Well,
it’s not terrible. That’s about the most
I can say about this MGM Buster Keaton talkie.
It’s the first film that pairs Buster with Jimmy Durante, and it’s
evident from the start that it’s not a good combo – Durante’s loudmouth brand
of humor runs roughshod over Buster’s quieter style. Put that together with an odd plot and
minimal physical comedy, and you don’t wind up with a great film.
Buster
plays Elmer, an American plumber working in Paris who gets mixed up in the
farcical romantic muddle between the lovely Patricia and her smooth-talking
boyfriend Tony. After he accidentally
winds up owing Patricia a lot of money (who he’s naturally in love with,) Elmer
is hired to pose as the wealthy woman’s lover; she knows that the married Tony
is no good for her but, unable to give him up, she banks on him bowing out when
he sees her with another man. Elmer
takes to his new job with complete dedication, which becomes an annoyance to
Patricia when she decides she wants Tony after all but Elmer doesn’t accept
being called off. (Like with the
physical exam scene in Doughboys,
Buster mined this movie for its comedic potential and later used it to make a
much funnier short: She’s Oil Mine follows the first two reels of this film, in which
Elmer is first mistaken for Patricia’s lover and forced into an absurd duel
with Tony, pretty closely.)
The Good – What little physical comedy there
is works wonderfully, especially a scene of Elmer causing accidental havoc at a
casino. There’s also a nice run of gags
with Elmer clumsily trying to serve Patricia breakfast in bed and a
fantastically-Buster-ish moment of Elmer attempting to conceal a small dog on
his person. Aside from that, Elmer has a
few good flashes of intelligence – he’s both a plumber and an amateur inventor, and he dreams up a pretty clever means of
getting money to buy a suit.
The Bad – It’s a good thing Jimmy Durante’s
McCracken (Patricia’s chauffeur) doesn’t spend all his time attached to Elmer,
because Durante just steamrolls Buster.
His comic energy is completely different, and it’s tiring to watch him
shout and mug while Buster waits for his turn to do anything. The movie itself is largely unfunny, lots of
forced farce that feels like it’s just going through the motions. The only real laughs come when everybody else
stops butting in and lets Buster do his thing, and even he seems listless
through stretches of the film. I don’t
know if his personal problems were starting to interfere with his work by this
time or if he simply hated the movie, but there are sections where he just
doesn’t feel like Buster.
The Ugly – As with Sidewalks of New York, Elmer’s dimwittedness is all the more
frustrating because we see hints that he really is a smart guy. So, it’s
aggravating to see him playing the dope again.
Also, I really dislike the plot in the second half, where Patricia wants
Elmer to leave her alone but he won’t go.
She tries to evade him and complains about being a prisoner in her own
house, and Elmer just keeps talking about his contract. The whole thing is weird to me – other than
plot contrivance, I don’t get why Elmer insists on hanging around. Is it a patriarchal “I know what’s best for
you” attitude towards the little woman?
Is he just so in love with her that he won’t leave after he finally gets
an “in?” Is he too dense to realize that
she doesn’t want him there and that irritating her won’t pay off his debt? I can’t tell you the answer, but each of
these explanations leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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