Though
a lot rougher than The Cameraman,
Buster Keaton’s other silent feature with MGM isn’t bad. It suffers from the slide into making
Buster’s characters bumbling sad-sacks, and the behind-the-scenes quarreling
comes through onscreen, but it has several topnotch sequences that are pure
Buster and is an ultimately enjoyable film.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a last hurrah before Free and Easy and its ilk (shudder!),
but I’d rank it on par with College
or The Saphead.
The
plot veers into over-convoluted, especially in the second half, but at its core
is Buster’s character Elmer and his starstruck love for the actress Trilby
Drew. Elmer is a man of modest means, a
trouser-presser who “borrows” his wealthy clients’ clothes when he goes to the
theatre to watch Trilby perform – every night – so she’ll think he’s a
millionaire. (Side note: he’s such
a stalker. It’s Buster, so he’s sweet
and funny about it, but he’s totally a stalker.)
Elmer
thinks he’s hit pay dirt when Trilby decides to elope with her adoring,
supposedly-wealthy fan, but in truth, she’s only doing it to get a rise out of
her costar, who unforgivably got engaged to someone else. So, Elmer finds himself with a miserable wife
who’s in love with another man and doesn’t care a whit about him. Luckily, this is before MGM set out to
cinematically break Buster Keaton, so the movie is ultimately about Trilby
realizing how much more there is to Elmer than she thought. In a meandering development that for some
reason involves bootleggers on a boat, Elmer is able to step up and prove his
capabilities.
Made
between The Cameraman and Free and Easy, this film continues the
MGM trend of making Buster’s characters more pitiable. Though he acquits himself well in the third
act, a good-sized chunk of the movie thrives on the whole “poor Elmer”
angle. He embarrasses himself in front
of Trilby, other people embarrass him in front of her, and after their
marriage, she embarrasses him in front of others. Her dismissive treatment of him prompts a lot
of hangdog expressions that, as I’ve said before, feel out of place in a Buster
Keaton film.
However,
there are some tremendous laugh in
this movie. There’s an amazing sequence
of Elmer trying to get Trilby into bed after she’s passed out drunk, and it’s
so funny you could seriously pull a muscle laughing at him. Terrific physical comedy, and Buster’s acting
is priceless. (Fun fact – it’s easily
the movie’s best and most memorable scene, and MGM didn’t want it in the
film. Oy vey.) A long sequence of Elmer getting caught up in
some backstage (and onstage!) shenanigans at Trilby’s play, as filmed, dips at
times into cringe humor – that poor Elmer thing again – but it also has some
great, funny bits. I doubt that anyone
could badly apply a false beard with more panache than Buster, and it’s super.
As for
other entries in the plus column, Dorothy Sebastian does a wonderful job as
Trilby. Her evolving relationship with
Elmer feels believable and is very engaging to watch. Some of the action is fantastic, and although
the plot takes some nonsensical turns to get there, you really can’t go wrong
with Buster on a boat.
Warnings
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