The Cohen Film Collection is a film archive currently held by Cohen Media Group. Containing several hundreds of rare and classic movies spanning from the silent film era to the present day, it was previously referred to as the Rohauer Library prior to Cohen Media Group's ownership in 2011.
31-556: The American film programmer Raymond Rohauer had acquired several films of the actor Buster Keaton in the 1950s through forming a partnership with the actor; during Rohauer's career, he acquired several films through several ways; he formed similar partnerships, such as with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. for films produced by Douglas Fairbanks , according to preservationist Tim Lanza, bought story rights of films based on novels, and distribution rights thereafter, as well as making contracts. Several instances of Rohauer's acquisitions would become
62-520: A "pirate", while William K. Everson preferred the term "freebooter", as it implied the "certain cavalier charm that Rohauer possessed". At the time, Rohauer was reported to have died at the St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan, New York City from complications following a heart attack on November 10, 1987. Later sources say he died from AIDS . The 700 titles amassed by Rohauer passed to
93-425: A cable attached to a pulley mounted on the stern. At the other end, the cable was attached to a tugboat , which dragged the boat under the water to complete the gag. Keaton and Gabourie also conceived the design of the boat's collapsible funnels, mast, and rigging which enable it to pass under bridges, in another inventive sight gag. Metro Pictures released The Boat on November 10, 1921, including versions with
124-401: A young married couple, beginning with The Scarecrow (1920) and continuing with One Week (1920). They also note the parallelism between the ending of One Week , in which the couple's home is destroyed by a train, and the beginning of The Boat , in which their house is destroyed by the boat. Keaton considered combining One Week and The Boat into a single four-reeler that would follow
155-463: Is a 1921 American two-reel silent comedy film written and directed by, and starring Buster Keaton . Contemporary reviews consider it one of his best shorts, with One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921) and Cops (1922). It is presently in the public domain . The International Buster Keaton Society takes its name, The Damfinos, from the name of the film's boat. Buster is married with two children (both of whom wear child-sized versions of
186-708: The Coronet Theatre from 1950, which was, according to William K. Everson , a "bizarre combination of art house, film society, and exploitation cinema". Films shown at the Coronet were generally copied illicitly, occasionally to the irritation of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City because Rohauer often neglected to remove identifying features present in their prints. In 1954, Rohauer met Buster Keaton and his wife, Eleanor. The Coronet Theatre
217-475: The "Rohauer Collection", as it came to be merchandised, were revival theaters and colleges. Rohauer, offering the Buster Keaton silent films and Mack Sennett comedies (which he also claimed to own), deliberately distributed third-rate copies featuring harsh contrast and washed-out details. These prints were just clear enough to be shown to audiences, but not good enough to be copied any further. Rohauer
248-661: The 1960s, Rohauer returned to the East Coast and became the film curator of the Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art in New York City, although the gallery's existence was relatively brief. In some cases, he acquired the rights to stories from the estates of deceased writers, so gaining a hold over The Sheik (1921), produced by Paramount and starring Rudolph Valentino . Alternatively, he found instances where living writers no longer held
279-614: The Cohen Media Group renewed a deal with Kino (now known as Kino Lorber) to distribute their titles for home video and digital releases, which includes the Cohen Film Collection. The Cohen Film Collection is based in Columbus, Ohio . It is part of the Cohen Media Group, based in New York City . After Cohen Media Group's acquisition in 2011, Charles S. Cohen and preservationist Tim Lanza invested in restoring
310-730: The Douris Corporation in 1996. Douris licensed the Keaton films to the American Movie Classics cable-television network. For the first time in decades, original film materials were consulted, resulting in superior, first-generation video masters for a nationwide, marathon broadcast -- a loss of control unthinkable to Rohauer during his lifetime. The Rohauer library was acquired by Cohen Film Collection in 2011. Cohen has since issued four volumes of Keaton films on home video. The Boat (1921 film) The Boat
