Favorite Characters: Betsy (The Navigator)

My first non-Buster favorite character in a Buster Keaton movie.  Not that Rollo isn’t great, of course – I love him, too, and he’s probably the best dandy Buster ever played.  Expect a write-up on him before too long, but on my latest rewatch of The Navigator, I was reminded yet again how much I adore Betsy.  If I’m going to talk about someone other than Buster on Buster Monday, I might as well start with her.

For my money, Betsy is the best love interest in any of Buster’s films.  She’s intriguing from the start, because a) she turns down Rollo’s proposal, but b) she seems upset about it.  We don’t really know what the situation is here – I get the impression that they’re at least sweethearts, so no awkward proposal-at-first-sight scenario, but her reasons for denying him aren’t spelled out.  Since Rollo is the heir to a fortune, we know it’s not about money (a frequent thwarter of Buster’s romantic aspirations,) and there’s no rival for Betsy’s affections.  Plus, she lays on the sad eyes pretty thick as soon as Rollo leaves.  So why the “no”?  My personal fanwank is either that she thinks the pampered Rollo isn’t ready to share his life with anyone, or that she’s affronted by his presumptuousness (and to be fair, he’s already planned booked the honeymoon tickets at this point.)  Who knows?  Maybe she just wants a more romantic proposal.  Whatever the reason, it feels like it’s probably understandable and quite possibly sympathetic.

I’ve mentioned before how I like that Betsy goes through a fairly similar character journey to Rollo.  Much like our leading man, she doesn’t know the first thing about taking care of herself while they’re adrift on the Navigator.  Making breakfast is too much for these two, let alone managing an ocean liner.  Together, they make all sorts of terrible decisions – from trying to sleep on the deck of a heavily-pitching ship without side-rails to trying to tow the Navigator with a life boat (these kids, seriously) – and though Betsy isn’t as actively clumsy, she’s just as hapless as Rollo.  We’re talking about a young woman who makes coffee with sea water and three unground coffee beans.  I love this, because it’s funny.  In Buster’s movies, “the girl” is often there mainly to give Buster a goal.  She’s always beautiful, and she may be sweet, vivacious, naïve, or stuck-up, but she rarely gets the laughs.  Comedy-wise, this is probably the most evenly-matched pairing Buster ever came up with.

And like I said, these are characters on a journey.  Rollo and Betsy both learn how to get by on the ship, doing pretty darn well for themselves.  It’s Betsy’s idea to use the diving suit when the ship runs aground, she plays a key role in the big climax, and just as Rollo rescues her when she’s in trouble, she’s quick to do the same for him.  Even in the diving scene, although Betsy stays on the ship while Rollo does the underwater stuff, she’s involved.  She’s so focused on making sure his oxygen keeps flowing that, when the ship is beset by the film’s third-act baddies, she’s more concerned with his safety than her own.  Rollo becomes a hero over the course of the movie, but so does Betsy.

Finally, she’s easily the most physical love interest in a Buster film.  Betsy’s involved in a lot of the action, from purely comic sight gags (like sleeping in the deck chair as the rocking ship slides it perilously close to the edge) to big humorous set pieces (like falling overboard, still clinging to the rope, while she’s trying to hoist Rollo back onto the ship.)  Over the course of the movie, she’s carried, dragged, and rolled, and she steers a human life raft.  This girl is a scrapper.