Musical accompaniment by Timothy Brock conducting students of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Buster Keaton’s first film under his new lucrative contract for MGM has the Great Stone Face as a tintype photographer trying to impress studio secretary Marceline Day by upgrading to the rough-and-tumble world of freelance newsreel cameramen. With the help of the dexterous Organ-Grinder Monkey Josephine and little else, Keaton scours the streets of New York City for the footage that will earn him a big payday—but, most important, the girl’s attention. From Yankee Stadium to the middle of a Chinatown tong war, Keaton’s neophyte cameraman stumbles at every single obstacle in the most entertaining ways. Sublimely romantic, sidesplittingly funny, The Cameraman became the film that the studio required all its incoming comedians to watch before setting foot on set. It’s easy to see why, as Screenland’s reviewer wrote after the film’s 1928 premiere: “Take practically any scene and try to control your mirth.” Now in a beautiful 4K restoration!
The 2019 SFSFF Award for commitment to the preservation of silent cinema will be presented to Gian Luca Farinelli on behalf of the Cineteca di Bologna before the screening. The Italian archive has taken the lead in restoring Keaton’s entire body of work.
4k digital restoration undertaken by The Criterion Collection, Warner Bros. and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna
Underwritten by McRoskey Mattress Co.
Copresented by the Exploratorium, SFFILM, SF Sketchfest