Buster Keaton for many years was overshadowed by the other great genius of the Silent Era: Charlie Chaplin. Not that long ago, his physical comedy was considered crude slapstick in the vein of the Keystone Cops. But Buster completely outclasses that genre. His style deftly combines unbelievable physical prowess with incredible deadpan acting. For one thing, Buster was among the first to not undercrank the camera (i.e. artificially speed up the action) to make things funnier. His is the precise timing of the vaudville stage. What sets Buster apart is the pathos so elegantly expressed by his face. All the indignities of the modern age are summed up there.

Aside from the many classic silents, Buster did a surprisingly large number of talkies including cameos in Sunset Boulevard and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Check out the excellent filmography in the Internet Movie Database. Also worth a look is the ever evolving Project Buster.

If you get an opportunity to see the guitarist Bill Frissell perform live to any Buster Keaton films, I highly recommend it. I was fortunate to see a performance of "Go West" and "The Love Nest" at Saint Anne's church in Brooklyn a few years back and it was stunning.