Three Ages (1923)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Buster Keaton
(more)

Writer:

Buster Keaton (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

24 September 1923 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

A Metro Picture in 6 Parts

Plot:

The misadventures of Buster in three seperate historical periods.

Plot Keywords:

Anachronism | Caveman | Dinosaur | Episodic | Roman Empire

Cast

Margaret Leahy	...	The Girl
Wallace Beery	...	The Villain
Buster Keaton	...	The Boy
Lillian Lawrence	...	The Girl's Mother
Joe Roberts	...	The Girl's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lionel Belmore	...	(uncredited)
Louise Emmons	...	Old fortune teller (uncredited)
Kewpie Morgan	...	The Emperor, Cave Man, Roman Thug (uncredited)
Blanche Payson	...	The Amazon (uncredited)

Directed by
Buster Keaton
Edward F. Cline		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Clyde Bruckman		uncredited
Jean C. Havez		uncredited
Buster Keaton		writer
Joseph A. Mitchell		uncredited

Produced by
Buster Keaton	....	producer
Joseph M. Schenck	....	producer

Original Music by
Robert Israel		(1995 new score)

Cinematography by
Elgin Lessley		(uncredited)
William C. McGann		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Ives	....	assistant director

Visual Effects by
Benjamin Ribière	....	digital artist: digital restoration and color correction (restored version)

Other crew
Fred Gabourie	....	technical director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Buster Keaton Productions

Distributors

• Metro Pictures Corporation (1923) (USA) (theatrical)
• Andrés Vicente Gómez Montero (1982) (Spain) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Image Entertainment (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Kino Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (video)
• I.V.C. (2002) (Japan) (DVD)
• Kino Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (DVD)
• Passport International Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (video)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Video Yesteryear (video)

Also Known As:

Drei Zeitalter, Die (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Ben Akiba hat gelogen! (Germany) [de]
Hat Ben Akiba gelogen? (Austria) [de]
Kolme aikakautta (Finland) [fi]
Senti, Amore mio (Italy) [it]
Três Idades, As (Brazil) [pt]
Tres edades (Spain) [es]
Tro, hopp och kärlek (Sweden) [sv]
Trois âges, Les (France) [fr]

Runtime:

63 min | Spain:55 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Australia:G | Portugal:M/6 | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Hill Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Buster Keaton Productions

Trivia:

Towards the end of the movie, the names Havez, Mitchell and Bruckman appear on the football roster; they were names of Keaton's uncredited co-writers.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Princess and the Cobbler (1993)

Great Early Keaton Film

Although the movie is clearly dated, audiences can still easily identify with the plight of hapless Buster in this timeless and very funny underdog tale. Buster fights against unkindly odds in three different ages: the Stone Age, The Roman Age, and the Moden Age, playing almost the same character with just a change of scenery to help us identify the different "ages". In this movie we see one of the earliest comedic depictions of the "caveman" stereotype, who wins his love not by romance but by brute force, as well as a funny twist on Roman gladiatorial combat, two comedic sketches that long predate such spoofs as Mel Brooks' "History of the World: Part I". The underlying theme of the movie is simple yet convincing: Although the times may have-a-changed, we still face the same struggles even in modern times that we fought in prehistoric times in order to "win the girl" (keep in mind this is the theme of 1923 America, a time when chauvinism was still en vogue). It is interesting to look at this movie over eighty years later, and consider how dramatically things have changed from this movie's "modern times" to now.