La croisière du navigator

I thought the whole set up and layout of the plot was very clever and engaging. I liked how early on, even though it is very simplistic, the audience can relate to the main character and become engaged in the story and the spectacle that much quicker. I also liked all the gags that were done, they were also very clever and well put together, I stood in awe at the fact that there was not only an underwater sequence but an important underwater sequence that was incredible to watch. There are not any characters that we are around so that leads to the few that we see to be very strong and not flat or clichéd and there relationship grows as the peril of the plot grows, it is very engaging.

Overall I'd say the pacing was very well done, though I found myself daydreaming once or twice, and technically very well put together. Bravo.

The scene where Buster and his girl, two rich youngsters who are stuck together alone on a ship, attempt to feed themselves is one of the funniest scenes I've ever watched. For about 10 minutes, I could not stop laughing. After that scene, the comedy is, well, I was going to say hit and miss, but that's not right. No joke really misses. It's just the difference between a smile, a chuckle, and a guffaw. I would say that, especially compared to my two favorite Keaton films, Our Hospitality and Sherlock Junior, The Navigator is considerably less funny (though almost anything is considerably less funny than those two films). Plus, the film never reaches a solid conclusion. A situation was set up at the film's start which was never advanced at all. Still, The Navigator beats out most modern comedies. Nothing can really beat Buster Keaton. I would give it a 7/10 if it lacked the food sequence, but I'll add 1 point for that, so a total of 8/10.

Of all the Buster Keaton films I have seen it is certainly not the best, but it is also not the worst. The story of a spoiled man (Rollo) who falls head over heels in love with a helpless woman (Betsy) seems as if it would be easy to hit the audience with punch line after punch line, but the jokes come out at such a sloth worthy pace that it is painstakingly obvious what will happen next. There are some scenes that made me laugh so hard my sides began to ache, but others barely warranted a smirk. It did show off Keaton's incredible nac for physical comedy. The circumstances leading to getting on the ship, the bad coffee, and the experiences after he is off, all show why he was ahead of his time in the movie industry.

Lifestyles of the rich and famous are satirized in The Navigator, a silent film starring Buster Keaton and Kathryn McGuire, and interestingly enough, directed by Buster and Donald Crisp! Buster and Kathryn wind up stranded together on a ship with no crew or outside help, and as they try to fend for themselves, they give the audience plenty of chuckles. Kathryn picks out a few individual beans to brew their coffee, then ties a raw slab of bacon into a knot to make it look pretty. Buster repeatedly breaks eggs by trying to fish them out of boiling water without a spoon. Since they're that clueless, it's no wonder they have no chance of surviving! And to make matters worse, they're ex-sweethearts; at the start of the movie Kathryn rejects Buster's proposal.

There are a few cute moments to this movie, but there's also a large chunk of the movie that focuses on their dealings with island cannibals. That portion hasn't stood the test of time very well, but if you can put it in the back of your mind, you'll be in a better position to appreciate the underwater scenes and marvel at Buster who fights with an octopus while running out of oxygen in his deep sea suit.

This story of a helpless, spoiled rich boy set adrift upon a giant ship with his equally helpless girlfriend has a clever story line and a series of excellent gags, but the plot is slow to develop. It is held up by some slow-moving scenes which are not as funny as they try to be. Although the sequence of events which result in the stranding of the couple upon the sea are highly improbable, they were well-executed and the humorous possibilities to be explored make that easy to overlook. Most of the attempted humor pays off, but somehow the movie drags a bit. I especially found the underwater scene to be too long and was an anchor to the movie's momentum. However, it did lead to some very humorous moments when Keaton made it ashore. Keaton's trip back to the ship from the island may have inspired the scene in Woody Allen's Sleeper in which Allen and Diane Keaton escaped from the futuristic police by using an inflatable suit to float across a lake. Whatever one's opinion of the bulk of The Navigator, the ending is unquestionably inspired. This is a great example of Keaton pulling a rabbit out of a hat to the surprise of the audience. It's a great audience pleaser. I would not recommend this movie as an introduction to Buster Keaton, but if you're already a fan, then you have to see it.