Top Five Gags: The Scarecrow

December 22^nd, 1920 – the day The Scarecrow was released. I feel like this is a too little meandering to make the cut into the top tier of Buster Keaton’s independent shorts, but it’s fantastically funny and displays a lot of personality, as well as Buster’s easy confidence as a filmmaker. Here are my favorite bits from this fun romp of a short (spoilers.)

 

The One-Room House

Topnotch mechanical gags from Buster. I love all the space-saving Rube Goldberg device in Buster and Joe’s house, from the record player that doubles as a stovetop to the bookcase that unhinges to reveal a fridge. Also delightful is the wonderfully-synchronized breakfast they share, neatly passing the strung-up condiments between them. Somewhere out there, I feel there must be a Buster Keaton fan who’s recreated as much of this as possible in their studio apartment, and the thought of that just makes me happy.

 

The Second-Story Chase

Mistakenly thinking that Luke the dog is rabid (he just ate a cream pie off the window sill, so his mouth is covered with whipped cream,) Buster tears off at full pelt, followed doggedly (pun intended) by Luke. He climbs a ladder up to the top of a partially-constructed building, where Luke chases him around the perimeter atop the four walls. There’s one gap in the construction that’s too wide for Luke to jump across, so Buster decides he’s safe for the moment and sits down to take a smoke break. When Luke finally manages to clear the gap, Buster resigns himself to his fate, blowing a solemn kiss to the camera with two hands before falling backwards off of the wall. I love it so much!

 

Starting a Fight

Since Buster lost his clothes after tumbling through a hay baler (as you do,) he’s taken the clothes off of a scarecrow. This serves the added purposes of allowing him to pose as the scarecrow so he can hide from Sybil’s father. But when Joe (his romantic rival) and Sybil’s father (who wants to keep Buster away from his daughter) have a conversation in front of the scarecrow, Buster can’t help meddling. While their backs are turned, he kicks one, then the other, in the seat of the pants, making each think that the other kicked them. Best of all, he leaps into the air to kick both of them at the same time, really setting them at each other’s throats. Bonus points for how seamlessly Buster flops back into “scarecrow position” every time they turn toward him.

 

Crossing the River

Such a classic Buster move. With Joe and Sybil’s father now chasing him, Buster has to get across a river but doesn’t want to get his shoes wet. So what does he do? Why, he rolls up his sleeves and walks across on his hands, of course! I feel like this is a moment that tells you just about everything you need to know about Buster Keaton.

 

Picking Up the Preacher

Now with Sybil in tow, Buster continues to flee from Sybil’s father and Joe. They pilfer a motorcycle and side car together, and they just so happen to run into a preacher crossing the street. He tumbles back onto the side car, so naturally, it’s only right that he marry them then and there, with Buster taking a gear off the motorcycle to serve as the wedding ring and steering with his feet as he twists it onto Sybil’s finger. It’s a little thing, but I also love when Buster first notices the preacher on the side car and briefly looks up at the sky, wondering if the preacher dropped out of it. Ha!

The Scarecrow (1920)

A sentimental favorite.  This short is a good romp with fun action, terrific comic touches, and heaps of Bustery ingenuity.  I think that last point is what makes it a real gem.  This isn’t a film you could have gotten from anyone else – it just had to be Buster.

Buster lives in a one of the original tiny houses with a friend of his.  Both work as farmhands, and as luck would have it, both are in love with their boss’s daughter.  Rival attempts at courtship lead to scrapping, which leads to chasing, which leads to fleeing, and so on.  Despite all sorts of mishaps and complications, our hero proves that you can’t keep a good Buster down.

I’ll admit that the plot is pretty thin on the ground.  The story takes its time, meandering with comic detours for the fun of it.  However, most of those detours are quite worthwhile, and in a roundabout way, the plot points lead into one another surprisingly well.  This is one that I at first tended to think of as an entertaining bundle of tenuously-related gags, but having now seen it a handful of times, I can recognize how well it holds together.

The best and probably most well-known element of this short is the wonderful Rube Goldberg house, much of which is based time/labor/space-saving devices that Buster dreamed up as a kid.  The whole house is just a treasure trove of fun, and while parts of it are dubious (I’m skeptical about a piano doubling as a Murphy bed,) a lot of the ideas actually seem workable, which I love; I’m all for a good cartoon gag, but crazy-fun things that really work are even better.  My personal favorites include the record player that can be overlaid onto the stovetop, the bookcase with the icebox inside it, and the plates attached with the removable tabletop, which can be hosed off after meals (granted, I’d throw some soap in there, too, but then, I’m not an early-20^th-century farmhand/unsupervised bachelor.)

Buster himself is a delight here.  I love his exaggerated heartbreak when he thinks he’s lost the girl to his roommate.  His truce with the dog who’s been chasing him ragged is fun and cute.  His scarecrow impression is fantastically legit.  Finally, I love him for walking through a stream on his hands to keep his shoes dry.  Along with Neighbors, this is one of my favorite versions of his little fellow character.

Sybil Seely once again supplies the girl, being generally winning and adorable in an undemanding role (side note – I really like that Buster announces his intention to marry her regardless of “how she votes.”  Since this was made in 1920, the reference to women’s suffrage would have been pretty timely.)  Big Joe Roberts takes on a featured role as Buster’s roommate, and a small gaggle of other past collaborators show up, including Joe Keaton (a.k.a. Buster’s dad) and Fatty Arbuckle alumni Al St. John and Luke the Dog.  Joe displays a bit of patented Keaton high-kicking, and Luke is used to especially good effect.  You don’t see too many dogs that can climb ladders!

Warnings

Some slapstick violence and a bit of drinking.