Buster Keaton pulls into Film Forum for a six-film marathon on Labor Day (courtesy Photofest)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Monday, September 5, 1:00 – 11:00
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
There hasn’t been much to laugh about recently regarding America’s labor situation, with unemployment hovering above nine percent and unions on the run. Film Forum is doing its part in bringing the yuks on Labor Day with the All-Day Buster Keaton festival, screening six of Keaton’s finest silent pictures, each presented with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner. The festivities begin at 1:00 with the family feud tale Our Hospitality (1923), followed by the seminal Civil War comedy The General (1926) at 2:35 and Steamboat Bill Jr., with its famous cyclone finale, at 4:10. Keaton investigates film itself in the daring Sherlock Jr. (1924), paired with The Playhouse (1921) at 6:35, then must get married to claim an inheritance in Seven Chances (1925) at 8:00. The marathon concludes at 9:20 with Keaton stranded on an ocean liner in The Navigator (1924). If you’ve never seen Keaton’s sad-sack face on the big screen before, you’re in for quite a treat, and you can’t go wrong with any of these films.