Three Ages (1923)

 

This early Buster Keaton feature is remarkably fun.  The story’s fairly thin by design, but it gives you a great idea of Buster’s inventive comic sensibility and the fantastic films he’d make in the years to come.  This was actually the first feature film that he created; although he starred in The Saphead a few years earlier, he was in it strictly as an actor.  Here, he’s the lead actor, the director, and an uncredited writer, presumably cooking up the terrific gags and creative comedic bits.

 

The central conceit of the film is that love is the same through all of time, and to demonstrate this idea, the same love story is told in stages in three different eras:  the Stone Age, the Roman Age, and the Modern Age (in this case, of course, 1923.)  In all three sections, Buster plays slightly different variations of his intrepid “little fellow” character, and the same actors play the girl he loves, her parents, and his rival across the assorted periods.  This, by the way, is why the plot isn’t terribly substantial – it’s the same story multiplied by three, given time-appropriate twists, and separated into chunks.

 

It’s amusing to see how the different aspects of the love story are transposed for the different times.  A fight with clubs in the Stone Age becomes a chariot race in the Roman Age becomes a baseball game in the Modern Age, and so on.  There are all sorts of little comedic touches that reward your attention.  My personal favorite is Roman Age Buster’s chariot – it’s rather haphazardly pulled by four steeds of varying breeds and sizes, at least one of which is a donkey.  (Poor Buster always has an uphill battle.  His Stone Age ride, a brontosaurus, is a boat compared to his rival’s sleeker, trendier mammoth.)

 

Like in Our Hospitality, Buster provides plenty of gags at the expense of his period setting.  While there’s a little fun poked at their old-timey ways, however, the main attraction this time around is an amusing collection of anachronisms.  Stone Age’s Buster’s “card” when he goes a-callin’ is a small stone tablet with a stick figure rendition of him carved into it, and Roman Age Buster has a spare wheel on the back of his chariot.

 

One thing I always love about Buster’s work is his character’s clever and unexpected solutions to his problems, and that’s definitely evident here.  I think Roman Age Buster seems to be the most on top of things – he comes up with quite the fix for his jalopy of a chariot, and Aesop would’ve been surprised at his method of making friends with lions – but all three have their moments.

 

All in all, though it’s not on par with his best stuff, it makes for a good time, and there’s a lot to love.  Plus, the sight of Buster in a caveman costume and wig is enough to make me giggle.

 

Warnings

 

Slapstick violence, some drinking, a rather mean gag at the expense of a poor cat, and a little outdated racial humor.