When it comes to the top comedy shorts made in the Thirties the high water mark has always belonged to the works of Laurel & Hardy. Their finely tuned films were the perfect mixture of visual humor in a world of sound. By the time Keaton created the fifth short in his Educational series, HAYSEED ROMANCE – (1935), he had become just as comfortable at mixing his silent style with the needs of sound. The results are an overlooked minor classic. It plays like a prime Laurel & Hardy short with two strong sequences that naturally flow into each other.
Buster answers an ad to work a farm as a potential husband. When he meets the comely blonde miss of the house his interest peaks but of course, she didn't place the ad – that would be her behemoth of an aunt. He immediately settles in to a bucolic existence down on the farm. While Keaton always made comedies in varied surroundings he always seemed at home in rural settings among the cows and chickens. After breaking more dishes than he washed Buster settles in for a quiet evening's peace and contemplation only to be shattered by the Aunt's thunderous recital on the organ that shakes the house like the San Andreas quaking. This is followed by a splendid slapstick episode as Buster attempts to sleep in the attic with a leaky roof on a rainy night. Keaton builds this sequence through incidental gags and mounting mishaps. Needless to say both he and the aunt take quite a few headers through a two story hole and out into a mud puddle.
This short was a revelation for me as it showed that even with the time and money restrictions Keaton was able to turn out quality work that stood out with the best that was being done in the shorts comedy field at that time. It just drives home all the more how MGM squandered his talent.
