Le Dernier Round

Buster Keaton stars as Alfred Butler, spoiled young man from rich family. His father sends him into mountains for hunting and fishing trip to 'make a man' out of him. Unfortunately, Alfred is not quite weakling, but he is very used with comfortable life where everything is done before and after him (in the opening scene we see Alfred smoking, and his valet taking cigarette out between his lips, shaking ashes into the tray and placing cigarette back between his lips), so he decides to take his valet (Snitz Edwards) along. The life in the forest isn't much different for Alfred, as the tent is luxurious like a mansion, and his valet still preparing his clothing and meals. After meeting a girl, Alfred falls in love with her, but the girl's father and brother are against the marriage because they think Alfred is a weakling. Alfred's valet lies him to be a prize fighter who happens to bear the same name, Alfred Butler. One little lie leads to another, until Alfred is forced to take up the part of the boxer he pretended to be for real.

'Battling Butler' is more situation comedy than Keaton's usual physical action packed movies. Besides Keaton's time spent in the ring the film contains very little stunt work. But one shouldn't worry about that thing, as Buster Keaton's subtle performance is enough to compensate that. The high point of the whole movie is definitely the climatic fight between two Butlers (Buster Keaton and Francis McDonald). Not comparable with 'The General' or 'Sherlock Jr.' but sweet movie nonetheless. Like Martin Scorsese himself said - Keaton is the only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies. And 'Battling Butler' is one boxing comedy with attitude.

A nice little comedy about a wealthy young man with nothing to do. He finds himself taking a trip into the mountain country to put some adventure into his life. It is here where he meets a young Mountain girl played by actress Sally O'Neil. Soon, Keaton and O'Neil fall in love and want to marry. The problem is O'Neil's father and brother are giant of men and won't allow her to marry such a small man. It is Keaton's butler / servant who gets the idea to lie to her parents by telling them that Keaton is a professional boxer (who happens to have the same name as Keaton's character (Butler). One lie leads to another as Keaton as to pretend he is a boxer. A nice story with some moments of comedy, Battling Butler is a Keaton comedy with very little stunt work from Buster Keaton. Besides the moments spent in the ring, Keaton hardly does any stunts. Most of the comedy comes from Keaton's silent comedy as oppose to his physical (stunt) comedy.

One of the best paced of all Keaton films, `Battling Butler' is not uproariously funny but is consistently amusing and entertaining. Being mistaken for an up-and-coming boxer, Alfred Butler (Keaton) falls in love and marries on the basis of this mistaken identity. Trying to keep his wife from finding out creates the needed comic situation to allow the humor to emerge. His leading lady, Sally O'Neil, sparkles in her supporting role. Snitz Edwards, humorous in his own right, is a delight as Keaton's valet. The final scene is a gem!

Alfred (Buster Keaton) is a weakling from a wealthy family. His father is frustrated with his pampering and sends him on a hunting and fishing trip in the mountains. He brings his butler and all the modern conveniences. It doesn't go well but he does fall in love with a mountain girl whom he almost shoots. Her father and brother ridicule him and refuse to let him marry her until his butler tells them that he is the famous boxer, Alfred "Battling" Butler. The lie quickly gets out of hand.

While it doesn't have the big stunts, it does have the comedic boxing. At least, Buster gets to show off his physiques. It has his charms. It's a fun second tier Buster. During the big final fight, the real Butler should really push the girl. The idea of her being pushed around should be the driving force for him to rally against him. It's like Popeye getting his spinach. Overall, it's a fun time.

Neither the prospect of eighty minutes of biting headwind nor snow showers has been able to keep me from the National Film Theatre over the three weeks so far of its Buster Keaton season, and every time the films have yet to disappoint: "Battling Butler" is no exception! I'd instantly give this a 9 if only I could justify it relative to the early scenes; despite the pitch of enthusiasm I'd reached by the end of the film, I'm still not quite sure in all fairness that I can.

It definitely takes a while to get up to speed (at the start, I took the father to be a doctor giving his sickly son only three months to live!) and for the initial reel or so it depends largely on a single extended gag -- the elegant fop's complete unsuitability for an outdoor environment. Alfred's elaborate al-fresco living arrangements echo Keaton's trademark fascination with complicated contrivances, and there's one very typical bit of misdirection where we wait for the shotgun's recoil to knock Alfred backwards into the water, only for a somewhat different turn of events to prove his downfall; but this film doesn't come properly to life until its hero engages our sympathy as well as being a walking joke. In "The General", we engage with Johnnie Gray almost immediately -- in "Battling Butler", Alfred remained a cipher for me until the moment when he nervously rehearses "Beatrice Faircatch"'s newspaper advice on making a proposal, with such an earnest air: it's funny, but it's also touching, and it's no coincidence that it is with his subsequent first steps towards standing on his own two feet -- tearing up and throwing aside the useless newspaper column -- that Alfred Butler may finally be said to have progressed beyond a simple one-dimensional character, and the film can really begin.

From here on the picture becomes a Keaton classic, sweeping the hapless hero further and further from the cushioned normality of his life with a series of escalating and plausible coincidences. Ultimately the worm will turn, of course -- but not in the time and manner that we are expecting. And Keaton acts here not just with that famous face but with every line of his whole body: triumph, exhaustion, despair, apprehension, indignation, timidity, pugnacity... and finally, in the last scene, sublime confidence in his own skin, modelling a costume so incongruous that only Buster Keaton could carry it off with such genuine elegance!

The scenes of Alfred's ordeal are hilarious and moving by degrees -- it's almost impossible to analyse Keaton's appeal. 'Sweet' is quite definitely the wrong word, as is 'lovable': Buster is no Little Tramp. 'Bittersweet' might be closer to the mark... or 'poignant'; the metaphor of the man who gets knocked down but keeps on trying has never been more apt. There is a brief vivid moment when Alfred, bewildered and worn out, turns his face aside into the arms of his second with such a hopeless little air that instead of a laugh, it raised a murmur of pity from the auditorium. But Keaton never allows himself to milk the audience for sympathy -- the best of his films may mingle laughter through tears, but he never falls into the trap of sentimentality.

I'm not sure if this is among the best of Keaton's films... but it's certainly one of those I've ultimately enjoyed the most so far. I've changed my mind: I'll give it a 9 after all, and say I'm dropping a mark down instead from a 10! :-)