341-466: The Keaton titles held by the Academy. Raymond Rohauer was known for claiming rights to films under dubious pretexts; he pursued court battles over The Birth of a Nation , eventually found to be in the public domain , and other classics. He made new prints of director Leni Riefenstahl 's 1938 documentary Olympia , only to find that Riefenstahl was still alive and determined to assert her rights as
SECTION 10
#1732791105502372-635: The Muskegon Connection , Okkonen and Pesch assert that Keaton picked up the name from a powerboat entry in an Actors' Colony regatta in Muskegon, Michigan . Keaton reused the name for a racing shell in his 1927 film College . Members of the International Buster Keaton Society informally call themselves The Damfinos. Neibur and Niemi consider The Boat the third installment in a trilogy of films about
403-559: The adventures of a young couple. To that end, Virginia Fox , who was originally cast as the wife in The Boat , was replaced with Sybil Seely , the wife in One Week . However, the idea of combining the films was never realized. The boat launch, in which the vessel slides out of the launching ramp and sinks straight into the water, took three days to film. Technical director Fred Gabourie had two 35 ft (11 m) boats built for
434-558: The basis of his collection, which is usually referred to as the Rohauer Library. Rohauer, through his collection, reissued and released the films for theatrical distribution. The rights to the films were occasionally challenged by means of litigations, alleging that the acquired films were not licensed, only to end with settlements. After Rohauer died in 1987, the Rohauer library was briefly owned by distributor Alan Twyman, before
465-547: The boat, Buster loses the family car. The boat passes with impunity under the exceedingly low bridges of the Venice (California) canals thanks to Buster's clever boat design. Once they're out on the Pacific , Buster and his family are caught in a terrible storm. The boat is barely seaworthy to begin with, and it does not help that Buster nails a picture up inside the boat, causing an improbable leak; or when he further drills through
496-524: The bottom of the boat to let the water out, resulting in a spectacular gusher. He radios a Morse Code call for help, but when the Coast Guard operator asks who it is, he answers, "d-a-m-f-i-n-o" in Morse Code. The operator interprets it as "damn if I know" and dismisses the call as a prank. Taking to a ridiculously small dinghy that is in fact a bathtub, the family resign themselves to sinking into
527-442: The film company The Douris Corporation acquired it in 1995. The library was estimated to have 700 feature and short films in the catalogue at the time of the acquisition. During the Douris Corporation's ownership, films from the Rohauer Library were distributed by Kino for home videos. In 2008, The Douris Corporation went into receivership and sought licensing deals and liquidation of the library. By 2011, The Douris Corporation sold
558-438: The films for theatrical, home and digital releases. Raymond Rohauer Raymond Rohauer (1924, Buffalo, New York – November 10, 1987) was an American film collector and distributor. Rohauer moved to California in 1942 and was educated at Los Angeles City College . Rohauer made a five-reel 16mm experimental film Whirlpool (1947), which was not successful. He subsequently became active in film exhibition at
589-546: The films to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in January 1956: "I knew that Keaton could not use the films to his personal advantage and that he did not command the facilities for preserving them. Anyway, right or wrong, I chose the Academy." Rohauer, undaunted, created the new legal entity Buster Keaton Productions, with himself and Mr. and Mrs. Keaton as executive officers. This entity gave Rohauer legal access to
620-399: The foreign titles La barca (Italy and Spain), Frigo capitaine au long cours (France), Acksónak (Hungary) and Buster merenkulkijana (Finland). The Boat was well-received by filmgoers. Keaton considered it one of his personal favorites. In his autobiography My Wonderful World of Slapstick , Keaton said that the signature image of his pork pie hat floating on the water at the end of
651-413: The library to real estate developer Charles S. Cohen , who incorporated the acquired assets into his film distribution company Cohen Media Group. Initially distributed by Entertainment One , The Rohauer Library has since been renamed the Cohen Film Collection and continues to add various films from filmmakers, such as Ken Loach , Claude Chabrol , and Patrice Chéreau , to its catalogue. In October 2020,
