My Wife's Relations

The sudden and mistaken marriage of Keaton to an unlikely bride is the incident that forms the basis for the plot. Confronted by animalistic in-laws, who would be any groom's nightmare, Keaton maneuvers through their opportunism and materialism. Somehow the pieces don't quite fit together. There are episodes that are almost very funny, but not quite. Perhaps grounded too deeply to contemporary reality, I'm never able to accept the premise that Keaton would acquiesce to this marriage without any form of challenge. Perhaps that direction in plot would have produced a greater opportunity for Keaton's brand of comedy to shine.

Not one of Keaton's better efforts, but there are a few laughs to be found in this wry tale of a man who finds himself accidentally married to a battle-axe (Kate Price) with four hulking brothers, none of whom take kindly to his presence in their home.

"Papa! Shut your eyes and see what I married!"

Buster finds himself accidentally married to a shrewish woman with a lowbrow family in this one. The highlights for me were in smaller moments, like Buster striking various poses during the family photograph, or gently putting a brick under a guy's head after he's knocked him unconscious with it. The big chase through the mansion while the homebrew suds overflow was anticlimactic, though it included the clever gag of rolling himself up into a carpet and hurtling down the stairs to send his pursuers flying, and it was neat to see him descending from the third floor of a building like a circus acrobat using the window awnings. Overall, however, there just wasn't a lot of charm here, and it seemed less inspired to me. It's still Buster Keaton though, and he had my full attention. Even when he's just average, he's engaging.

A broken glass, a vigilent lady, a Polish judge of peace , the marriage and a too large family, promissing letter and ...the truth. One of nice short films, not memorable but nice. Few seductive gags. And a powerful moral. So, just Buster Keaton and his universe.

Buster winds up married to a harridan and finds himself sharing a house with her, her surly father and four brutish brothers. They treat him abominably until they begin to think he might be well-off ... Made a year after Buster had got married and was single-handedly supporting his wife's large family, this is one of his more auto-biographical shorts, and feels rather bitter. Some very funny scenes, but not one of the genius' best.