Marinheiro de Encomenda

For the first time since he was a baby, an effete Buster Keaton comes home from Boston to visit his steamboat captain father, who's being troubled by the head of the other, finer steamboat, J.J. King. Of course King's daughter is home to visit her father, too! This completely delightful comedy glides right along, with outstanding physical comedy from Keaton. The lightness of the film is a benefit, as is the short 70m running time. There's no shortage of brilliant gags, my favorite being Keaton trying to get his jailed father to accept his homemade loaf of bread. ("That must of [sic] happened when the dough fell in the tool chest.") I loved the opening, as well, with Bill going along to different shops with his son in order to prepare him for the boat, and the hilarious scene in the hat shop as Junior eyes himself in the mirror as his father suggests these awful hats. The ending is just amazing (and dangerous!), as buildings fall apart due to an awful wind, with Buster doing a disappearing act and fighting to stand up straight and retain his composure. 8/10

In the riverside town of River Junction, Captain William Canfield (Ernest Torrence) has an old steamship and disputes the passengers with the powerful banker John James King (Tom McGuire), who has a brandy new passenger vessel. William is informed that his unknown son William Canfield Jr. (Buster Keaton) will arrive by train from Boston to visit him. When Willie arrives, William trains him to work with him in his ship. However, Willie meets his friend Marion King (Marion Byron), the daughter of James King, and they date each other, against the will of their fathers. When a hurricane reaches River Junction, Willie rescues his father and his future father-in-law from the river.

"Steamboat Bill Jr." has a silly but funny beginning, and an amazing hurricane sequence, with very bold scenes. The timing and the physical capability of Buster Keaton are very impressive, and in the present days it is impossible to imagine shooting the scenes in the storm without the use of computer, so convincing they still are. From his biography, I have seen that he died of lung cancer, not in an accident as I might guess, meaning that he has survived to his risky scenes usual in most of his films. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Marinheiro de Encomenda" ("Sailor by Order")

Reading the back of the video or DVD case can be misleading as it made this movie to be one in which Buster learns from his dad the ropes of running of steamboat. Well, in the end it looks like he did just that, but his "training" was about less than a minute in this 71-minute film.

The rest of the movie is about other things, such as Buster - reunited with a Dad who never knew him - meeting his father, getting a new outfit (especially a different hat), beginning a romance with the daughter of the competing steamboat operator, later trying to get his father out of jail, on and on.

The part that makes this one of the more memorable silent films of all time is the hurricane segment near the end. There are some amazing scenes in that, including a very famous one in which an entire side of house falls on Buster, who escapes without injury because an open door on the house is exactly where Keaton is standing. He had not been exactly on the right mark, the famous comedian could have been seriously injured in that stunt. The man had guts, that's for sure.

Anyway, our hero does show in the end that he learned a few things about navigating the boat as he rescues all the major characters following the hurricane. Great stuff and a suspenseful finish.

Okay. Obvious bit first.

This is indeed the source of the most famous scene in all of silent comedy (alongside, perhaps, Chaplin's cogs and Lloyd's clock). Caught up in a hurricane, hiding under a bed that's whisked away in the wind, Buster staggers to his feet only for the front of a house to fall all around him. Except - the tiny window falls directly over Buster. Who just stands there, staring.

We've all seen this a thousand times or more. Before I even knew who Keaton was I'd seen this scene. But even now, going back to watch it (again and again) - it's an extraordinary moment. Keaton had two nails hammered into the ground, marks for his feet, and two inches of room either side. Two inches left, two inches right, Buster would have been killed. Dead centre, and it's wondrous. Perfection. It had to be.

And he doesn't even FLINCH.

But there's something else about it...

Here's a scene, the big scene, not just expensive but incredibly dangerous. Half the crew refuse to watch. Anywhere else, you might imagine this stunt as the grand conclusion, milked for all it's worth. But that was never the Buster Keaton way. Everything had to be done perfectly (the golfing accident in Convict 13, for example, 78 takes...), and if that meant nearly killing yourself for a few seconds three quarters of the way through, so be it. Do the perfect gag, move on, do some more.

Extraordinary. Staggering. Unbelievable.

But, heavens, there's more, so much more... from Buster throwing away his own hat in disgust, to the dough that fell into the toolbox, to Buster's seemingly limitless capacity for wearing clothes under his nightshirt, to all those stunts in the hurricane, to the ingenious ending - a joy, an absolute joy. Unremittingly wonderful.

So this makes him better than Chaplin? Forget it. All I hear is competition, comparison, Keaton better/not better than Chaplin, Laurel better/not better than Lloyd, and all combinations in between. IT DOESN'T MATTER. This could only be a Keaton film, in the same way that Chaplin's best is unmistakeably Chaplin, Lloyd's best unmistakeably Lloyd, Laurel's best unmistakeably Laurel (and Hardy). There's no point bickering. There aren't any prizes to be won. Just accept - just rejoice - that for a brief few years, some of mankind's darkest years, the world was blessed with four unique comic geniuses. It probably never happened before, it maybe never will again. We were, are, will be, all of us, amazingly lucky to have them. And to always have them. So pull up a chair, grab a drink and a loved one, and settle down to this glorious film. And when it's done, stick on 'The Kid' for good measure... and 'Liberty'... and 'Never Weaken'...

... and rejoice ...

These early Buster Keaton movies are always both fun and charming to watch.

The movie is mostly fun because of its physical humor and charming because of the almost childish innocence that is in Keaton's performance. The movie also has a lot of comedy in its dialog. Surprising for a silent movie. Like often, the movie also further more features a cute little love-story involving Keaton and the young Marion Byron.

The story isn't much special and it's very typical for a '20's silent genre movie. It's however fun and interesting enough to hold your interest throughout but of course the movie is not dependent of it. The concept and its settings provides the movie with a couple of entertaining, silly and also original moments.

Once more Keaton also shows us his skills as a stuntman. He does some extreme dangerous stuff here. Of course stunts in those days were also much more dangerous than now, no matter how often much more spectacular it's looking all. Some of the things he does in this movie are really amazing, with of course the spectacular classic ending as the highlight- and most impressive of them all, when a cyclone hits the town and Keaton manages to run across collapsing buildings without getting hit and without him getting blown away, while also other large object are flying at him.

A great watch.

8/10

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