How the holy hell have I not reviewed a Buster Keaton movie yet in the four years I've been doing this blog? Time to rectify that mistake with The Cameraman, the first of his films I ever saw.
An unnamed tintype photographer (Buster Keaton) happens to meet Sally (Marceline Day), who works for MGM's newsreel department. (I see what you did there, studio.) Instantly smitten, he invests all his money in a motion picture camera and tries to get a job with MGM. However, the boss of the newsreel department (Sidney Bracey) is disdainful of the off-the-streets rookie with the out-of-fashion camera. Our titular cameraman, at Sally's suggestion, repeatedly tries to find something exciting or noteworthy to film in order to land the job, but for one reason or another, luck simply isn't on his side. And even when he does manage to get something on film, his lack of familiarity with motion picture cameras leads to all sorts of goofs. Still, with Sally's encouragement, he sticks with it, and his pursuit of Sally leads to a Sunday outing together, jam-packed with all sorts of mishaps. His professional career finally takes off when - with the help of a newly acquired monkey sidekick - he snags some footage of an epic fight between two rival Chinese tongs while also getting the chance to show up MGM's top newsreel man (Harold Goodwin) and, of course, win Sally's heart.