Runtime: 20 minutes
Directed by: Mack Sennett
Starring: Buster Keaton, Lona Andre, Tiny Sandford, Kitty McHugh, Harry Bowen
From: Educational Films Corporation of America
I finally saw a Buster Keaton short in the sound era, and boy does it pale in comparison to the golden era. As mentioned a few days ago, this week there’s been family and a family friend down here-both coming down here on vacation independent from each other; a good time’s been had, including a trip to Walt Disney World yesterday. Thankfully there was time now for me to relax, watch this short then type the review. It featured some other names I knew: Mack Sennett as the director and Laurel & Hardy heel Tiny Sandford as the heel here.
Until a few days ago when I saw a random photo of Lona Andre on a Twitter account of Old Hollywood, that was a name completely unfamiliar to me. To be frank, she was awfully cute… The main players (including Andre) were all fine in their roles… Buster ran away from a shrill harpy he is set to marry while Lona runs away from an arranged marriage to a schlub w/ a giant mustache; he picks her up hitchhiking. They literally run into Sandford, who was the foil the rest of the way, mainly out camping in the woods.
Some gags did make me laugh; however, the humor was uneven & there was some bizarre editing choices/continuity errors which were just bad. A shame that Keaton’s career went down the commode once “the talkies” came into being. Hopefully there are better examples from this oft-forgotten era of his career… one day I’ll find out. As for Andre, she only starred in B movies I hadn’t even heard of, then found more success in—Hollywood real estate, of all things.
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