Buster Keaton, a man of almost no education, became one of the great geniuses of the cinema. His films are stunning explorations of the nature of the art of film itself – and, of course they are wonderfully funny. While Charlie Chaplin looked at social situations through his Tramp, Keaton was interested in the fabric of the physical world. Are spaces full or are they empty? What can the camera lens NOT see? Will two objects moving towards the same point crash or will they miss? The world is a mystery to Keaton, whose character is at the mercy of all sorts of physical forces – until he figures them out.

In Steamboat Bill Jr, Buster plays a ridiculous dandy of a young Bostonian sent to the South to live with his gruff father (Ernest Torrence), captain of a broken down riverboat. Buster is a great disappointment to nearly everyone, until he manages to save most of the cast, run the steamboat, get his father out of jail (hilarious) and survive a tremendous rain and wind storm in one of the funniest and most jaw-dropping brilliant sequences in the history of the movies.

Post-film discussion with Howie Movshovitz.