Charles Reisner
4 credits on HibingeTV
American director and occasional actor, born in 1887. He directed Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Buster Keaton's last independent feature, and went on to direct comedies and musicals at MGM through the 1940s.
Directed
Comedy, Action
A steamboat captain's effete college son comes home to a Mississippi river town and falls for the daughter of his father's business rival. Willie tries to live up to the image of the rough riverman his father wants, with little success, until a cyclone tears through the town. The storm sequence is the film's centerpiece, with buildings collapsing around Keaton, and it contains the most famous single shot in silent comedy: the full facade of a house drops over him and he survives only because he is standing exactly where an open window in the wall passes around his body. The real clearance was a matter of inches. Keaton's deadpan expression never changes throughout. This was his last independent production before moving to MGM.
Comedy · Action · Silent
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
1928 - Comedy
Musical, Comedy
An all-star musical revue film produced by Irving Thalberg and Harry Rapf for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Charles Reisner. Billed as an "All-Star Musical Extravaganza," the plotless film features nearly all of MGM's contracted stars performing variety acts, including Joan Crawford singing and dancing, Laurel and Hardy in a comedy sketch, Buster Keaton, Norma Shearer, Marion Davies, and Cliff Edwards performing "Singin' in the Rain" — the first recording of the song that would later become an American standard. Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny serve as masters of ceremonies. The film entered the public domain on January 1, 2025.
Musical · Comedy
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
1929 - Musical
Comedy, Romance
The Man on the Box is a 1925 silent comedy film directed by Charles Reisner for Warner Bros., starring Syd Chaplin (Buster Keaton's half-brother). Based on the 1904 novel by Harold MacGrath, the film follows a wealthy young man who disguises himself as a gardener to be near the woman he loves, only to discover that the butler is an enemy spy planning to steal military secrets. As a 1925 work, the film is in the public domain.
Comedy · Romance
The Man on the Box
1925 - Comedy