InhisfirstindependentlyproducedfeaturefilmBustertellsofloveandromancethroughthreehistoricalages:theStoneAge,theRomanAge,andtheModernAge. ThreeAgesisa1923black-and-whiteAmericanfeature-lengthsilentcomedyfilmstarringcomedianBusterKeatonandWallaceBeery.ThefirstfeatureKeatonwrote,directed,produced,andstarredin(unlikeTheSaphead(1920),inwhichheonlyacted),Keatonstructuredthefilmlikethreeinter-cutshortfilms.ThestructurealsoworkedasasatireofD.W.Griffith's1916filmIntolerance.ThefilmwasshotinthismannerasakindofinsurancefortheStudio.WhileKeatonwasaprovensuccessintheshortfilmmedium,hehadyettoprovehimselfasafeature-lengthstar.Hadtheprojectflopped,thefilmwouldhavebeenbrokenintothreeshortfilms,eachcoveringoneofthe'Ages.'