La croisière du navigator

The Navigator was a cute and funny film that displayed Buster Keatons classic gestures greatly. One of his best scenes is when he tastes horribly made coffee on the ship. You don't need sound to be able to understand what is going through Keatons mind. It's classic scenes like that that really showcase Keaton's physical comedy and acting abilities.

The Navigator was rich with physical gags and facial gestures that Keaton is best known for. He was famous for mechanical comedy, such as using hilarious contraptions to do simple things like grind coffee. It did lack in drama, and it didn't really allow for Keatons real heart warming side to show up, like in The General.

It was a great film that was adorable to watch.

Wealthy Rollo Treadway (Buster Keaton) preposes to his neighbor across the street, Betsy O'Brien (Kathryn McGuire), and sends his servant to book passage for a honeymoon sea cruise to Honolulu. Surprised that she would reject such a wonderful guy as himself, he decides to go on the trip anyway. Because the pier number is partially covered and it is nighttime, he ends up on the wrong ship, the Navigator, which Betsy's rich father (Frederick Vroom) has just sold to a small country at war. Agents of the other small nation set the ship adrift that night. Betsy boards the ship to rescue her father, thinking he is aboard, prior to the ship being cut loose.

So McGuire and Keaton are both onboard the same ship, alone except for each other, and don't know that the other is there. How they find each other is part of the fun. How they manage to grasp the simple things like making coffee and using a can opener - with great difficulty -is a running commentary on the idle rich of the roaring 20s since these two have always had servants to do every simple task for them.

The Navigator makes the gutsy choice for its time to allow African American actors the chance to be spear-chucking cannibals since such roles normally went to white actors in black face. It's also notable that these actors were performing their own stunts like the rest of the cast with Keaton, as always, taking the biggest risks with the most physically demanding stunts.

Donald Crisp, the co-director, was hired to direct the dramatic (non-boat) scenes, and was removed when he tried to direct the boat scenes as well. Keaton took over. In the gag where McGuire tosses the portrait that ends up dangling outside Keaton's window to frighten him, the portrait of the scary man is Crisp.

While it might not be one of Keaton's very best movies, "The Navigator" is a good comedy that has some great scenes. It never quite hits high gear the way that some of Buster's masterpieces do, but there is a good variety of material, and it is pleasant and funny to watch.

Keaton and Kathryn McGuire work together well, and their scenes together make up most of the movie, including some of the funniest parts. Their scenes in the ship's kitchen are especially good. The well-known scene of Buster going deep-sea diving is also very entertaining, and must have taken some real skill to film at the time.

This is one that any fan of Keaton or of silent comedy should enjoy.

The scene where Buster and his girl, two rich youngsters who are stuck together alone on a ship, attempt to feed themselves is one of the funniest scenes I've ever watched. For about 10 minutes, I could not stop laughing. After that scene, the comedy is, well, I was going to say hit and miss, but that's not right. No joke really misses. It's just the difference between a smile, a chuckle, and a guffaw. I would say that, especially compared to my two favorite Keaton films, Our Hospitality and Sherlock Junior, The Navigator is considerably less funny (though almost anything is considerably less funny than those two films). Plus, the film never reaches a solid conclusion. A situation was set up at the film's start which was never advanced at all. Still, The Navigator beats out most modern comedies. Nothing can really beat Buster Keaton. I would give it a 7/10 if it lacked the food sequence, but I'll add 1 point for that, so a total of 8/10.

Through a series of mishaps, a pampered rich boy (Buster Keaton) and his unrequited love find themselves the only two passengers on a huge steamer adrift in the middle of the ocean. Wouldn't be so bad, if they did not come across an island of cannibal savages who want to invite them to..ahem...dinner.

"The Navigator" breezes by quickly and easily, offering many chuckles and few outright chortles. There are some marvelous set pieces, like an underwater scene involving Keaton in diving gear, some swordfish, and an octopus. And there are other smaller but just as funny moments, like the scene where these two socialites who've never lifted a finger for themselves decide to cook dinner in a kitchen designed to make meals for hundreds. The depiction of the island savages is predictably cringe worthy in a film from 1924, but you just have to suck it up and get past it, accepting it as a product of its time. If you can get past that, there's much to enjoy here.

Grade: A-