It is difficult to imagine how John Bengtson sold a publisher on the concept for this book (short of presenting them with a finished product). The concept seems ludicrous, or at least esoteric: a close study of the films of Buster Keaton to establish where key scenes were filmed, and, where possible, to track down the same locations today. Yet the resulting book - copiously illustrated with frame enlargements, aerial photographs, and contemporary and silent-era and present-day location photos - is fascinating. The sheer ingenuity of his detective work, as he identifies locations from such small fragments as the shape of a door frame or a particular arrangement of trees, is astounding. It is not only a highly enjoyable walk-through of Keaton's work, and a history of his time as a filmmaker, but it is also a vivid pictorial recreation of early twentieth century Los Angeles. The contrast of past and present day L.A. is also strongly evocative of the city's decline in the last eighty years. As a town planner as well as a film buff, I am probably the perfect audience for this book, but it's sure to fascinate anyone who is interested in either films or cities.