Keaton films galore at Castro, BAMPFA
Silent film fans — especially Buster Keaton aficionados — are getting an extra boost of holiday cheer.
On Saturday, Dec. 3, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will present its annual Day of Silents, a six-program event at the Castro Theatre accompanied by live music, beginning 11 a.m. with three little-seen Keaton short films from 1921-22: “The High Sign,” “The Electric House” and “The Goat.”
Among the highlights of the day is a 7 p.m. 35mm screening of master director King Vidor’s “Show People,” a 1928 satire of the movie business starring Marion Davies with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and others making cameos. It could be amusing to contrast that film with Damien Chazelle’s upcoming “Babylon,” starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, which also takes place in 1920s Hollywood.
On Sunday, Dec. 4, the Berkeley Art Museum’s Pacific Film Archive will begin an eight-program series, “Camera Man: Buster Keaton,” which runs through Dec. 21. The series includes all his big films, from “Sherlock Jr.” (5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4) to “The General” (Dec. 11) and includes some special events, such as a visual essay on Keaton’s 1965 collaboration with writer Samuel Beckett (Dec. 21).