Steamboat Bill, Jr.
A bit of Americana on the Mississippi River (though filming was done in a “southern town” built on the Sacramento River levee), Steamboat Bill, Jr. finds Buster Keaton separated from his sweetheart by a bitter rivalry between two riverboat owners.
“The climax is the famous cyclone sequence - probably the most credible physical disaster ever planned for a movie. For one example: Willie Canfield in a hospital bed finds himself on open ground when the building blows away. He runs to stand in the street while the whole town begins flying away. When a wall comes crashing down on the bewildered Willie, he passes untouched through an open window. The scene was not faked; Keaton arranged for a two-ton wall to come falling down on him in one of the most carefully planned and dangerous stunts of his career.” --Audio Brandon Films