Live Music & Film The Navigator
Production still from The Navigator 1924 / Dir: Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton / Image courtesy: Park Circus / View full image
When
10.30 am – 12.05 pm, Sat 31 Jan 2026Where
Gallery of Modern Art, Cinema A
Accessibility
- Wheelchair Accessible
Admission
Book NowAbout
Come and celebrate one of the Gallery’s biggest contraptions of all: the Wurlitzer Organ. Organist David Bailey will captain the Gallery’s 1929 Wurlitzer organ crafting a live musical score for short film A Wild Roomer 1926 and Buster Keaton’s iconic silent film The Navigator 1929 about a runaway ocean liner.
Note: we are offering a limited number of organ tours after the film screening. The option to book a tour will be offered when booking tickets to Live Music & Film event.
Silent screen legend Buster Keaton’s social satire finds a pampered rich duo, the lovelorn Rollo (Keaton) and heiress Betsy (Kathryn McGuire), accidentally stranded on the high seas aboard an abandoned ship. The hapless pair are used to servants taking care of every domestic task, and Rollo invents a series of complicated contraptions reminiscent of cartoonist Rube Goldberg’s fanciful machines to help him boil an egg or open a can of condensed milk.
Employing his signature style of physical humour, Keaton wrestles with the problem of how to take charge of an ocean liner and its mechanical mysteries. His co-star McGuire proves a worthy match for Keaton’s physical comedy skills, making the pair an on-screen delight.
This feature film will be preceded by Charley Bowers's short film A Wild Roomer 1926. In this playful comedy, the brilliant inventor Charley, has 48 hours in which to make a convincing demonstration of his latest machine in order to collect an inheritance from his father.