An exhaustive account of the great silent and sound film actor, director producer’s life and career. This book is not for the faint of heart. It is close to 1,000 pages, more if you include the notes. I taught a film class several years ago, and, of course, Keaton was part of my course. That drew me to this biography. However, I probably bit off more than I could chew. Let the record show, though, that I finished it. More for a Keaton scholar than a casual reader merely wanting to learn more about the great man, the amount of information about movies, personalities, Hollywood politics and scuttlebutt is mind-boggling. At times the volume of information distracts from the pleasure of reading the book. One important thing I found out having read this book was that Buster Keaton’s late career, his career in the late 1950s and 1960s was not the pathetic pity I thought it was. He was actually busier than he needed to be. The beach movies and even his final role in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum seemed a sad addition to his career, but in all of those films, he was treated as the institution he was, and he was well paid for the roles. My impression of Buster Keaton after finishing this book was greatly enhanced for having read it. One final observation. All of Keaton’s films, the shorts and the feature length films are now on YouTube, so as I read about individual films or even specific scenes, I was able to find them in a matter of seconds on YouTube. It made my appreciation of author James’ description of those films and scenes that much more meaningful. Thank goodness forYouTube. ( )

Well researched biography of silent comedian Buster Keaton. Of the three silent comedians (Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd), Keaton was the only one who worked to the end of his life - although he had a dry spell when sound came on board for several decades. His early stage work with his family in vaudeville was discussed as well as the films. The author provided the right mix in providing the plot summaries and did not get bogged down in the details. My only complaint is the author did not provide an update, at the end of the book, as to what happened to Keaton's two sons. ( )