“Keaton was not only beautiful in a classic, stoic way—he had also to his credit—especially in the two-reel shorts—the body of an athlete, the flexibility of a tantric genius—the peerless ass of something painted. Keaton, in the silents, radiated sex. And it was to his credit—still is—that he does so seamlessly: his was a modest sexuality, whose understatement called attention to the thing it sought to hide. In this case, a perfect body coupled with a sensitive, downtrodden spirit, a somewhat quirkier version of the Everyman, whose hour-and-a-half long documentaries of public humiliation were the joy of millions back in the day—that is, the millions who weren’t just watching it for his ass”
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(Source: cherbourgcherub, via elfauno)
