Three Ages
About Three Ages
The same man, the same girl, and the same rival play out a courtship three times. In the Stone Age the fight involves a dinosaur, a turtle used as a ouija board, and a round of golf with rocks. In Rome the men race chariots pulled by dogs. In 1923 the man is undone by a flimsy car and the rest of modern city life.
Cast & crew
More about Three Ages
Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline directed. Clyde Bruckman, Jean C. Havez, Joseph Mitchell, and Keaton, uncredited, wrote it. Joseph M. Schenck produced, also uncredited, with Keaton. Metro Pictures released it on 24 September 1923. It was the first feature Keaton wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. The Saphead had only used him as an actor.
Themes
Look
Elgin Lessley and William C. McGann shot the three periods, including the dog chariots and the collapsing car.
Notes
- Margaret Leahy plays the girl. Wallace Beery plays the rival. Joe Roberts and Lillian Lawrence are also in the cast.
- The three stories are cut together on the model of Intolerance.
- It has been said that a failure could have been split into three shorts. Historians note that neither Keaton nor his associates made that claim while they were alive.
- Elgin Lessley and William C. McGann photographed it.
- A Commons file runs 1 hour 3 minutes 59 seconds. Another timing listed for the picture is 63 minutes.
Scenes
- A turtle is used as a ouija board in the Stone Age story.
- The Roman race is run with dogs instead of horses.
Influenced by
- Intolerance (1916), as a model for cutting between periods
Also available
- Internet Archive (thethreeagesbusterkeaton)
- Wikimedia Commons (Three Ages (1923) by Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline.webm)
