Next Four Educational Shorts: Buster Keaton

Moving on to Buster’s sound shorts of the late ‘30s.  Some pretty amusing stuff, although these aren’t nearly as solid as his independent silent shorts.  The writing can be uneven, and mainly, it’s clear that they were made a lot quicker and more cheaply.

Allez-Oop (1934)

Buster, a shy watch repairman, takes his gal to the circus for their first date, where she falls for a hunky trapeze artist.  Not one to take matters lying down, Buster assembles a DIY trapeze in his background and tries to tumble his way back into her heart.  Notable for some sweet meet-cute business and actual trapeze artistry from Buster – the man was full of surprises.

Tars and Stripes (1935)

Buster plays an enthusiastic but bungling seaman who can never get on the good side of his commanding officer.  There’s not a ton of story to speak of; it’s mainly a bunch of navy gags strung together, but it’s funny.  My favorites include Buster’s ongoing quest not to be last in line at the mess hall, his overzealous about-face practice, and his attempt to conceal a pie inside a cannon.

Mixed Magic (1936)

A down-on-his-luck Buster gets a job as a magician’s assistant – naturally, he has no talent for magic and accidentally wreaks havoc on the entire act, giving away half the tricks and simply screwing up the other half.  I’m betting some of the gags here are rooted in Buster’s vaudeville days.  The onstage stuff is a lot of fun, especially one bit involving trapdoors and another involving an uncooperative sandbag.

Jail Bait (1937)

When Buster’s friend gets a lead on the whereabouts of a criminal with a high price on his head, he convinces Buster to pose as the crook (to get rid of the competition) while he tracks down the real deal.  This works out about as well as you’d expect, and Buster of course winds up stuck in the slammer with no one to exonerate him.  His initial attempts to get himself arrested are an absolute riot, and he plays around with the prison/warden uniform conundrum he employed so well in Convict 13, possibly to even better effect.