Three Ages is Keaton's first feature, showing the same storyline of two men clashing over a woman, repeated across three different ages: Stone Age, Roman Age, and Modern Age (1920's). The SA strongest is equivalent to the RA highest ranking to the MA largest bank account. A club fight becomes a chariot race becomes a football game. The theme is to show that while lifestyle has changed, loves challenges have not. It is also a satire of Griffith's 'Intolerance', which has similar themes and editing style, and is interesting to see how two completely different personalities tackle similar subject matter. In this instance I prefer Keaton's humorous charm to Griffith's pretentious melodrama, though it is far from his best work.
My favourite parts were the opening set up, the RA chariot race and the MA football game. In the latter he finds the absurdity in physically bruising sports, while in the former he creates absurdity by holding the contest in a snowy arena. Other highlights are the small moments along the way, like his SA 'identity card' being a crude rock drawing, and the leap between two buildings gone wrong. The latter is a strong case for Busters spontaneous improvisation, the suppressing of which by major studios MGM in the 30's would be a large factor in his downfall as an artist. He actually missed his mark on the stunt, but instead of simply re-doing the take, used it as a catalyst for a better sequence. Lowlights are the MA restaurant scene (Chaplin did restaurants far better in 'City Lights' and 'The Immigrant') and the over reliance on silly violence. The general repetitiveness of scenes also tires whenever his humour is at its least inspiring, which is about half of it.
It pales in comparison to his best work, but has its moments and is worth a look for Keaton fans.
My favourite parts were the opening set up, the RA chariot race and the MA football game. In the latter he finds the absurdity in physically bruising sports, while in the former he creates absurdity by holding the contest in a snowy arena. Other highlights are the small moments along the way, like his SA 'identity card' being a crude rock drawing, and the leap between two buildings gone wrong. The latter is a strong case for Busters spontaneous improvisation, the suppressing of which by major studios MGM in the 30's would be a large factor in his downfall as an artist. He actually missed his mark on the stunt, but instead of simply re-doing the take, used it as a catalyst for a better sequence. Lowlights are the MA restaurant scene (Chaplin did restaurants far better in 'City Lights' and 'The Immigrant') and the over reliance on silly violence. The general repetitiveness of scenes also tires whenever his humour is at its least inspiring, which is about half of it.
It pales in comparison to his best work, but has its moments and is worth a look for Keaton fans.