(Buster
Keaton/1921/USA)
The
hapless Keaton gets mistaken for a serious criminal and ends up with
people avoiding him like the plague and then with one, two and three
cops in chase. Amongst the high jinks he manages to meet and woo a
girl whose dad turns out to be the police chief and one of his
pursuers. He pulls off an ingenious escape from her apartment
building and carries her off to the rolling credits. Whilst it has
all the hallmarks of Keaton’s wit and visual gags along with some
lovely close ups of the intimidating Joe Roberts, it doesn’t quite
flow as easily as others of his shorts. It is essentially a series
of chase scenes, containing some fantastic stunts but with a feeling
of episodic set ups rather than a continuing narrative. A small
complaint however as it is hilarious and the amount of misdirection
employed is breath taking.
(3/5)
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