Buster Keaton: „Convict 13“ (1920)
In many slapstick films from 1914 to 1928, comedy is triggered by physical actions that appear strange, bizarre, dysfunctional or exaggerated. The actors had acquired the ability to perform such usually strenuous physical acts during their time in the circus or in vaudeville theaters. The clumsiness of a clown requires the kind of perfect body control that only sportsmen and sportswomen know. This is why most stars in slapstick films still performed the most dangerous scenes themselves. Take Buster Keaton, for example, who put his body in the most difficult situations in films such as "The General" (1926) or "Steamboat Bill Jr." (1928). In his two-act play "Convict 23" (1920), he thematizes sport in two different ways. Firstly, he satirizes the game of golf by extracting the most absurd moments from it. Then he develops sporting actions such as bunjee jumping or the hammer throw for self-defense.
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