The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.5

The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 5, 2019

One of the little tidbits that was revealed in a passing comment by Charles Cohen in a supplement included on The Great Buster: A Celebration was that Cohen Media Group had acquired all but one of Buster Keaton’s silent films some time ago, and that the entire catalog was being brought up “to 4K standards”. I posited in our The Great Buster: A Celebration Blu-ray review that Cohen’s comment might augur well for future Keaton film releases from Cohen Media Group and/or Cohen Film Collection, and that prediction has now come true with this first volume aggregating two of Buster Keaton’s all time classics, The General and Steamboat Bill, Jr.

For reviews of the two films included in this set, please click on the following links:

The General Blu-ray review

Steamboat Bill, Jr. Blu-ray review

Note that the above linked reviews each contain links which point to older reviews of the Kino releases of the film.

The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each release is assessed in the above linked reviews.

The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Cohen has released this first set of Keaton films on one disc, and so the supplements are not necessarily tied only to one individual film.

• Reflections on The General (1080p; 5:28) offers a collection of brief talking heads commenting on the film. Some of them, like Ben Mankiewicz, are amusing if not overly insightful, while others, like an extremely animated Quentin Tarantino, may strike some as being unnecessary.


• Buster Keaton: The Luminary (1080p; 5:19) offers many of the same interview subjects talking about Keaton in general, as opposed to Keaton in The General. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)


• The General Restoration Trailer (1080p; 1:46)


• Steamboat Bill, Jr. Restoration Trailer (1080p; 00:53)

The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Cohen is off to a great start with its releases of Buster Keaton material, and the video presentations of both films are generally excellent. That excellence will probably have to be balanced by some potential consumers against the fact that the Kino releases had more audio options and a more bounteous supply of supplements. Highly recommended.