SECTION 20
#1732791105502682-413: The production—one to float and one to sink. However, neither vessel performed its function. The production crew initially weighted the boat meant to sink with approximately 1,600 lb (730 kg) of pig iron and T-rails , but as the vessel slid off the ramp it slowed down instead of gliding underwater. Keaton later explained that an undercrank could not be used because it would make the surface of
713-422: The rights to their work, an example being the J.B. Priestley novel Benighted , which was the basis for The Old Dark House (1932), James Whale 's Universal horror film that had been thought lost . According to William K. Everson, he would claim to overseas contacts that he had won libel suits which he had, in fact, lost or accept bookings for silent films which no longer existed. The biggest markets for
744-522: The rights.'" Keaton had prints of the features Three Ages , Sherlock Jr. , Steamboat Bill, Jr. , College (missing one reel) and the shorts The Boat and My Wife's Relations , which Keaton and Rohauer had transferred to safety stock from deteriorating nitrate film stock . Other prints of Keaton's films had been found at the Italian Villa, Keaton's palatial estate of the 1920s now owned by actor James Mason . Mason decided to donate
775-432: The same pork pie hat ). He has built a large boat he has christened Damfino inside his home. When he finishes and decides to take the boat out to sea, he realizes it is too large to fit through the door. He enlarges the opening a bit, but when he tows the boat out using a pulley line from his Model T car , the boat proves to be a bit bigger than he estimated, and the house completely collapses. When he attempts to launch
806-454: The sea—until they realize they are actually standing in shallow water. After wading a short distance, they come up on a deserted beach in the dark of night. "Where are we?" asks his wife (via an intertitle ), to which Buster replies, "Damn if I know" (mouthing the words to the camera; no intertitle is used). The Boat is a classic retelling of Keaton's favorite theme of Man Versus Machine. The accompanying themes of calamity and destruction pave
837-451: The true owner. Rohauer and Riefenstahl ultimately agreed on a settlement. Often, Rohauer would re-edit films or insert new intertitles, so he could claim copyright on these new editions and charge a licensing fee. By the early 1960s, Rohauer was known within the motion picture industry as a leading source for silent films. Television producer Jay Ward licensed Rohauer's silent footage for his satirical Fractured Flickers series. During
868-459: The water "jumpy". The crew next constructed a breakaway stern so the vessel would collapse upon hitting the water—but an air pocket in the nose of the boat kept the nose up out of the water. As a next strategy, the crew drilled holes all over the boat to ensure it would sink. But the buoyancy of the wood itself stopped it from sinking quickly. Finally, the crew towed the boat out to Balboa Bay off Newport Beach, California , and sank an anchor with
899-434: The way for the "little man" to regain control of the situation. Oldham notes that the boat's name, Damfino (or "damn if I know") reflects Keaton's own reaction to the perplexing and challenging world he confronts in his films. As the name is referenced numerous times throughout the film, Oldham also describes it as "probably the longest running single pun in the history of the silent film". In their book Buster Keaton and
930-659: Was involved in the preservation of outtakes from the films of Charlie Chaplin , which were saved after the filmmaker was forced to leave the United States in 1952. This material formed the basis of the Unknown Chaplin series in 1983. Such was Rohauer's reputation in this field that Kevin Brownlow , the co-producer of this series and the earlier Hollywood (1980), had not previously allowed his production staff to use Rohauer's resources. Brownlow considered him
961-535: Was showing The General , which "Buster hadn't seen ... in years and he wanted me to see it," Eleanor Keaton said in 1987. "Raymond recognized Buster and their friendship started." Rohauer in that same article recalls: "I was in the projection room. I got a ring that Buster Keaton was in the lobby. I go down and there he is with Eleanor. The next day I met with him at his home. I didn't realize we were going to join forces. But I realized he had this I-don't-care attitude about his stuff. He said, 'It's valueless. I don't own