Das Blassgesicht

While this is only an average comedy by Keaton's standards, it's still pretty good by most other measures. It does not have the vast wealth of inventive material found in Keaton's best short features, but it has plenty of slapstick and good gags, with some chases thrown in.

The story concerns Buster encountering a tribe of Indians who have been swindled out of their land by an oil company, and who are ready to take it out on the first outsider to enter their village. The Indians are portrayed in an occasionally silly but definitely sympathetic light. The funniest moments probably come in the earliest confrontations between Buster and the Indians.

This one is probably of interest primarily to those who are already Keaton fans, but at that it's pretty good.

Buster Keaton plays a butterfly collector who is unlucky enough to stumble into an Indian reservation moments after it's chief has issued an order that the first white man they see is to be scalped after the tribe is duped out of their land. Of course, Keaton is initially blissfully unaware of the danger he's in. His sudden sprint for the reservation gates isn't because of a sudden realisation of the peril he's in but because he's just spotted a butterfly for his collection. The first half of this film, in which Keaton tries to elude the Indians, is the funniest, although the scene near the end in which he evades capture from another tribe of Indians by crossing a bridge that only has a dozen or so slats is pretty good. The film features some typical Keaton stunts and some good solid laughs but, in my opinion, this isn't quite one of his best.

An absent-minded Buster Keaton abruptly shifts from collecting butterflies to dodging tomahawks, as his innocent meanderings lead him straight into a conflict between a shady office full of oil tycoons and a persecuted tribe of Native American landowners. First mistaken for one of the naughty opportunists, he escapes stake, fire, arrow and spear alike before joining the natives and helping to right their wrongs.

Even given the era, this story's pretty loose; a pale shade of color to decorate the silly physical exploits that we've really come to see. In that respect, this film serves as a milestone, as Keaton has obviously employed a number of cinematic tricks and rudimentary special effects to amplify his riskier stunts. Unlike 1921's The Playhouse, where such effects were crafty and well-conceived, shockingly effective a hundred years later, the wilder stunts seen in The Paleface are transparent enough to disrupt the scene. We may not see the wires lifting Buster off the ground, but we know where they are. Rather than enhancing his infamous daredevil act, they've broken the illusion. As such, this film represents something of a growing pain in the heart of Keaton's two-reel prime.

An Indian tribe is being forced off their land by an oil drilling company. Hearing this, the Indian chief swears revenge, ordering death to the first white man who passes onto their land. It wouldn't be much of a short, if Buster wasn't the one who passed through. After surviving a burning at the stake (thanks to a handy sheet of asbestos), the tribe takes in Buster as one of their own, and through accidental luck, the land is recovered. Not really as funny as some of Buster's other shorts, but there are some nice sight gags and a very dangerous stunt (Buster falling some 60 feet off a cliff, actually filmed in two parts.) Rating, based on shorts- 6.

This Buster Keaton short didn't have a ton of laughs but it had enough to suit me. The gist of the story is an Indian tribe getting their land taken from them by corrupt oil men and Buster getting it back for them.

Along the way, he proves himself to be a superhuman "god" by surviving being burned at the stake. (A fire-proof asbestos suit did the trick!) Later, he's involved in warring tribes. Through a decent portion of the film, he is being chased by either of the tribes. Chase scenes are always funny and these in this movie are no exception. Some of these sight gags elicit hardy laughs. In the end, Buster not only saves the Indians' land but gets a pretty "squab," too!

This is good slapstick and another example of why some people - me included - think Keaton's short movies, generally speaking, were better than his feature films. Some reviewers here label this one "cute and silly" and I would agree with that.