Top Five Love Interests: Buster Keaton

“The girl” in Buster Keaton’s films can be hit or miss.  All of them are, of course, products of their time, and some are little more than pretty still lifes for Buster’s heart to go pitter-patter over.  However, others are surprisingly fun, funny, and/or capable.  Here are Buster’s best girls!

The Girl (Sherlock Jr.)

Don’t sell her short for not having a name – after all, Buster’s character here is called “the projectionist.”  The girl loses some points for being easily swayed between suitors by the size of their chocolates (not a euphemism,) but she doesn’t lose faith in the projectionist when he’s set up to take a hit in her and her father’s estimation.  Furthermore, while the projectionist spends the second half of the picture dreaming about solving the case and exonerating himself, the girl is the one who actually does it, performing some fine detective work of her own.

Betsy (The Navigator)

I kind of love Betsy.  Like Rollo, she’s a sweet but spoiled rich kid utterly unprepared for being marooned at sea on an ocean liner, and her early attempts to help them provide for themselves are just as laughable as his.  But again, she brushes up right along with Rollo, learning the ins and outs of ship life and actually making contributions in the big climactic sequence.  I really like the way she looks out for Rollo when he’s in the diving suit.

Annabelle Lee (The General)

Since Annabelle Lee first thinks Johnnie’s a coward who refuses to join the army and doesn’t believe him when he insists otherwise, she’s fairly borderline.  She’s not initially very nice and she gets damseled early on, but once she and Johnnie connect again, she steps up quite a bit.  She does her part: stoking the furnace on the train, driving it a few times, and going back for Johnnie when they get separated.  Bonus points for possibly being named after an Edgar Allan Poe poem.

Kitty King (Steamboat Bill, Jr.)

Kitty is just too cute.  I adore the shot of her and Willie seeing each other in the barber shop, and the way she gets him suited up to work on the boat is very sweet.  She’s got a bit of an attitude that’s awfully fun, too.  One of her best scenes has her coming up behind Willie, ready to make amends after an earlier quarrel, but she loses her nerve at the last second and starts sashaying away in the other direction just as Willie turns around.  His bewildered look, trying to figure out how he could have missed her walking by him, is priceless.

Sally Richards (The Cameraman)

I know, MGM sighting – horrors, right?  But it’s The Cameraman, so it still essentially counts as a Buster movie.  Sally is maybe a bit too good to be true, but I like her kindness; poor, bungling Luke could use a little of that.  Their first scene together is lovely, and I like her continued efforts to help him in his news-reel aspirations.