John Bengtson

Silent Echoes: College

John Bengtson

This visual essay by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton, reveals the locations where Keaton's 1927 comedy feature College was filmed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Orange County. A compilation of short films produced between 1917-1922. Coney Island (1917), Back Stage (1919), Convict 13 (1920) and Daydreams (1922).

Harold Lloyd: Big Man on Campus

Karen Stetler

John Bengtson

This visual essay by John Bengtson, author of Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd, looks at the locations used for the college and football scenes in The Freshman, and features rare behind-the-scenes still from Lloyd's archive.

Safety Last!: Locations and Effects

Craig Barron, Craig Barron

In this short documentary produced for the Criterion Collection, Oscar-winning visual-effects expert Craig Barron and film writer John Bengtson, author of Silent Visions, discuss the unique stunts, locations, and effects seen in Harold Lloyd's comedy masterpiece Safety Last! (1923).

Time Travelers

Daniel Raim

Buster Keaton, Marc Wanamaker

Time Travelers, a new documentary by Daniel Raim featuring interviews with John Bengtson and film historian Marc Wanamaker, reveals newly discovered connections between Buster Keaton’s MGM debut and the earliest films of his career.

Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin

John Bengtson

Documentary on Hollywood in the time of Chaplin.