STEAMBOAT BILL, JR.

Comic genius Buster Keaton turns in one of his most amazing performances as a college student who returns home to help his crusty old riverboat captain father (Ernest Torrence) compete with the far more successful, luxury riverboat owner J.J. King (Tom McGuire) — who also happens to be the father of Bill, Jr.’s sweetheart. To make matters worse, a cyclone blows through the area, setting the stage for some of Keaton’s finest stunts on camera and perhaps one of the most iconic scenes in all silent cinema, in which an entire house’s facade falls on the oblivious Buster. STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. may be Keaton’s most mature film, and his flat-out funniest — a fitting if too early farewell to an era of creative independence for the greatest screen comedian of all-time.