Three Ages
| Three Ages | |
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Theatrical poster for Three Ages (1923)
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| Directed by |
Buster Keaton Edward F. Cline (uncredited) |
| Produced by |
Joseph M. Schenck Buster Keaton |
| Written by |
Buster Keaton Clyde Bruckman (uncredited) Jean C. Havez (uncredited) Joseph A. Mitchell (uncredited) |
| Starring |
Buster Keaton Margaret Leahy Wallace Beery Lillian Lawrence Joe Roberts |
| Cinematography |
Elgin Lessley William C. McGann |
| Distributed by | Metro Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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63 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language |
Silent film English intertitles |
Three Ages is a 1923 black-and-white American feature-length silent comedy film starring comedian Buster Keaton and Wallace Beery. The first feature Keaton wrote, directed, produced, and starred in (unlike The Saphead (1920), in which he only acted), Keaton structured the film like three inter-cut short films. The structure also worked as a satire of D. W. Griffith's 1916 film Intolerance. The film was shot in this manner as a kind of insurance for the studio. While Keaton was a proven success in the short film medium, he had yet to prove himself as a feature-length star. Had the project flopped, the film would have been broken into three short films, each covering one of the 'Ages.'
Three plots in three different historical periods—prehistoric times, Ancient Rome, and modern times (the Roaring Twenties)—are intercut to prove the point that man's love for woman has not significantly changed throughout history. In all three plots, characters played by the small and slight Buster Keaton and handsome bruiser Wallace Beery compete for the attention of the same woman, played by Margaret Leahy. Each plot follows similar "arcs" in the story line in which Keaton's character works for his beloved's attention and eventually wins her over.
In the Stone Age story line, Keaton competes with the bigger, brutish Beery for a cavewoman Leahy. After observing another caveman drag away a woman by the hair in order to "claim" her, Keaton tries to become more assertive, but is continuously pushed back and bullied by Beery. An attempt to make Leahy jealous by flirting with another woman ends in failure. Nevertheless, Keaton grows closer to Leahy, and Beery challenges him to a fight at sunrise. Keaton wins thanks to hiding a rock in his club, but is caught and tied to the tail of an elephant to be dragged around the dirt as punishment. Upon his return, he finds Leahy about to be claimed by Beery and attempts to make off with her. Beery catches him and the two battle by tossing boulders at each other from afar, with Keaton and Leahy on a cliff together. When Beery climbs up to reclaim Leahy, Keaton dispatches Leahy's cronies and finally defeats him. He drags a smitten Leahy off by the hair. In the epilogue, they go off for a walk with their huge family of children following them.
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Wikipedia