The Cameraman
About The Cameraman
Buster, a New York tintype photographer, falls for Sally, a secretary at MGM Newsreels, and spends his savings on a used movie camera. Harold, a staff cameraman who wants Sally himself, laughs at him. Sally tells him to film anything. His first reels are double-exposed or empty. She still goes with him to a city pool after her Sunday date cancels. The next day she tips him that something is happening in Chinatown. He knocks down an organ grinder's monkey, is told to pay for it, and finds the animal only dazed. Together they film a Tong war. Back at the office the camera seems to have had no film in it. Sally is in trouble for the tip, and Buster says he will stay away. He goes to film a boat race, discovers the monkey switched the reels, and has the Tong footage after all. Harold and Sally are thrown from a racing boat. Harold saves himself. Buster stops shooting, pulls Sally out, then goes for medicine. Harold takes the credit and leaves with her. The monkey has filmed the rescue. MGM's boss screens the Tong war and the rescue and calls it the best camerawork he has seen in years. Sally is sent to fetch Buster, who thinks a ticker-tape parade is for him. It is for Charles Lindbergh.
Cast & crew
More about The Cameraman
Edward Sedgwick directed. Keaton is an uncredited co-director and plays Buster. Clyde Bruckman and Lew Lipton wrote the story. Joseph W. Farnham wrote the titles. Lawrence Weingarten produced. Elgin Lessley and Reggie Lanning photographed it. Hugh Wynn edited. MGM released it on 22 September 1928, in eight reels. Keaton had signed a two-year MGM contract on 26 January 1928: two films a year at $3,000 a week. The studio paid him $1,250 for this story. Marceline Day plays Sally. Harold Goodwin plays Harold.
Themes
Making
Keaton brought most of his own crew to MGM and sold the studio this story for $1,250. The contract paid him $3,000 a week and took the next year's pictures out of his hands.
Reviews
Mordaunt Hall, in the New York Times, wrote that The Cameraman was filled with guffaws and grins and with original, adroitly worked-out gags.
Look
Elgin Lessley and Reggie Lanning shot it, including the pool mishaps and the Tong-war street.
Music
Silent, with titles by Joseph W. Farnham.
Preservation
A near-complete print was found in Paris in 1968, after the picture was thought lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire. A better print, short some footage, was found in 1991. The two were combined. About three minutes are still missing. The National Film Registry selected it in 2005.
Notes
- Keaton later called the move to MGM "the worst mistake of my career.
- Sidney Bracey plays the newsreel boss. Harry Gribbon plays the cop Hennessey.
- The monkey that switches the reels is billed as Josephine.
- It was thought lost in the 1965 MGM vault fire. A near-complete print turned up in Paris in 1968. A sharper print, missing some footage, was found in 1991. About three minutes are still missing.
- The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2005.
- It entered the public domain in the United States on 1 January 2024.
- The Criterion Collection issued a Blu-ray and DVD on 16 June 2020, under license from Warner Bros.
Awards
- National Film Registry (2005)
Scenes
- Buster's first newsreel is double-exposed, and Harold is there to see it.
- He films a Tong war with a monkey that turns out to have switched the reels.
- He pulls Sally from the river. Harold takes the credit. The monkey's camera has the rescue.
- He walks into a ticker-tape parade that is for Lindbergh, not for him.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Cameraman (1928).webm)
- The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and DVD, 16 June 2020)
