Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Michael_Elliott Gold Ghost, The (1934) ** (out of 4) Wally (Buster Keaton) is expected to marry Gloria (Dorothy Dix) but she finds him to be a wimp and refuses his hand. Wally, depressed, decides to drive out West where he ends up in a ghost town in Nevada where he pretends to be the sheriff but ends up with the job just in time as a gangster comes to visit as well as some looking for gold. After Keaton's contract was destroyed by MGM he moved over to Educational Pictures and this was the first film he made for the ultra low-budget studio. I've heard many reviewers say this was the best of the group and if that's true then I'm really not looking forward to the future films. As many other reviewers have stated, the first portion of this movie features a long silent sequence and many fans seem to feel this was a great return for Keaton. However, in my opinion, just because you make something silent doesn't mean that the quality of the work is any higher. I really thought many of the jokes fell flat on their face simply because of how straight many of them were. The majority of the silent segment features Keaton falling over things. He goes to sit in a chair but it breaks and he falls. Keaton goes to lean against a table but it collapses and he falls. He puts his foot on a bar and, you guessed it, he falls. There are a couple funny gags later on in the film including the best one where Keaton is washing his clothes and is somewhat nude when all these cars start pulling up and he must frantically run off. Another nice gag is when he and the gangster are playing cards on a desk full of dust that goes wild each time one of them moves. THE GOLD GHOST isn't a horrible film because it did at least keep me mildly entertained but at the same time there simply weren't enough laughs to call it a winner.

frankebe Well, maybe Fool's Gold... No it's not "vintage" Keaton, but it's pretty dang good! Educational Pictures gets slammed all the time for being so low-budget, but here is a whole broken-down frontier's town for Buster to play with, complete with ghosts, mobsters, and a dang hell of a lot of extras! It's a quickie-film, as if Buster were trying out sound for the first time to see what he could do, and on a very smallish experimental level I think it works pretty good. Of the entire 16 Educational shorts he made, my vote for best of the bunch is "The Chemist". ("Grand Slam" has been over-rated for years, and doesn't come close, in my opinion.) Buy the set from Kino and check these out for yourself!

Steamcarrot In this Educational sound short from the thirties, Buster plays another variation of his dim but resourceful rich kids, seen in films like The Navigator and Battling Butler. Although this never even approaches the greatness of his earlier work, it is however a charming little film with a great sense of fun. Buster, being spurned by the girl he wants to marry, heads off in his car and keeps going until he runs out of petrol. He ends up in an old gold prospector village that has been deserted and makes himself sheriff (well, he puts on the badge and gun). He is not alone for long though as a gangster on the run crashes his plane in the town and soon strikes up a friendship of sorts with Buster. However, their peace is soon shattered by gold being discovered again and before long the town is booming again. Of course the girl shows up as the mine is owned by her father and Buster in his sheriff's role has to save the day etc etc.The Gold Ghost has some good bits of business and some fitfully funny scenes but it's the setting that helps make it a winner. Also there are small hints of the Buster that went before as the fantasy playing of Buster being the sheriff gives way to his playing the role for real and there are several surreal touches. One of the best Buster talkies.

boblipton Keaton's first screen work after his career collapsed at MGM due to drunkenness, the breakup of his marriage and frustration is a pleasant little piece. True, it lacks the absurdity bordering on surrealism of his great silent shorts, but it does have Keaton at work in a sound film doing what he had always thought was his best mode of operation: interpolating his silent stuntwork in a long sequence in which the only 'ghosts' appear: a dance hall girl and some ghostly bandits, whom he kills -- although they may only exist in his imagination. The sequence includes some fine pratfalls. Not a great work by any means, it is certainly worthwhile for anyone who loves Keaton's work, as do I.