Tweet Buster Keaton Features – Best Blu-Rays?

After really enjoying all the Buster Keaton shorts, I really want to start collecting the features on Blu-Ray. There's a lot of different versions available and wondered if anyone has any advice on where to start?

Can anyone advise if the new-ish Kino Blu-Rays (which pair The General with Three Ages and Steamboat Bill Jr. with College) are the best versions available of these films and if these discs are the first releases in what will be a complete collection of the Buster features?

I haven't seen any of the Buster Keaton features yet so whatever I buy will my first experience of them. Thank you for any help!

[Mike Gebert]

They will not be part of a complete set, as the rights are now at Cohen, and there are varying reports on which edition of these films is better. But Kino does have all the films, one way or another.

Here's my feeling: all the Kino blu-rays are excellent, given varying print quality (but some very good), and you can wait your whole life for The! Perfect! Edition! or you can own copies right now that would have made me plotz when the previous DVDs were out, when the laserdisc box sets came out in the early 90s, when there was a long period that most of them were not on home video at all, when Rohauer's highly variable 16mm prints were in distribution... buy them and enjoy them now!

Thanks, Mike. I'll order a few of the Kino Blu-Rays right now, starting with the latest releases. I'll probably like the films so much, I'll just double-dip if a "Perfect Edition" pops up (I know I'd gladly buy the shorts again if more missing footage is found and restored in the future). For now, I'm just really keen to see some of the films in the best quality available now and gradually buy a complete collection.

If you can find it, I would recommend the Keaton box set from KINO:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M22MO6J/

https://camelcamelcamel.com/Buster-Keaton-Collection-14-Disc-Blu-ray/product/B01M22MO6J

https://www.hamiltonbook.com/products/search?q=Keaton&cat_id=MO

Thanks for the tips and the links, Scoundrel. I'd already ordered the two "double-feature" Kino sets before I saw your comment. Really looking forward to watching them.

Wow, a third-party seller has the Kino features disc for just $99. Thanks for the link...I was passing because of the price but at that it's ridiculously cheap.

My discs arrived yesterday and I've had a chance to watch a couple of the films so far. I started with Three Ages and College as I know that these aren't considered "masterpieces" and didn't want to be disappointed if I went ahead and watched The General before them. I really, really enjoyed both films. Plenty of unique and hilarious jokes in Three Ages (The chariot race really had me laughing). I was struck by the ending of College and was genuinely moved by it (I'm not sure that was the intent of the scene, but I was).