In the riverside town of River Junction, Captain William Canfield has an old steamship and disputes the passengers with the powerful banker John James King, who has a brandy new passenger vessel. William is informed that his unknown son William Canfield Jr. will arrive by train from Boston to visit him. When Willie arrives, William trains him to work with him in his ship. However, Willie meets his friend Kitty King, the daughter of James King, and they date each other, against the will of their fathers. When a hurricane reaches River Junction, Willie rescues his father and his future father-in-law from the river. Steamboat Bill is excited that his son (Steamboat Bill Jr.) is coming to visit him. When he does, he tries to turn him into a proper person for working on the boats, while his son resists. Meanwhile, Kitty, a girl that he knows from school in Boston, spots him and introduces him to her father, a rival of Steamboat Bill. He tries to be alone with her, but gets caught several times, and is given a ticket back to Boston. Steamboat Bill gets arrested for unruly conduct (on a condemnation notice of his boat) and it's up to Bill Jr. to rescue his dad - in the middle of a cyclone storm. Any way, that's after meeting him, some 20 years after last seeing him as a baby. This comedy with dramatic pathos deals with the feud between two rival riverboat ship owners: old school Ernest Torrance and his seemingly barely floatable tug, and rich Tom McGuire and his expensive river cruise boat. When Torrance's milquetoast son, Keaton, arrives, it's at laugh expenses on him, but McGuire doesn't expect the fact that his own daughter (Marion Byron) to already know him and fall in love with him. McGuire arranges for Torrance's boat to be condemned, and later for Torrance to be arrested. Several other natural disasters occur, including the most dramatic of windstorms, resulting among some of Keaton's very best effects. <br/><br/>This works out as comedy, mainly because of the "uh oh!" factor that occurs, as well as some brilliant special effects. Keaton seems constantly in danger as he strives to save both his father's steamship and Byron, later trying to rescue Torrance from a certain watery grave. The story really is more dramatic than comedic, using what sounds like "Show Boat's" "Cotton Blossom" as its main theme. Keaton proves that a seemingly useless milquetoast can become a hero, giving one of his best film appearances. Many elements of this 90 year plus old film are far ahead of their time, making thus a must for film students and lovers of fine cinematic genius in general. 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' perhaps marked the end of a golden era for fans of silent comedy genius Buster Keaton. The film was the last produced by Keaton's independent production team before his move to MGM, from which point, it is often said, his work had a marked decline in quality. However, having not yet seen any of Keaton's later works, I am still reserving my judgment. In any case, let us return to the tour-de-force that is 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.'<br/><br/>The first half of this film is amusing, without being uproariously so, basically acting as a lead-up to the fantastic climactic storm sequence. The crusty, irritable captain of a battered steamboat (Ernest Torrence) receives a letter from his estranged son, informing him that he has plans to visit after so many years of separation. However, Steamboat Bill Sr's enthusiasm at having the assistance of a younger version of himself quickly evaporates when Steamboat Bill Jr (Keaton) arrives in town, sporting a delicate moustache and a sophisticated French artist's hat. Furious, Bill Sr sets about improving his son's image, only to find that his son won't accept any drastic changes quite so willingly. Bill Sr is even more aghast when he discovers that Keaton has already fallen in love Marion King (played by Marion Byron, just seventeen years old when the film was released), the pretty daughter of John James King (Tom McGuire), his arch enemy and main rival in the steam-boating business. This section of the film contains some clever sight gags including a hilarious routine involving a multitude of different hats but it noticeably lacks the frenetic energy and remarkable stunt-work that is the reason we love to watch Buster Keaton.<br/><br/>The second half of the film, however, is a completely different story. When a destructive cyclone bears down upon the small riverside town, all hell breaks loose, and young Steamboat Bill Jr finds himself wondering precariously through a crumbling labyrinth of abandoned streets and buildings. As he endeavours to rescue his father, who is locked up in the local jail, Keaton endures the savagery of the hurricane winds and flying debris, frequently dodging tumbling building walls. The storm is probably the most ambitious extended silent comedy sequence since Harold Lloyd scaled the skyscraper in 'Safety Last! (1923),' and it is remarkable how, in the absence of any elaborate special effects, it all seems so believable. The storm effects were created using six powerful Liberty-motor wind machines and a 120-foot crane, and directors Charles Reisner and Keaton (uncredited) unleashed the machines' wrath on $135,000 worth of breakaway street sets specially built for the film.<br/><br/>In one extremely memorable stunt which has since become legendary Keaton stands willfully still as an entire building wall tumbles down on top of him, his only saving grace being the attic window that was intricately positioned to pass over his body. Believe it or not, there were no optical tricks employed to pull off this shot; the wall was very much solid, and Keaton's death would have been very much real had he positioned himself incorrectly. Reportedly, half of the film's crew walked off the set on the day that this stunt was performed, lest it went horribly wrong and Keaton was killed. If all this wasn't remarkable enough, then consider this final fascinating observation: throughout the entire stunt, as the mammoth wall thunders down upon him and his entire life hangs in the balance, Keaton doesn't even flinch once
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