Yep, it’s time for another Buster Keaton MGM talkie. Despite a fine performance from Buster, I can see why he didn’t like it – the plot is sloppy and overly complicated, and pretty much every scene not involving Buster just isn’t funny. It’s not aggressively bad, but it’s incredibly “meh,” far below Buster’s talents.
Basically, the story is that Buster’s Mr. Harmon is a wealthy man who, having fallen in love with a woman who lives in a tenement he owns, sets out to improve the lot of the guttersnipes of the city. This involves, variously, a public gymnasium, a boxing match, and a ridiculous play, and there’s a bungled-yet-inventive proposal thrown in for good measure. (Harmon is interesting in that he’s really not like any of Buster’s rich dandies. He’s a little naïve and misguided, but he isn’t entirely dependent on servants to get by – while he relies a lot on his subordinate Mr. Poggle, it’s more because he gets tongue-tied or bewildered than because he doesn’t know how to fend for himself.)
The Good – There’s some decent physical comedy from Buster, nice tumbling and a few lengthy routines. I especially like the extended chase/fight sequence at the end, and I always love the muay thai-ish move where he launches himself at someone to kick them in the chest. There are funny gags outside of the slapstick as well – there’s a great scene of Harmon trying to carve a duck and some excellent laughs when he takes the stand in a court case. Harmon and Poggle (Cliff Edwards, who had a similar sidekick role in Doughboys) make an amusing team, and I like that Harmon is decently industrious. He often gets things wrong, but he never really stops trying. Also, while I’m not crazy about Margie as a love interest, Harmon’s reactions to her are terrific. Buster always plays smitten so well – really funny and sweet.
The Bad – Like Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, this film feels, tonally, like two movies stitched together, but while the former combines slapstick with bedroom farce, this one seems to combine slapstick with melodrama. There’s this whole big subplot with Margie’s younger brother as a hoodlum getting swept up in a life of crime, with Margie of course desperate to save him. These scenes are big and overwrought, and they feel out of place beside Buster’s comedy. Also, the narrative feels really cobbled together. Lots of stuff appears to happen just cuz, with no logical purpose. For instance, this isn’t the first Buster film to feature a disastrous theatrical performance, but these sequences fit organically into movies like Back Stage, Spite Marriage, and Speak Easily. The films build up to them such that the onstage hijinks are the natural conclusion. Here, the play is shoved in so haphazardly that I honestly don’t know the in-story reason that it’s happening.
The Ugly – Like I said, Harmon shows some good initiative and drives a solid chunk of the action, but there a few scenes that veer uncomfortably into the dopey persona that started in this era. I mentioned that Harmon taking the stand is greatly comedic, but Harmon on the stand isn’t much fun; he’s way too dumb, and since he’s not characterized that way for the brunt of the film, it’s more aggravating when the script starts knocking off brain cells at random.
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