The Cameraman (1927)

I watched The Cameraman, a Buster Keaton comedy, accompanied by a live orchestra. The experience itself was, of course, magnificent, but I must say I am not crazy about this type of comedy, not even the classical ones from the silent era (OK, I can't say I have seen that many). The Cameraman is what Vertov's cameraman is not. Where Vertov shows a world where technology, society and the human being are all tossed into the same well-oiled machinery, the machinery of Keaton the cameraman does not work at all. The funny moments of the film grow out of the disastrous and bumbling cameraman who messes up every situation he is thrown into. Yes yes yes it's a fine film the innocence of which we can marvel at etc. (as I heard somebody say, and it striked me as awfully cynical to say such a thing) but still - I wasn't very amused by it, despite all the self-referential jokes about movie-making and some interesting points about photography.