A film that utilizes the talents of stoic comedian Buster Keaton and avant-garde writer Samuel Beckett seems like it would be a sure thing, but their only collaboration is as much of an enigma as it is a treasure. Beckett's "
Film" requires Keaton to hide his face and flee from the camera, which pursues him relentlessly. The result is perhaps the ultimate distillation of the chase scene cliche, reducing the visceral thrills wrought by high-speed cinema kinetics to paranoia and existential terror -- for Keaton's unnamed character and the audience. The Webster Film Series presents this lost gem in a double feature with Keaton's zany romantic comedy
The Cameraman. The Great Stone Face plays a man in love with a woman who works at MGM Studios; he decides to get a job as a cameraman so he can be close to her, with some unexpected results. "Film" and
The Cameraman are shown at 8 p.m. Friday through Tuesday (July 29 to August 2) at Webster University's Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue;
www.webster.edu/film-series). Tickets are $4 to $6.