So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM (2004, Kevin Brownlow & Christopher Bird) (v)

Documentary about Buster Keaton's lesser-known MGM years, when he went from an independent filmmaker to a contract player, and from a hugely successful comedian to an unemployable, alcoholic one. Certainly valuable for an archival interview with Keaton in 1964, as well as some of the footage from very minor sound films, showing the maestro of physical comedy straining under the dialogue-driven farces he was forced to make. Problems, though: It's too short (45 minutes) and although the focus is narrow, there's still very little depth here, as if pitched to the non-buff. That's an odd choice, since the context necessary to understand this story as the tragedy it is -- that Keaton was a genius -- is barely demonstrated. Also, there's not enough detail on Keaton's life or personality; in some ways, his story comes across as not that different from MC Hammer's. Speaking of which, another problem is the use of clips; when the narrator (James Karen, most famous to me as Ernie from Return of the Living Dead) says that Keaton had an "uphill struggle against alcohol", we cut right to a scene from What -- No Beer? showing a truck slowly driving up a hill. And frankly, how is that different from the Simpsons' "Behind The Music" episode? Finally, the one thing I hoped would be covered -- Keaton's role in Film, the only screenplay Samuel Beckett ever wrote -- goes completely unmentioned. Consolation prize: a scene from a remake of The Cameraman (starring Red Skelton) that was excised and destroyed in the original.