The Paleface

While this is only an average comedy by Keaton's standards, it's still pretty good by most other measures. It does not have the vast wealth of inventive material found in Keaton's best short features, but it has plenty of slapstick and good gags, with some chases thrown in.

The story concerns Buster encountering a tribe of Indians who have been swindled out of their land by an oil company, and who are ready to take it out on the first outsider to enter their village. The Indians are portrayed in an occasionally silly but definitely sympathetic light. The funniest moments probably come in the earliest confrontations between Buster and the Indians.

This one is probably of interest primarily to those who are already Keaton fans, but at that it's pretty good.

After having their land unscrupulously stolen from them by greedy oil sharks, a tribe of Native American Indians vows to kill the next white man who comes into their presence. Said white man turns out to be an unknowing Buster Keaton seeking butterflies for his collection.

This movie is basically a live-action cartoon. It features the type of chase and stunt sequences one more expects from Looney Tunes only here its accomplished in live action via a series of daring stunts and surprisingly well accomplished special effects sequences. These are pulled off much better than I though would be even possible for the time and era.

Overall this short may not be as humorous as many of Keaton's other efforts but it sure doesn't lack in terms of its overall entertainment value due to the above mentioned dangerous stunt sequences that seem more fitting for a cartoon than live action, the best of which involves Buster being thrown over a cliff and creating a makeshift bridge across a gorge.

Buster Keaton plays a butterfly collector who is unlucky enough to stumble into an Indian reservation moments after it's chief has issued an order that the first white man they see is to be scalped after the tribe is duped out of their land. Of course, Keaton is initially blissfully unaware of the danger he's in. His sudden sprint for the reservation gates isn't because of a sudden realisation of the peril he's in but because he's just spotted a butterfly for his collection. The first half of this film, in which Keaton tries to elude the Indians, is the funniest, although the scene near the end in which he evades capture from another tribe of Indians by crossing a bridge that only has a dozen or so slats is pretty good. The film features some typical Keaton stunts and some good solid laughs but, in my opinion, this isn't quite one of his best.

I saw this on KINO Video and I was far from being impressed by the company because the film alternated from running too fast to running too slow---and the soundtrack, as a result, was really annoying. Perhaps it was a defective tape. If you can, you might want to find another brand if it's available.

Now on to the film. It's a silly and fun little film about some irate Indians and how they are about to take out their frustrations on the first White man they see--and it just happens to be Buster. However, after spending a lot of time trying to kill him, he is miraculously saved and the Indians think he's been send by the gods. Buster, being a nice guy, didn't hold any grudges for almost being roasted alive and agrees to help the Indians. It turns out that greedy oil barons are trying to take the land and so Buster leads the Indians on the attack. All in all, not the most important film Keaton ever made, but the sight gags are good and its a brisk little film sure to please anyone willing to watch a silent comedy.

An Indian tribe is being forced off their land by an oil drilling company. Hearing this, the Indian chief swears revenge, ordering death to the first white man who passes onto their land. It wouldn't be much of a short, if Buster wasn't the one who passed through. After surviving a burning at the stake (thanks to a handy sheet of asbestos), the tribe takes in Buster as one of their own, and through accidental luck, the land is recovered. Not really as funny as some of Buster's other shorts, but there are some nice sight gags and a very dangerous stunt (Buster falling some 60 feet off a cliff, actually filmed in two parts.) Rating, based on shorts- 6.