I don’t
know too much about this short – who made it, whether it was filmed for cinema
or TV – but I do know that I like it.
Out of all of Buster’s later work, this project might be the one that
would feel most at home among his silent stuff.
Much of the Keaton Renaissance-era stuff looks to recapture that feel
from Buster’s career, and I think this one does it the most successfully.
Buster is
languishing away at an office somewhere, uninspired with his work and despised
by his punctilious boss, when he receives news that he’s unexpectedly inherited
a farm from a late relative. Then and there,
he quits his job and hightails it out to the country, where his new windfall
doesn’t turn out to be all it’s cracked up to be. As it happens, the farm’s previous owner was
deeply in debt; nothing’s up to snuff and the whole thing is due to be sold at
auction shortly. Buster tries to make do
around the crumbling farm as he ponders how to get out of his inherited
financial pickle.
The short
does a great job of capturing the silent-movie feel. There’s an ever-present musical soundtrack to
accompany the slapstick, and seeing the film again confirms my suspicions that
more music would’ve greatly improved a lot of the Educational and Columbia
shorts. The music keeps everything
lively, and the short hums along with great fun. As for dialogue, it’s only used on an
as-needed basis – apart from a couple plottier scenes bookending the short,
there are only a few stray lines here and there to clarify things. Again, it’s much more along the lines of the
level of dialogue you’d get in a silent short.
Characters aren’t artificially silent, but there are long stretches of
physical comedy where talking simply isn’t necessary.
And that
physical comedy is definitely a treat.
There’s all kinds of goodness to be found here. Buster clowning around the farm is a
hoot. A few of my personal favorites
include a) Buster trying to break open a piggy bank (and the mayhem that
follows,) b) Buster wrestling with the mind-of-its-own water pump, and, as
always, c) Buster getting into trouble while fishing. The gags come fast and funny, with Buster
calmly and determinedly pressing on the face of all the chaos around him, which
never fails to entertain.
One more
note: I really enjoy the gag pulled when
Buster quits his job. Having noticed how
the window-glass in a door shatters every time the door is slammed, he
deliberately marches past the five(!) vice presidents’ offices, opening and
slamming each door in turn on his way to burn bridges with his boss. The gag itself is a little basic, and by the
time he gets to the end, you wish he’d throw in something unexpected, but I
still like the thrust of it. As much fun
as Fumbling Buster Who Stumbles into Every Mess He Can is, I also love Agent of
Chaos Buster, a mild trickster who enjoys messing with imperious people because
he’s smart and he can. It reminds me of scenes
like the bit in The Scarecrow where
he incites a fight between his roommate and the girl’s father by making each
one think the other is giving him a whollop.
Warnings
Slapstick
violence and huge amounts of “don’t try this at home.”
This short was produced by John Deere and shown at Deere's 1952 "John Deere Days" events, which were basically mini-fairs where Deere could advertise their newest machinery.
ReplyDeleteThis helps to explain why Buster holds up a John Deere tractor toy and looks at the camera when taking money near the end of the movie.
I don't know if it was shown in other venues...
My parents bought a VHS copy at a John Deere Days event sometime in the 90s. I think they may have even shown clips of the movie during the event. It was my first exposure to Buster Keaton.
ReplyDelete