Another
musical Buster was in, although it’s less of a standard musical and more a case
of the film contriving in-story reasons for the characters to sing (hey, when
Judy Garland’s in your movie, you do what you have to do.) It’s also, notably, a fairly early take on
the particular romantic comedy storyline that was later popularized in You’ve Got Mail. It’s not the original version of the story –
apparently, that was a French play from the 1930s – but it’s still reaching
back quite a ways.
Andy and
Veronica work in the same music shop, where they spend most of their work day
at each other’s throats. Everything
either does annoys the other, and both tend to unfavorably compare the other to
the anonymous someone with whom they correspond through the post office. Little do they know, of course, those lovely,
thoughtful, poetic letters they send are actually to one another.
It’s a
cute film – the contentious relationship between Van Johnson’s Andy and Judy
Garland’s Veronica is the focal point of the film, and both play their parts
well. Johnson brings a
slightly-rapscallion charm to Andy, while, as Veronica, Garland is fussy and
opinionated but misunderstood. Be
advised, though – there’s more than a hint of sexism tinging the romance. Still, it’s a pretty light, bouncy story, and
the music-shop locale offers a decent excuse for Garland to sing frequently, as
she demos sheet music for prospective customers while Andy accompanies her.
Buster
plays one of several other people working at the music shop, all of which are
pleasant and entertaining in their own right.
In Buster’s case, he plays Hickey, the clumsy but eager-to-please nephew
of the shop’s temperamental owner. It
still strikes me sometimes how Buster can give such great reaction shots while
maintaining his classic stone face, but it’s true. Here, there’s a great scene where he dutifully
sits down to indulge his uncle in the irascible man’s favorite pastime: (badly) playing the violin when he’s
annoyed. Buster’s reactions to each sour
note are fantastic.
Fortunately,
this is also a film that recognizes that, if you’ve got Buster Keaton, you let
him do physical comedy – hence Hickey’s clumsiness. At first, it just feels like a trait that’s a
bit shoehorned into the character simply because Buster is playing him (and to
be honest, the slapsticky elements do
feel a little out of place with the tone of the rest of the movie,) but it’s
actually laying the groundwork for a clutzy disaster at a critical moment in
the film, which I like. As it turns out,
Buster was initially just consulted on the film as a gag writer, but when he
devised that aforementioned clutzy disaster for them, they realized that no one
but Buster could play it with the precision that was needed. It also helps that Hickey isn’t the only
source of slapstick in the film. There
are other intricate bits of physical comedy performed by some of the other
actors, and Buster’s hand in crafting their gags is apparent.
Warnings
A little
suggestiveness and some old-timey sexism.
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