Ditto (1937)

While not all that substantial and more than a bit of a farce, this one is amusing.  A few strong Bustery touches in the form of some good sight gags.

Buster, an ice delivery man, is instantly besotted with a lovely young customer.  However, his eagerness to get to know her better is thwarted by a major complicating factor that he’s unaware of:  she’s an identical twin who lives next door to her sister in what appears to be adjoining houses (so adjoined that Buster thinks he’s seeing two entrances for a single residence.)  I’m sure you can imagine the hijinks that follow as Buster tries to woo his new customer, totally oblivious to the fact that he’s interacting with two different women in different homes.

While the premise of twins being mistaken for one another is as old as comic misunderstandings and mistaken identity, this particular plot ratchets up the silliness by taking the coincidences to extreme lengths, with Buster spending so long in such close proximity to both women without running into both at the same time.  As such, the timing is crucial, and the short does a nice job pacing everyone’s entrances and exits just right, with all the doors opening and closing at the precise moments they need to in order to maintain the confusion.

I know Buster wasn’t a big fan of farce (he complained about the absurdity of the genre’s plot contrivances in reference to films like Parlor, Bedroom and Bath,) but like most types of comedy he tried his hand at throughout his career, he did well with the style all the same.  Again, his timing is impeccable, and even though the circumstances of the story are pretty farfetched, the actual interactions between Buster and the two women keep things just within the realm of plausibility.  For instance, his scenes with the second sister move along at a good clip, with Buster so hyper-focused on what he’s doing that there isn’t time for so much as a, “Who are you, strange man, and why are you in my house?”, which keeps the game from being given away sooner.

But as I said at the top of the post, my favorite parts of these proceedings are the little touches that just feel so Buster.  I love the cozy setup of his ice-delivery wagon, in which he lets the horse do all the work while he sits in the box seat with a radio and a well-stocked bookcase at his elbow.  And his meetcute with the first sister is a lot of fun, with him helping her ease the pain of a burn on her hand.  No one did “lovestruck” quite like Buster, and his dreamy-eyed, smitten look as he tenderly butters her arm is a riot.

Warnings

A bit of slapstick violence.