Why didn't anyone tell poor Marceline Day "Hey, your swimsuit is see-through."??
This movie's still great, though, and the pool sequence is hilarious more because of Buster than this twenties-style wardrobe malfunction.
"I now pronounce you man and wife. Proceed to the execution."
--The African Queen
You must have really been looking closely at Miss Day's chest.
"Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie."--Welles
No, I noticed the first moment she came out of the water. There's a white strip right across her chest with two distinct dark spots poking right through. Granted I have a 42" plasma TV, but surely all the actors that day noticed. Maybe nobody cared. I sure don't mind!
We come into this world naked, screaming, and covered in blood. Why should the fun end there?
Haha, no, I wasn't staring at her chest. Had Buster been wearing white swim trunks, I may have been staring at HIM, though. I did watch the movie on a bigscreen TV, though, but it seemed pretty obvious. Surely SOMEONE on the set or involved in production noticed and just didn't do anything.
"La vida es como la espuma, por eso hay que darse como el mar."
--Y Tu Mamá También
Errr...I didn't notice that you could see through her swimsuit! What my sister and I DID notice, however, was that after Buster loses his trunks from his dive, and his date is trying to pull him out of the water, you get a full frontal Buster butt shot. No fooling, either! My little brother was in hysterics for like thirty minutes.
shareA butt is in the back of the body not the front.
shareNot if you're looking from the back, dumbASS!
Savonnette, I noticed his body in the changeroom as well, and I was pleasantly surprised, lol. I've always thought Buster was handsome, but now I know he has a gorgeous body to go with his gorgeous face, lol.
Well, I kinda expected it because you can't do all the incredible stunts that he does and not have the body to show for it, lol.
Total total total totally total total... total providence.
Oh my gosh, the pool sequence is just hilarious. The scene where Buster is undressing with another man is just priceless (and we can notice that he has a great body, which match his beautiful face ^^)
shareThat scene was reportedly the inspiration for the famous episode in "A Night in the Opera" where a whole crowd ended up crammed in one stateroom.
shareI just saw this movie on my laptop, and I noticed.
What's the Spanish for drunken bum?
Just saw the DVD. It is definitely noticeable. I have seen "The Cameraman" many times over the years, but the VHS, 16 mm and even 35 mm prints are so bad that those little spots are not so striking.
shareMmm marceline see thru! I do have the vhs, but now I'm buying the dvd for some stills!! Wow thanks... I didn't notice. Any suggestions for a releaser? TCM buster keaton collection perhaps?
shareMuch more noticeable on the DVD than the VHS.
shareThe shot of Buster after he loses his suit is very noticeable when he dives underwater, showing his butt as he does so. I love the way he has one foot on the side of the pool, then realizes something is wrong - he looks down, puts his fingers in his mouth and bites on the nails, then ducks down so that he's barely visible above the water. They must have put something in the water to darken it, to keep him from flashing the whole set!
shareSorry guys, I don't see what the big deal is. Remember, this was before any type of motion picture code came into effect (the first was in 1930 and was hardly enforced, thus creating the "pre-code" era before the Hays Code was introduced in 1934). If you are truly a silent movie buff, you will clearly recall the many topless women in the original 1925 version of "Ben-Hur." And this was in living color! So showing a woman VERY BRIEFLY with a partially see-thru swim suit or a flash shot of Buster's rear would not have been a big deal at all for most movie goers in 1928. Remember, this was the Jazz Age, the Flapper Generation with stars like Clara Bow creating a sensation. The films made during the pre-code era were even more racy, using lascivious story lines rather than nudity. It was this period which caused Will Hays to create his infamous "code" which would stay in effect until 1967. That would explain why in the 1959 film, "Suddenly Last Summer," Elizabeth Taylor speaks in detail about her see-thru white swimsuit making her look "naked" when wet, but in the actual shot, the suit is not see-thru at all (darn it!).
For more info on the Pre-Code era, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Code
Male nudity probably was pretty rare in pre-code era or before that, I am not a silent movie buff, but this is the only silent film I ever know that a male film star had to be totally naked(under the water, though) during the shooting. It must have been quite embarrassing for Marceline Day and Buster Keaton to do that scene. About Marceline Day's see-through swimsuit, I guess it was just an accident. Probably it was only noticable under that lighting condition, so noboby told her untill they finished the first two shots.
Anyway, it is not the nudity made this movie great, there are so many other memorable scenes in this movie.
I doubt that Buster was uncomfortable. He knew he was a hot bod and was always trolling for babes since his wife wouldn't sleep with him. (What was wrong with her?"
shareHahahahahahaha....I'm not the only one that noticed Buster's hot body!
I love the dressing room scene because he has such great arms. I also figured he has such a nice, toned body because he does all of his own stunts (and that takes a good amount of physical strength and build).
It seems like the unlikely guys (such as Buster) are the guys you (suprisingly) find yourself wishing would wear less clothing, heehee.
But, also, he's just adorable all the time. Especially in this movie :)
Frankly I like him in the suit, so slender and debonaire. And I prefer to see guys dressed. As ZZ Topp sang, "Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man."
shareI was looking for a post like this, wondering if I was the only one to see it. Yeah, you can totally see her nipples. That swimsuit seems quite revealing for the time. And she looked pretty good in it, too.
Language! The thing that means stuff.
Actually I didn't notice anything inappropriate about Marceline Day's attire on first viewing. I'll be sure to look during many future planned viewings. It was hard NOT to notice Buster had to be entirely naked for this scene, and in a full room of mixed gender. There is some device now--I forget the name but there's a special word for it for it--so an actor can be almost naked but not totally uncovered--but it can't have been invented yet back then as this is one of the earliest instances. Yes, Buster had some girlfriends but he was a very shy person, so this must have been difficult. He did splendidly. I appreciate how many other admirers there are of his fine form which is truly a work of art. I'll admit to being pleasantly surprised, too. Somehow you sort of expect skinny and then you see all these awesome rippling muscles developed to the peak of perfection--no overdone musclebound bodybuilder here!
Regarding what the hell was wrong with Buster's wife I've gotten in trouble a few times for asking this and speculating what I might do in her place so I'll keep that to myself for now.
As for "code"--a lot of the early films have statements saying they passed what the Americans nicely called the National Board of Review and the British more bluntly called the Censorship Board.
If you get the chance, check out the DVD "Keaton Plus," which contains some of Buster's TV work from the early 1950s. He usually wore baggy clothing, but in one show there was a time travel segment featuring skimpier attire and when pushing 60 he had a body that would put most 30-year-olds then or now to shame!
BTW, the big guy in the dressing room with Buster is Vernon Dent. An older Dentwould be quite familiar to Three Stooges fans because he appeared in at least 35 of their Columbia shorts (plus shorts with Hugh Herbert, Charley Chase and Andy Clyde).
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
Interesting...and thanks for that confirmation. I had seen The Cameraman countless times before, but tonight while watching it (before checking out this forum) I thought during the pool scene...wait, was that Vernon Dent??
I recognized him more from the Harry Langdon shorts, not the Stooges...
"Sacred cows make the best hamburger." Mark Twain