IMDb RATING
6.8/10
3.3K
YOUR RATING
Buster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.Buster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.Buster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.
- Directors
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
Buster Keaton
- Blacksmith's Assistant
- (as 'Buster' Keaton)
Edward F. Cline
- Engineer
- (uncredited)
Virginia Fox
- Horsewoman
- (uncredited)
Billy Franey
- Sheriff
- (uncredited)
Joe Roberts
- Blacksmith
- (uncredited)
Malcolm St. Clair
- Engineer
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
And films like this one is why. Its just one laugh after another. This is absolutely one of Keaton's better works. One gag after another, all pulled off as only Keaton could. All things work well. The photography is well done, the continuity is much better than in most films of that day, the sets, the props, the other players, all done well. And I loved the last minute or two of the film. Its just cool. And there is, of course, the destruction of the Rolls Royce. The beautiful new car had been a gift to Keaton from his in-laws. I wonder how funny THEY thought THAT was? I suppose it was cost efficient in the making of the film. But as far as cost efficiency and laughs go this flick is extravagant.
This 1922 short subject for First National Pictures finds Buster Keaton as the assistant to blacksmith Joe Roberts. Although by 1922 the horseless carriage had taken over the big city, you could still find a shop like this one in the hinterlands.
In fact Keaton does seek to keep up with the times and also tries to repair a car with hilarious results though not for the car owner.
Best gag in the film was the giant horseshoe over the shop which acts as a magnet grabbing everything metallic near it.
If blacksmith's like Buster were the future of the trade good thing the automobile was invented when it was.
In fact Keaton does seek to keep up with the times and also tries to repair a car with hilarious results though not for the car owner.
Best gag in the film was the giant horseshoe over the shop which acts as a magnet grabbing everything metallic near it.
If blacksmith's like Buster were the future of the trade good thing the automobile was invented when it was.
This is an excellent short comedy with a lot of creative material and a good variety of gags. The setting, with Buster as a blacksmith's assistant, lends itself to a lot of good laughs. Buster is very funny in his approach to helping out various horse-owners, and then it gets even funnier when he tries his hand at repairing cars. There's not really much of a plot, but there's a lot of good material that keeps on coming, and it's good fun right up to the very clever last shot.
This is a very pleasant and amusing Buster Keaton short. Never heard of this one. Here he plays a blacksmith that, well, since this IS a Buster Keaton film, gets into a lot of various shenanigans. EG, new ideas for saddles for horses, a spotless white horse gets some new stripes, and so on. Actually, when viewing this, you get a very interesting view of a blacksmith's shop circa the 1920's. Apparently they were also doing auto mechanics as well? Keaton also has some gags with what looks to be an S.U.V. for that time period. And of course, he gets in trouble with the boss (with the boss getting his just desserts (which happens in nearly every Buster Keaton movie ever made) ) and Buster gets the girl (ditto). A very funny and light little short.
Buster Keaton works as apprentice in the blacksmith's shop. When little misunderstanding sends the blacksmith into jail, Buster has to take over all the jobs. One little mistake leads to another and accidents grow bigger, until Buster destroys gleaming white Rolls Royce, and he is finally chased out from the town.
'The Blacksmith' doesn't include stunts on the large scale, but every little gag is so well tied with the next one, that it makes the film flow. Above the average on Buster Keaton scale, but probably the best one in the sense of pure storytelling - every joke and gag moves the story forward, and are not there just for the laughs. Or just for the sake of performing big stunt.
'The Blacksmith' doesn't include stunts on the large scale, but every little gag is so well tied with the next one, that it makes the film flow. Above the average on Buster Keaton scale, but probably the best one in the sense of pure storytelling - every joke and gag moves the story forward, and are not there just for the laughs. Or just for the sake of performing big stunt.
Did you know
- TriviaThe gleaming Rolls-Royce destroyed in the film was reportedly a wedding present given to Buster Keaton by his in-laws. By the time this film was made, relations with them had soured considerably.
- Alternate versionsIn June 2013, Argentine film collector, curator and historian Fernando Martín Peña (who had previously unearthed the complete version of Metropolis) discovered an alternate version of this film, a sort of remake whose last reel differs completely from the previously known version. Film historians have since found evidence that the version of The Blacksmith Peña uncovered was a substantial reshoot undertaken months after completion of principal photography and a preview screening in New York. They now believe the rediscovered version was Keaton's final cut intended for wide distribution. Following Peña's discovery, a third version of the film, featuring at least one scene which doesn't occur in either of the other two, was found in the collection of former film distributor Blackhawk Films.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Biography: Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker (1995)
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Blacksmith
- Filming locations
- Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(shock absorbers horse ride)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 21m
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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