She's Oil Mine

Buster Keaton was never proud of the 10 two-reelers he made at Columbia Pictures as he was now a has-been who was desperate for a job and needed money to support his wife and family, but at least Keaton goes out with a bang in this reworking of his own silent film The Passionate Plumber. He and Monte Collins are owners of a plumbing shop who get mixed up with an oil heiress trying to avoid her wealthy, but dumb boyfriend. Nothing special, but not a bad short, but after filming completed, Keaton, fed up with the directionless of his Columbia shorts, left the studio for good.

"She's Oil Mine" basically consists of three set-pieces -- in the workshop, in the bedroom, and at the duel -- of which the second two are straight re-workings of the corresponding sequences from "The Passionate Plumber". As with "General Nuisance", however, these are not simply reused gags but in fact improved and more sophisticated versions which Keaton has taken the chance to develop further. I actually liked "The Passionate Plumber", but there's no denying that the 'tapping-on-the-water-pipes' sequence here is slicker and more plausible than the one in the earlier film -- I only wish one could send it back in time as a replacement! Other developments serve to escalate the existing humour a step further in trademark Keaton fashion: for example, the introduction of the time-clock is a stroke of pure genius, and the famous gag in which a towel-clad Buster instinctively retaliates to a blow from his aristocratic rival's gloves via the only means at hand acquires a subsequent twist. (Now in his mid-forties, Keaton very sportingly plays a prolonged undressed sequence, demonstrating a trim physique still nothing to be ashamed of.)

As a comedy in its own right it's good fun -- regarded as a cut-down version of the MGM feature it's equally entertaining. And the workshop sequences, although the humour can be somewhat cruder, are also worthwhile. There's a topical nod to Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds", a brief but classic moment in which the two men catch sight of one another in an unexpected context, a broad piece of misdirection where we are led to assume Buster is about to hit his partner with a hammer, and a brilliant sequence in which he gets his finger caught in a pipe, requiring an inventive (and impressive) stunt expedient; "Your finger's got a left-hand thread", Monty informs him cheerfully afterwards. (Oddly enough, they *don't* make use of the special effects potential provided by the fact that the digit in question is notoriously missing its last joint; perhaps because the implied amputation would be too serious a matter for a laugh.) This was Keaton's final Columbia short, and it's a pretty good note to go out on.

Though the quality varies, Buster Keaton's Columbia comedy shorts have given me much pleasure over the years, and no doubt had the same effect on audiences in the late 30's and early 40's. He would not have worked at Columbia for almost a decade if he wasn't delivering at the box office, Jules White has explained in interviews. This one pairs Buster and Monte Collins (in the Jimmy Durante role) in a partial remake of THE PASSIONATE PLUMBER, at least in the second reel. Teamed with them is the hilarious Elsie Ames, a brash Patsy Kelly or Vera Vague-style lady with wonderful acrobatic skills (see TAMING OF THE SNOOD with Keaton). This being directed by Jules White (my copy is an "Official films" reissue, without the original credits), there is a lot of violent slapstick--clanking pipes in the head, burning welding torches in the rear end--accompanied by outrageous sound effects, a technique used so effectively by White with the Three Stooges. Buster is in fine form, and takes a number of pratfalls himself, as well as playing a scene without his shirt on! Perhaps the highlight for me in this film--a scene I remembered for decades of seeing this-- is one where Monte Collins needs to screw one thing into another in the workshop, and then gives Keaton the screwdriver and turns his body while Buster holds the screwdriver stationary! If a dummy or a stuntman is used, it's slickly edited in because I didn't catch it. The final reel of the film is a re-make of the dueling sequence from THE PASSIONATE PLUMBER, with Monte Collins in the Durante role and Eddie Laughton (somewhat) in the Gilbert Roland role--some may even prefer this version as the pacing is tighter. Overall, a nice Keaton short that any fan of the sound-Era Buster should enjoy. Why Columbia has not released these on video or now DVD is beyond me.