The Scarecrow

This is a marvelous work of comedy, perhaps one of the very finest of all short comedic films. The ingenuity of Keaton is endless as we see him and his roommate eating breakfast. The dual function of common household objects is incredible. Other stand-out scenes are those with the dog and Keaton as the scarecrow. Although this short work consists of a series of segmented scenes, there is still a fluidity that is quite pleasing. I introduced this work to a couple of teenagers. No complaints about black and white, no objections to its lack of talking. Just laughter and more laughter. `The Scarecrow' is a masterpiece.

Buster Keaton was one of the greatest motion picture performers in the history of motion pictures.

One reason was his athleticism, allowing him to do hilarious stunts, and his timing, as exemplified in "The General," and his dead-pan face that still portrayed an emotion.

In this short film, he uses all of those skills and abilities and still gets upstaged by Luke the Dog for much of the movie.

His female co-star is as cute as anyone could be, and we could only wish she had been around even longer.

Al St. John, later known as "Fuzzy," is here, uncredited, very briefly, and a "pastor" is not given his real name even here at IMDb, which is quite unusual.

Buster Keaton was always great, and sometimes, in fact often in his talkies, was greater than his script.

Here, he was star, co-director and co-writer, and everything came together very well.

I saw this in a TCM Sunday Night Silent, and am grateful to that network, which has, I'm sad to say, deteriorated in quality in recent months, showing an awful lot of very non-classic movies. TCM begins to redeem itself, though, with such films as "The Scarecrow." I recommend "The Scarecrow," and hope you get to see it next time it plays.

Story of two farmhand roommates, living in a flat that only Rube Goldberg could have come up with, who are vying for the attention of the farmer's daughter, while Buster's character has to fend off his roommate (Joe Roberts looking very much like Fatty Arbuckle), the girl's father, and father's dog (which actually belonged to Arbuckle). That's pretty much the plot, but the sightgags are what make the short really work. The breakfast scene, with the aforementioned Goldberg setting, is pure genius. A very good production all around and ranks as one of Keaton's best. Rating, based on shorts, 10.

This very funny short comedy is an excellent example of Keaton's amazing inventiveness, and it deserves to be one of his best-remembered short features. The first part is especially good, and has to be seen to be appreciated - it's just Buster and a roommate going about their daily routine in a house filled with wacky gadgets and all kinds of unexpected features. There's a lot of great material, much more than you can catch all at once. It would be hard for the rest of it to live up to the first part, but it is pretty good, too - lots of slapstick and chases, plus the actual "Scarecrow" scene. This one is a bit more piecemeal than most of his comedies, but all of the material is very good. Most fans of silent comedies will really enjoy this movie.

You discover all what you expect from a Buster Keaton film. From inventiveness to the love story and gags. All - so fresh, seductive and charming. A story about the perfect manner to survive to challenges and great example of fine humor. A film more fascinating than amusing. Because it remains proof of high art. A great short film.