Buster Keaton’s Backlot Adventures in Cops
One of the most iconic moments in Buster Keaton’s Cops (1922), in all of cinematic history for that matter, is Buster chased back and forth down an empty city street by a mob of angry policemen.
The giant buildings at back, and what I call Buster’s arch, were obviously a backlot set, and it was thrilling to see, thanks to author-historian Steve Bingen, that it once stood on the Goldwyn lot in Culver City, before later transforming into M-G-M.
Above, looking east at Buster’s arch (photo David L. Synder). I had long wondered, for what feature film were these sets originally built? Well, eagle-eyed Dave Barnes tells us – they appeared in the 1919 drama The World And Its Woman (TWAIW). Dave shares his amazing collection of classic Hollywood backlot photos on the Facebook group Studio Backlots and Ranches.
Above, looking west, Dave’s March 23, 2025 Facebook post shares this stunning image of the giant arch set being constructed. Considering most silent films are now lost, I was even more amazed to learn TWAIW still survives, and can be viewed online on YouTube. TWAIW is a Russian war drama depicting the forbidden love between a peasant girl turned opera star, portrayed by real-life opera star Geraldine Farrar, and a Russian prince, portrayed by Geraldine’s real-life husband Lou Tellegen.
I skimmed through the film, set entirely in Russia, and was surprised to see these grand sets only appear on camera during a few scenes at about 54 minutes into the film. YouTube link HERE. It’s remarkable they would build such huge sets for such limited screen time. Above, TWAIW to the left and Cops to the right.
Count ‘Em, this July 26, 1919 publicity piece touts the film’s Fifteen Hundred Extras. Note the matching view through the arch. Megaphone in hand, Frank Lloyd was the director.
Click to enlarge – looking east at the Goldwyn backlot and Buster’s arch in 1919. That’s Culver Blvd. to the right. USC Digital Library.
Above, front and back views of Buster’s arch – click to enlarge. Interestingly, while TWAIW is set in Russia, the front of the columned building in the right photo reads C”OTTON EXCHANGE,” which suggests the set was repurposed for something else, perhaps a movie set in the US south.
Dave has more surprises. In the same March 23, 2025 Facebook post, his photo of a nearby Goldwyn set shows where Buster fooled an army of cops by hiding in a street sweeper trash can. Lon Chaney filmed a scene here as well, upper right inset, for the 1921 Goldwyn drama The Ace of Hearts.
As reported HERE, Cops is Buster’s only independently produced film with no interior scenes. Every scene was either filmed on location or on a studio backlot. At the time Buster’s open air shooting stage was being enclosed. It’s fun to imagine Cops was deliberately structured without interior scenes to provide the studio carpenters sufficient leeway to complete their work.
Buster not only filmed Cops on the Goldwyn backlot, but on the Metro backlot due south of his studio.
Above, the crowd drenched while viewing the policemen’s parade, and the angry mayor yelling at his chief of police. These views look east.
Buster filmed other scenes on the Metro backlot, here looking west – read more HERE.
Wrapping up, Buster filmed the pawn shop (at back) and the teeter-totter fence from Cops at the Brunton Studios (later United Studios, now the site of Paramount Studios) a few blocks east from his studio. (He also filmed many scenes here for Day Dreams, and the waterfall rescue and related scenes for Our Hospitality). Read more HERE and HERE.
Every location from Cops has been identified, although this scene above hasn’t been posted before. Here, a cop pounds his baton on the ground to summon help, looking west down Market Street from Alameda toward San Pedro.
Every scene has been identified, well … , except for the closing scene below. I appeal once again to readers for help.
Buster locks the army of cops inside a police station, but when rejected by his girl, he turns himself in. The late afternoon sun casting shadows in the foreground suggests we are looking east. The Goldwyn scenes had far more cops. Since this scene has fewer extras, and a slightly more modest set design, I wonder if this was also filmed on the Metro backlot. I lack an aerial photo confirming this is true, but aerial photos of the Goldwyn backlot, Brunton (United) backlot, and Metro backlot, suggest it would have fit most easily on the Metro lot. Conceivably this set could have been built at Buster’s small studio itself, but it would have been one of the largest sets he ever built there, and photos taken later in 1922 do not show remnants of this set. Any thoughts?
For me Cops is an endlessly fascinating time machine. Thanks to Dave Barnes we can now dive deeper into the past to witness and understand how Buster made this incredible film.
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