No, that’s not the name of the film, I just decided to watch a decent variety of films that happened to be on the shorter side of things, and along that rationale, I’ll be giving them particularly short and (un)insightful reviews. Whoop.
The Navigator
So, starting off with a BK flick (that’s Buster Keaton, not Burger King. Don’t be fooled). The General remains my number one Keaton joint, and Steamboat Bill Jr has my favourite individual stunt, but hey, The Navigator is still a lot of fun, mostly because of the way a lot of the footage is comically sped up as Buster Keaton and the woman haplessly try searching for each other on the boat. On the hats flying away off the boat followed by Keaton magically picking up another hat only for the same thing to happen again is comedy gold. I imagine I’d enjoy Benny Hill, but I’ll explore that avenue later on.
The Butcher Boy
If you’ve watched The Artist, then you’ll know that, sometimes, despite the powerful performances from human leads, the dogen ends up stealing the show. Such is the case in The Butcher Boy, where Luke the dog takes centre stage. A droll intertitle alerts us to Luke’s contribution as he barks at a cat and courageously tries to stop a woman getting kidnapped, but heck, that treadmill thing (pretty certain it’s not a treadmill, but roll with it) makes for a fine bit of comedy as Luke performs various zoomies on it in top speed. Good dog.
The Rough House
This feels like Fawlty Towers made in the earlier days of cinema, essentially a series of sketches with a comedy of errors feel. BK’s deadpan comedy works wonders as he stares into the distance while his bed is set on fire. And I never realised that weird routine with the bits of meat on two forks dancing back and forth came from here. Or at least was one of the earliest examples of this routine. Not my greatest description, I’ll admit, but a guy happens to have a piece of meat on each fork at the dinner table and starts moving them forward and backward for the amusement of the woman. Hey, I’m not a wordsmith, but I guess it’s vaguely amusing/bizarre. Also, fast motion proves to be another comedic standout technique as BK continuously jumps over and ducks over a brush during a battle that would make Mario proud. And it’s fun to see early special effects too, like a bunch of powerpoint quality stars appearing round a character when he gets hit by a statue to suggest confusion.
Battling Butler
BK’s inimitable stone face is in top form again, particularly during a hunting scene where he aimlessly attempts to hunt animals as multiple critters pop up in the background. This is essentially an old Bertie and Wooster caper with mistaken identities. A lot of the fighting scenes reminded me of the ‘Killeroo’ Mighty Boosh episode. Yeah. A lot of fun.
A Trip to The Moon
Speaking of the Boosh, there’s no way those guys didn’t take some influence from Georg Melies’ iconic moon guy. Although I was a bit disappointed that the moment the rocket hit the moon’s eye and the moon’s angry facial reaction was so short. Never mind, still an intriguing early example of science fiction.
The Impossible Voyage
Like the above, but this time they head off to the sun. The face of the flaming star in this one seems particularly hilarious with its angry expression. My only previous knowledge of suns with faces is the smiling baba in the Teletubbies series, but yeah, this angry dude in The Impossible Voyage is one grumpy mofo.
The Dancing Pig
Uh…what is this? I mean that in a good way, but seriously, who came up with this eccentric shiz? It’s a guy in a large pig suit dancing suggestively with a woman. It’s odd. Hella odd. I imagine it was a significant influence on an obscure but nonetheless genius sketch in BBC comedy panel show Shooting Stars. Basically, in this scene, a group of suitors (played brilliantly by Vic Reeves, Mark Lamarr and Matt Lucas) ask for the hand of Ulrika Jonsson’s Lady Caroline at the upcoming ball as she sits in an idyllic English garden. Lady Caroline politely refuses, noting that her hand has already been taken by a certain Lance Corporeal Boiled Egg, cutting to the eccentric gentleman in question, who engages in an equally eccentric dance. Fascinating.
Snowball Fight
An early Lumieres brothers film, very short, but just an amusing vignette of regular folk smashing each other with snowballs. Plus a guy on a bike who gets caught in the crossfire. Haha. Sucks to be you. But yeah, just a fun, zero context slice of life. Cool.