Our Hospitality

During the filming of the scene in which Buster Keaton is being swept downstream towards the waterfall, he was attached to a 'holdback' cable, concealed in the river. During the filming of the scene, the cable broke, and he was hurled down the rapids, battered by rocks and limbs, and was only barely able to grab an overhanging branch, which held him just long enough for the crew to reach and rescue him. This scene remains in the final print, and is fairly easy to spot. Just look for the point at which Keaton is being pulled downriver and 1) he suddenly looks back towards the camera, and 2) his speed in the water doubles, almost causing him to fly out of frame.

When the donkey refuses to move from the rail tracks, the engineer and others curve the tracks around him. The long shot that shows the train moving past the donkey, however, shows the tracks back in a straight line.

In 1995, Film Preservation Associates, Inc. copyrighted a 73-minute version of this film with a music score compiled by Donald Hunsberger.

Edited into The Golden Age of Buster Keaton (1979)