Three Ages (1923)

The misadventures of Buster in three separate historical periods.

Directors:

Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton

Writers:

Clyde Bruckman (story), Joseph A. Mitchell (story),

Stars:

Buster Keaton, Margaret Leahy, Wallace Beery

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Buster Keaton	...	The Boy
Margaret Leahy	...	The Girl
Wallace Beery	...	The Villain
Joe Roberts	...	The Girl's Father
Lillian Lawrence	...	The Girl's Mother
Kewpie Morgan	...	The Emperor / Cave Man / Roman Thug (as Horace Morgan)

Storyline

In his first independently produced feature film Buster tells of love and romance through three historical ages: the Stone Age, the Roman Age, and the Modern Age.

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Plot Keywords:

stone age | dog sled | lion | snow | police | 

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Taglines:

A Metro Picture in 6 Parts

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

24 September 1923 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die drei Zeitalter

Filming Locations:

Hill Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Buster Keaton Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There are two references in the Roman section a - one classical and one biblical. The classical reference is to the story of Androcles and the lion (when Keaton is in the dungeon) and the biblical one is to Samson bringing down the temple upon himself and his enemies (when Keaton collapses Beery's house).

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Goofs

In the medium shot of the Stone Age soothsayer scene, Buster's hands are resting together near the side of the turtle. But in the cut to a close-up, we see only a hand double's right hand, and it's directly in front of the turtle's mouth. (It's clearly a hand double, since Keaton was missing his right index finger tip.)

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Connections

Spoofs Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

User Reviews

Pleasant & Funny

This is a pleasant and funny combination of slapstick and satire, period humor and romantic comedy. It does not have quite the number of sustained chase/stunt sequences as in most of Keaton's features, but instead there are a lot of fine subtle gags of all different kinds.

In each of the "Three Ages", Buster and Wallace Beery vie for the affections of the same woman, with amusing and unpredictable results. The simple romantic triangle theme sets up a lot of good material, on the one hand lending itself to a lot of gags about the unchanging nature of romantic courtship, and on the other hand being used for a lot of deliberate anachronisms that are often extremely funny. Beery makes a nice foil for Keaton, and the girl's parents also have some good moments.

This one usually gets lost in the crowd among so many brilliant Keaton masterpieces, but it works very well and is definitely worth seeing for any fan of silent comedy.