In line with James Curtis, there have been a few thousand spectators readily available to look at the shot, eagerly awaiting its completion regardless of quite a few setbacks. Even moreover the flames that Buster Keaton rejected, one other take needed to be prematurely stopped when two boys have been noticed swimming within the river.

The price of the shot, the spectacle of it, and the hazard of it appeared to make all people a bit of anxious. Even the troopers ruined one shot by charging into the water a bit of too quickly. Earlier than lengthy, the manufacturing would lose its mild, which means the shot must wait one other day.

However Keaton acquired the shot. As he known as for the upriver dam to open, with water flowing once more by way of the river, he known as for the bridge to be set on fireplace, and, lastly, known as motion on the shot. Dummies have been flung from the practice because it fell efficiently and fantastically by way of the bridge, which collapsed with good timing. Some spectators might have reportedly fainted, and the additional water from the dam opening might have nearly led to a number of the troopers drowning, however they acquired the shot.

The film ended up being a flop, nevertheless it made for a cinematic achievement now not often matched, and a contemporary popularity as one of many all-time greats. If it actually was the most costly shot any film had produced to that time, it was value it, making a genuinely spectacular second that nearly actually can be unlawful to make at present.