Set in 1914 London, the film stars Chaplin as an aging music hall comic who's convinced he can no longer move people to laughter. But he gets a final opportunity to shine when he saves a young, equally desperate ballet dancer from suicide, then guides her to triumph on the stage.

Zero Mostel portrays a conniving slave who uses his wiles to attain his freedom during the days of the Roman Empire.

Pursued by creditors, Joe swerves into a driveway of a seemingly abandoned Sunset Boulevard mansion. He finds Norma, an ex-screen queen dreaming of a dramatic comeback and her ex-husband/servant living there. She takes a fancy to Joe and, learning that he is a scriptwriter, persuades him to help her with her comeback screenplay. Being broke he accepts. He falls in love with a young script reader, but Norma breaks up their romance. Thinking she is...

The year is 1908, and a troupe of vaudeville performers has arrived in sleepy Muskegon, Michigan to spend the summer. Young Henry Harrison is fascinated with the animals and performers, but mostly with a slapstick performer his own age named Buster Keaton, who is also a master prankster and loves to play baseball.

"A comprehensive account of the life and work of Buster Keaton"-- Keaton's deadpan stare, his iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera he was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General. Curtis gives us a comprehensive...