User Reviews

This was an extra on the Hollywood Cavalcade DVD. A woman talks about Buster Keaton's career up to this movie. She discusses his childhood exploits on vaudeville, his being approached by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle to work in movies, his alcoholism after losing creative control at M-G-M, and his eventual comeback after getting sober. There's also a discussion of the ways he figured out how to use the pie throwing at certain angles. She also discusses how different the way he portrayed himself in the movie compared to how he was in his own movies. If you've seen many of his silent movies, you'd know his comedy was more character-based than on simply slapstick. So on that note, I recommend this extra.

The DVD for "Hollywood Cavalcade" has three very short special features included on the disc. Together, the three probably would have worked a bit better because they just weren't very complete on their own. However, they are still worth seeing--particularly if you are not familiar with the career of Buster Keaton or Fatty Arbuckle.

"Head Over Heels in Hollywood" is about a tiny portion of Buster Keaton's career. While it gives a bit of information about Keaton's career in silents, it's really about how this and his portrayal of himself in "Hollywood Cavalcade" are at odds with each other. For example, the film would make the viewer think that Keaton was known for pie fights--while this is NOT the sort of low comedy he did--he was MUCH more sophisticated and funny than a pie in the face. All in all, full of nice information as it relates to the movie but way, way too short. For a wonderful overview of Keaton's life and career, try to find a copy of Kevin Brownlow's great film "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow".

Buster Keaton: Head Over Heels in Hollywood (2008)

*** (out of 4)

This here is one of three featurettes that can be found on the Hollywood CAVALCADE disc from Fox. Patricia Eliot Tobias talks about the career of Buster Keaton from his earliest days on the stage to being discovered by Fatty Arbuckle and all the way through the classic silent era. She also goes into detail about some of his sound films including his work on Hollywood CAVALCADE and the misinformation that got out that made it seem like Keaton threw all sorts of pies in his silent days. At just under ten-minutes there's no way that this thing can give one the full story of Keaton but at the same time it's a pretty good bit of entertainment to watch after the main feature. If someone is familiar with Keaton's work then they're not going to learn anything new here but I still think you should be entertained. If you don't know who Keaton is then this here gives you a quick idea but it's best to check out some of the longer films out there.