Grandeur et décadence

A comic short with some wonderful scenes, `Day Dreams' unfortunately is not as consistent as it should be. Some of the comedy just doesn't have that Keaton magic. Going to the city to make something of himself so he can marry his home town sweetheart, Keaton naturally finds himself in a variety of entanglements. The scenes outside the clothing story are great. But the highlight is the hilarious chase by the cops; it ranks with the pursuit scenes of `Seven Chances' and the cattle scenes of `Go West' for sheer ingenuity and fascinating orchestration.

A young man (Buster Keaton) proposes a young woman (Renee Adoree), but her father questions how he might support his daughter after the marriage. The youth informs that he will move to New York, find a job and marry the girl. If he fails, he would commit suicide. Once in the big city, he works in many professions and writes to his girlfriend; and his imaginative girl reads each letter and thinks in her beloved being successful on each trial.

"Daydreams" is a very creative short comedy, showing how the imagination is able to fly, in funny situations. In accordance with the information in the beginning of the DVD, this film is totally fragmented, without being possible the restoration of many parts; therefore the story was completed in the restoration process with pictures and inter-titles to keep the original sense. Buster Keaton is again very hilarious with many gags. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Sonhos e Realidade" ("Dreams and Reality")

Sky Movies just screened this in UK ; 2001 restoration by Lobster Films, with some great tints and hues. Running time about 23 minutes makes it pretty complete, overall not too much nitrite decomposition on the print either. It did seem to drag in places, today's audiences seem a bit less able to take the pace, although there are some great sequences. The best scene is probably the elongated one on the run from the law, particularly on the riverboat where Buster is caught on the wheel as it sails and apparently walks on water. The gag ending falls kind of flat, but overall a pretty complete print to my knowledge - 6/10 for the film and 10/10 for the folks at Lobster Films !

Buster Keaton and Renee Adoree team up in a comedy in which our hero tries to make something of himself for his girl back home. Trouble is, as he's writing her of his successes she dreams of something far different than he's actually doing! Funny in places with the usual emphasis on stuff going wrong and the odd stunt, and some good camera work. Entertaining little movie.

Buster Keaton asks a father for the hand of a nice girl. Since Keaton does not know whether he is able to support the girl he goes to the city to prove that he can and promises to her father he will shoot himself when he fails. The girl gets letters from Keaton explaining what he is doing at the moment. First he works in a sanatorium, his letter says. The next shot tells us that he is nothing more than an assistant in a dog clinic. Of course things do not go well. Then he writes he was tired of the sanatorium and is now cleaning up things. What and how he is cleaning up is the best part from this short. Again he messes things up big time and his next job is in the theater, doing 'Hamlet' to be precisely. Of course things are not as they appear to be in the letter. His coming home is another highpoint in this short.

Although 'Daydreams' does not belong to the funniest Keaton shorts I have seen so far, it definitely has some Keaton magic. I like him more than Chaplin because he is able to really make me laugh instead of just smile. Here he does that a couple of times, especially in the two parts I mentioned above. Although there are less chases, parts where I think he is at best, than I am used to, Keaton gives us a nice short. I have come to understand that the surviving prints of this film are incomplete but I can assure you that the story feels complete.