedded half way down.<\/em><\/p>\n

_________<\/p>\n

Film Information<\/p>\n

Title:<\/strong> The Blacksmith<\/em>
\nDirectors:<\/strong> Buster Keaton and Malcom St. Clair<\/em>
\nYear:<\/strong> 1921\/1922<\/em>
\nDuration:<\/strong> 22 minutes<\/em>
\nWatch:<\/strong> 1921 version (full version)<\/a><\/em>; 1922 version (excerpts only)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In The Blacksmith, Buster Keaton is a blacksmith. Which makes sense, I suppose (even if he wasn’t a goat in The Goat, or a boat in The Boat, and so on). Although he also seems to be a wheelwright, a farrier, and a car mechanic, too. Which makes slightly less sense, probably. Although is probably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[350,108,345,354,355],"class_list":["post-736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-film-is-100-years-old","tag-350","tag-buster-keaton","tag-malcolm-st-clair","tag-the-blacksmith","tag-variety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":746,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions\/746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}