Paradise for Buster (1952)

I don’t know too much about this short – who made it, whether it was filmed for cinema or TV – but I do know that I like it.  Out of all of Buster’s later work, this project might be the one that would feel most at home among his silent stuff.  Much of the Keaton Renaissance-era stuff looks to recapture that feel from Buster’s career, and I think this one does it the most successfully.

Buster is languishing away at an office somewhere, uninspired with his work and despised by his punctilious boss, when he receives news that he’s unexpectedly inherited a farm from a late relative.  Then and there, he quits his job and hightails it out to the country, where his new windfall doesn’t turn out to be all it’s cracked up to be.  As it happens, the farm’s previous owner was deeply in debt; nothing’s up to snuff and the whole thing is due to be sold at auction shortly.  Buster tries to make do around the crumbling farm as he ponders how to get out of his inherited financial pickle.

The short does a great job of capturing the silent-movie feel.  There’s an ever-present musical soundtrack to accompany the slapstick, and seeing the film again confirms my suspicions that more music would’ve greatly improved a lot of the Educational and Columbia shorts.  The music keeps everything lively, and the short hums along with great fun.  As for dialogue, it’s only used on an as-needed basis – apart from a couple plottier scenes bookending the short, there are only a few stray lines here and there to clarify things.  Again, it’s much more along the lines of the level of dialogue you’d get in a silent short.  Characters aren’t artificially silent, but there are long stretches of physical comedy where talking simply isn’t necessary.

And that physical comedy is definitely a treat.  There’s all kinds of goodness to be found here.  Buster clowning around the farm is a hoot.  A few of my personal favorites include a) Buster trying to break open a piggy bank (and the mayhem that follows,) b) Buster wrestling with the mind-of-its-own water pump, and, as always, c) Buster getting into trouble while fishing.  The gags come fast and funny, with Buster calmly and determinedly pressing on the face of all the chaos around him, which never fails to entertain.

One more note:  I really enjoy the gag pulled when Buster quits his job.  Having noticed how the window-glass in a door shatters every time the door is slammed, he deliberately marches past the five(!) vice presidents’ offices, opening and slamming each door in turn on his way to burn bridges with his boss.  The gag itself is a little basic, and by the time he gets to the end, you wish he’d throw in something unexpected, but I still like the thrust of it.  As much fun as Fumbling Buster Who Stumbles into Every Mess He Can is, I also love Agent of Chaos Buster, a mild trickster who enjoys messing with imperious people because he’s smart and he can.  It reminds me of scenes like the bit in The Scarecrow where he incites a fight between his roommate and the girl’s father by making each one think the other is giving him a whollop.

Warnings

Slapstick violence and huge amounts of “don’t try this at home.”