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Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Director:
Charles F. Reisner
(Dir)
Release Date:
12 May 1928
Premiere Information:
New York opening: 12 May 1928
Duration (in mins):
65
Duration (in feet):
6,400
Duration (in reels):
7
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Cast:
Buster Keaton
(Steamboat Bill, Jr.)
Ernest Torrence
(Steamboat Bill)
Tom Lewis
(Tom Carter, his first mate)
Tom McGuire
(John James King, his rival)
Marion Byron
(Mary King, his daughter)
Summary:
William Canfield, known as Steamboat Bill, once River Junction's leading citizen, owns the riverboat
Stonewall Jackson.
His rival, J. J. King, the town banker, storekeeper, hotelkeeper, and wealthiest citizen, is attempting to cause Bill's financial ruin with his new river packet named
King,
after himself. Bill happily anticipates the arrival of his son, whom he has not seen since babyhood, and goes to the station to meet him. Anticipating that he will have a husky partner in his struggle with King, Bill and his mate are dismayed to find that Willie is a shrimp who wears college clothes, plays a ukelele, and sports a mustache. He hustles Willie off to the local haberdasher, and there Willie meets a girl with whom he falls in love--King's daughter, naturally. After several quarrels with King, Bill lands in jail, his boat condemned. Willie tries, unsucessfully, to spring his father and ends up in the hospital just as a cyclone hits River Junction. The film concludes with Willie saving the
Stonewall Jackson,
his sweetheart, his father (floating down the river in the jailhouse), King, and, finally, a preacher.
Production Company:
Buster Keaton Productions
Distribution Company:
United Artists Corp.
Director:
Charles F. Reisner
(Dir)
Sandy Roth
(Asst dir)
Producer:
Joseph M. Schenck
(Pres)
Writer:
Carl Harbaugh
(Scen)
Carl Harbaugh
(Story)
Carl Harbaugh
(Titles)
Photography:
Dev Jennings
(Dir of photog)
Bert Haines
(Dir of photog)
Art Direction:
Fred Gabourie
(Tech dir)
Film Editor:
Sherman Kell
(Film ed)
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Music:
Songs:
Source Text:
Copyright Claimant
Copyright Date
Copyright Number
Joseph M. Schenck
2/6/1928
dd/mm/yyyy
LP25362
Physical Properties:
Si:
b&w:
Genre:
Comedy
Subjects (Major):
Bankers
Businessmen
Cyclones
Fatherhood
River boats
Small town life
Note:
Bibliographic Sources:
Date
Page
EHW & MPW
7 Jul 1928
p. 52.
Film Daily
20 May 1928
p. 5.
Film Spectator
23 Jun 1928
pp. 14-15.
Life
5 Oct 1928
p. 28.
New York Times
15 May 1928
p. 17.
Variety
16 May 1928
p. 13.
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