Grandeur et décadence

The most sad short film of Buster Keaton. Not only as unhappy love story but as portrait of a poor man. without any chance to have a reasonable job. Sure, letters, and dreams and gags and a bizarre end. And the scene of Hamlet. But the message of film, bitter and far to be comfortable, is so precise than it is far to be the familiar comedy A young man and his strange, absolutely unluck. Gived in most inspired way by Buster Keaton.

"Daydreams" is basically a collection of sketches, book-ended by an opening and closing pair of scenes. As such, it has something of the perfunctory feel of a 'compilation episode': the storyline, inasmuch as there is one, consists of Buster exaggerating the status of, trying and failing at a series of lowly jobs, but while the individual episodes vary in humour, they never build into anything greater than the sum of their (rather brief) parts. Films like "Hard Luck" or "The Balloonatic" have the merit of a reasonably coherent progression from one somewhat arbitrary encounter to the next; this one is constrained by the necessity of cutting back to the framing structure, which deprives it of that vital illusion of logic. Whether as a consequence of this or not, the result is not nearly so funny. (The best sequence is possibly a battered Buster's arrival back on the doorstep of his beloved... at the hands of the US Postal Service!)

For fans, this is worth watching as ever just in order to see Buster in action, and there are certainly laughs to be had; but it offers little human interest -- this is Inept Buster without the customary redeeming turning of the tables -- and suffers from a lack of his usual narrative inspiration. The humour tends in places towards simple slapstick (Buster squirts a hose, people get wet) rather than the inspired second-guessing of audience expectations at which he excels. The funniest concepts (disguising himself as an inert shopkeeper's dummy, keeping pace exactly with his pursuers) are echoed in more successful comedies, and sadly the famous paddle-wheel clip is really less impressive when actually seen in the context of the slender plot. This comedy is inoffensive, but not really a showcase for Keaton's abilities; unlikely to win over any converts, perhaps.

Sky Movies just screened this in UK ; 2001 restoration by Lobster Films, with some great tints and hues. Running time about 23 minutes makes it pretty complete, overall not too much nitrite decomposition on the print either. It did seem to drag in places, today's audiences seem a bit less able to take the pace, although there are some great sequences. The best scene is probably the elongated one on the run from the law, particularly on the riverboat where Buster is caught on the wheel as it sails and apparently walks on water. The gag ending falls kind of flat, but overall a pretty complete print to my knowledge - 6/10 for the film and 10/10 for the folks at Lobster Films !

A comic short with some wonderful scenes, `Day Dreams' unfortunately is not as consistent as it should be. Some of the comedy just doesn't have that Keaton magic. Going to the city to make something of himself so he can marry his home town sweetheart, Keaton naturally finds himself in a variety of entanglements. The scenes outside the clothing story are great. But the highlight is the hilarious chase by the cops; it ranks with the pursuit scenes of `Seven Chances' and the cattle scenes of `Go West' for sheer ingenuity and fascinating orchestration.

Buster, to get the approval of the father of the girl he wants to marry, sets off for the big city to show he can get a good job to support her.

He first writes to his girl that he's a big shot in a hospital. She dreams he's this important surgeon. It turns out he's just the go-fer for a veterinarian, bringing cats, dogs.....and a skunk...to the doc.

Then he writes that he's on Wall Street and "cleaning up." She dreams of a big tycoon, but - you guessed it - he's the sanitation worker and a wild scene involving confetti ensues.

After he's done with that - he doesn't last long anywhere - he writes that he's in the stage. She daydreams he's the leading actor, but he's only an extra. He winds up getting chased by the cops, inadvertently taking money that didn't belong to him and....

Finally, he writes that the police "follow his every move." She daydreams he must be the Police Captain, giving the men orders, but really it's just more of that last chase scene, except there are about 100 cops chasing him now, "following his every move."

The two-minute ending is pretty strange, too, a downer for some, but a fitting one!