Our Hospitality (1923)

This latest installment in Buster-palooza is a great little film.  It's not as obviously funny as The Navigator or as wonderfully inventive as Sherlock Jr. - in fact, on first watch, I thought it was a little slow, a little middling.  Now, though, I have a much greater appreciation for its gentler humor and fine qualities.

The story deals with a generations-long feud between two Southern families, the Canfields and the McKays (sound familiar?)  Buster plays Willie, the last of the McKays, who's recently returned to the South after having grown up in New York ignorant of the feud.  Naturally, he falls instantly and unknowingly in love with the Canfields' daughter, putting him in the sphere of her father and brothers who won't rest until he's dead.

The title offers one of the biggest recurring jokes in the movie - southern hospitality forbids the Canfields from killing Willie while he's in their house, a fact he discovers only after the daughter invites him over for dinner.  (They take it remarkably literally; the second Willie steps out the door, they're pulling out their pistols.)  Willie's desperate attempts to prolong his stay are a lot of fun, and some nice tension builds over the course of his visit.

Many more jokes are mined from the film's setting.  It takes place in 1831, nearly 100 years ago in Buster's time, and the movie is peppered with gags and remarks about antiquated ideas and outdated technology.  In the 1830s, New York City evidently consists of about four houses, two streets, and a cow, and two carriages and a bicycle make for heavy traffic.  Beyond that, Willie's rickety train journey down south is a stitch, and the Canfields are frequently thwarted by the laborious amount of time it takes to reload their pistols.

The other important thing to know about this movie is that it contains Buster's famous waterfall scene.  In the big climax, Willie finds himself tethered to a log jutting out over a waterfall and performs some tremendous acrobatics to rescue himself and his girl.  The set looks amazingly realistic (Buster actually built a 25-foot waterfall to shoot on,) and the stunts are simply remarkable.

Warnings

Lots of attempted murder and a few tasteless jokes about a southern couple with an abusive relationship.