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Battling Butler (1926) : Brief Review -

Buster Keaton hits all the punches right without even entering the boxing ring. This feels like an another influential stuff from Keaton which might not have been remade or adapted as it is but surely has inspired many comedy and rom-com films over the years. A love-struck weakling must pretend to be boxer in order to gain respect from the family of the girl he loves which takes him to fight the real boxing match. Battling Butler, the title refers to two personalities in the film of the same name getting mixed up. So, it creates that certain types of laughing situations which will leave you with enough gags. Although, it isn't completely hilarious, Battling Butler is more about comic situations than comedy scenes. Some of the one liners (intertitles i mean) are too good, see one says this, "Do you think you could learn to love me?" And she says, "I have." And he tores the paper apart. I don't know why those so many rom-coms of talkies era didn't use this line ever? Buster Keaton as the Battling Butler is in top form like always. Not just physical comedy but he performs some difficult stunts also and that too without fumbling. Snitz Edwards as his Valet is typically funny while gorgeous Sally O'Neil as his love interest plays the part fine. Keaton had already made Cult comedies like 'Our Hospitality', "Sherlock Jr.', 'The Genral' and other which had lot of mind-blowing adventurous stuff and Battling Butler doesn't match those films. Nevertheless, it is a great entertainner anyday. The short runtime helps it to remain engaging throughout without leaving any loops and boring moments. The best part is, those boxing sequences are damn funny which highlights some major comedy skills of Keaton. Overall, another fine comedy by King Of Comedy.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

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.

While it's a cut below Keaton's best features, "Battling Butler" has some good comic material and an amusing, if lightweight, story. There are some good performances from the supporting cast, a wide enough assortment of gags, and the story-line also gives Buster a chance to demonstrate a few of his many acrobatic talents.

The first few minutes contain lots of good visual gags as we are introduced to Keaton's hapless character. Then, when his identity gets tangled up with that of a prize-fighter, "Battling Butler", from there on in Buster finds himself in some increasingly complicated and tricky situations. As his character's physical ineptness is emphasized, Keaton's own agility and versatility are displayed in various antics. (The same is true to some degree of his character in "College".) Most of the specific stunts, though, are relatively routine compared to those in his best work.

In lesser hands, the fragile premise would run out of steam quickly, but here things keep moving along steadily, and there are some very good moments. It doesn't ever really hit high gear, though, and it's missing the kind of top-notch climactic sequence that distinguishes Keaton's best films. Thus it will probably be of interest primarily to those who are already fans of Keaton, but most such fans should find it worth a look. While there's nothing spectacular, there is more than enough good material to make it worthwhile as light entertainment.

Sybil Seely, Marceline Day, Brown Eyes: All of Buster Keaton's best on-screen partners were female. All but one. Snitz Edwards here plays Buster's faithful valet, a gnomish, gentle character whose eagerness to arrange whatever his master wants lands him in trouble.

Buster is Alfred Butler, rich and so passive he lets Snitz tap the ash off his cigarette. While on a camping trip, he meets a girl (Sally O'Neil) who strikes his fancy. Her father and brother disapprove of her going off with a "jellyfish." Snitz to the rescue: He tells them this is the same "Battling Butler" who just won the lightweight boxing crown. Alas, the ruse works too well.

You can argue that Snitz plays the title character here as much as Buster or Francis McDonald, who plays the boxer Butler. Whether laying out a ridiculously ornate table at Buster's camp site or laboring to keep up with his boss during an arduous run through the mud, there's no give-up in the guy.

"I'd like to marry that pretty little mountain girl" Buster says.

"Shall I arrange it?" Snitz answers. Buster nods, setting the plot in motion.

Like a lot of silent comedies, this is a film of pieces. The first half, of Buster and Snitz roughing it in the outdoors, could be a clever short all by itself. Buster's idea of duck-hunting is to row up to one wading in the water, and then lean out of the boat to point a shotgun at it at point-blank range. You expect him to fire and roll off from the gun's kickback, so naturally that's the one thing that doesn't happen.

The transition to the boxing comedy is well done, helped along by Snitz, McDonald, and O'Neil, really a cutie with her Zooey Deschanel eyes. It's O'Neil's desperate desire to see her man in the ring duking it out that forces Buster and Snitz to scramble in the last half-hour or so, coming up with all sorts of ruses. The comedy wears a bit thin at times with some protracted workout scenes in the boxing ring, yet Buster goes a long way to selling them with his amazingly elastic physicality.

Buster doesn't wear a porkpie in this film, and his pampered lifestyle distances you a bit more than his inexpressiveness usually did, but he has that dogged quality of classic Keaton heroes. He may not be the champion boxer his girl thinks he is, but he'll not give her up without a fight. "I'm going back and tell her the truth," he tells Snitz. "I'd rather lose her that way."

It's funny how "Battling Butler" doesn't really engage a lot of Keaton fans. Perhaps there's some resentment there because it was a hit for Buster right before "The General" flopped. Taken on its own merits, "Battling Butler" is a clever and engaging comedy with a likeably different lead role for Buster and a surprising double-twist ending, in which Buster (and the audience) have the wool lifted from their eyes one minute, only for Buster to do the same with us the next.

Maybe "Battling Butler" isn't as inventive as Keaton fans are used to, but it has its share of arresting visuals and a solid mix of varied comedic moments that still connect. Plus it works as a story all the way through. Finally there's the winning chemistry of Buster and Snitz, The Great Stoneface and The Great Cragface.

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!