Buster Keaton’s screen career began when he appeared in Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s two-reel comedy The Butcher Boy. The collaboration introduced Keaton’s acrobatic style to motion pictures and opened the door to his rapid development in short-form slapstick.
Through a run of Comique Film Company shorts with Arbuckle, Keaton sharpened the calm, deadpan character that later became his trademark. The series also trained him in camera staging and gag construction that worked without dialogue.
The Garage was the last film in which Arbuckle and Keaton co-starred during their Comique collaboration. By this point, Keaton was ready to move from supporting roles into projects built around his own ideas and performance style.
With One Week, Keaton released the first short credited to his independent production work, co-directed with Eddie Cline. Its tightly built visual gags and escalating engineering disasters established a pattern he would expand into feature-length storytelling.
Keaton’s first full-length feature as a starring performer was The Saphead. The film showed he could carry a longer narrative, even as his most influential work still lay ahead in independently made shorts and features.
The Love Nest was the final short produced under Buster Keaton Productions before he focused on feature films. Ending the two-reeler period let Keaton build more complex plots while keeping the physical comedy at the center.
Three Ages marked Keaton’s transition to feature-length filmmaking he helped shape as a writer-director-star. Its intercut structure across different historical periods proved he could sustain a longer form while experimenting with narrative design.
Our Hospitality blended Keaton’s stunt comedy with a coherent story set against a family feud. The film’s location work and carefully staged action signaled a move toward larger-scale production and more cinematic storytelling.
Released in 1924, Sherlock Jr. used screen-within-a-screen ideas and complex editing to connect dream logic with physical gags. It became a key example of how silent comedy could innovate with film form, not just performance.
The Navigator expanded Keaton’s feature ambitions with a large set-piece premise built around an ocean liner. Its strong commercial performance helped confirm that his brand of mechanical problem-solving comedy could draw big audiences.
In Seven Chances, Keaton built the plot around a single-day time limit, driving a fast chain of escalating mishaps. The film is remembered for its large crowd comedy and for showing how a simple premise could support a full feature.
The General premiered at the end of 1926 and represented Keaton’s push toward expensive, carefully choreographed action built around a train chase. Its initial reception was mixed, but it became central to his long-term reputation for precision filmmaking.
Released in 1927, College kept Keaton’s physical comedy in a contemporary setting focused on sports and campus life. The film shows him working within established studio distribution patterns while still relying on athletic gags and elaborate sequences.
In 1928, Keaton signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, changing how his films were made and who controlled creative decisions. This marked a major turning point: the end of the 1917–1928 phase defined by his rapid rise from shorts into independently produced silent features.
Steamboat Bill, Jr. was the final film made with Keaton’s longtime independent production team and gag writers. Its famous falling-house-front stunt became one of the most widely recognized images of silent-era physical comedy.
Buster Keaton's Silent Features and Comedies (1917-1928)