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sabotai · 03-22-2008, 09:37 PM

Battling Butler (1926)

Directed by: Buster Keaton
Starring: Buster Keaton, Sally O'Neil, Snitz Edwards
Length: 71 min
Genre: Comedy

Alfred Butler (Buster Keaton) grew up spoiled, so his father sends him off on a hunting and fishing trip to make a man out of him. He is sent, of course, with a butler (Snitz Edwards) to handles ever need Alfred has.

On the trip, he meets a mountain girl (Sally O'Neil) and falls in love. He also notices a prizefighter, Alfred "Battling" Butler has the same name as him and he wants it stopped. He sends his butler off to propose to the mountain girl for him, but the girl's father and brother don't accept weaklings in their family. The butler lies and says that he and the Alfred "Battling" Butler in the newspaper are the same.

"Battling" Butler is expected to lose, and the butler reasons that when he does, no one will hear of him again. Except he wins, and when Alfred returns from "his fight", the town throws a parade and Alfred is married to the girl right away. However, Alfred leaves at once to go train.

When his new wife appears, the butler asks the real Battling Butler to help cover, at which point the real Battling Butler leaves the camp to let Alfred fight his next fight as punishment for Alfred flirting with Battling's wife. The trainers do their best to get Alfred in shape. In the end, the real Battling Butler fights and wins, and then shows up in the locker to beat up Alfred. Alfred ends up going crazy and knocks out the real Battling Butler. He confesses to his wife that he lied, but she says she is glad he's not a real prizefighter.

Overall, not one of Keaton's better movies. The sparring sequence is absolutely hilarious, and you can find it on YouTube (the uploader disabled embedding or I would have put it on the post). However, the rest of the film was a bit dull. Some funny parts here and there, but not nearly as good as his other movies. I was going to rate it about a 5, maybe as low as 4, but I'd say the sparring scene pushes it to a 6.

Entertainment Rating: 6/10
Historical Rating: 6/10

03-22-2008, 09:37 PM	#141
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	Battling Butler (1926) Directed by: Buster Keaton Starring: Buster Keaton, Sally O'Neil, Snitz Edwards Length: 71 min Genre: Comedy Alfred Butler (Buster Keaton) grew up spoiled, so his father sends him off on a hunting and fishing trip to make a man out of him. He is sent, of course, with a butler (Snitz Edwards) to handles ever need Alfred has. On the trip, he meets a mountain girl (Sally O'Neil) and falls in love. He also notices a prizefighter, Alfred "Battling" Butler has the same name as him and he wants it stopped. He sends his butler off to propose to the mountain girl for him, but the girl's father and brother don't accept weaklings in their family. The butler lies and says that he and the Alfred "Battling" Butler in the newspaper are the same. "Battling" Butler is expected to lose, and the butler reasons that when he does, no one will hear of him again. Except he wins, and when Alfred returns from "his fight", the town throws a parade and Alfred is married to the girl right away. However, Alfred leaves at once to go train. When his new wife appears, the butler asks the real Battling Butler to help cover, at which point the real Battling Butler leaves the camp to let Alfred fight his next fight as punishment for Alfred flirting with Battling's wife. The trainers do their best to get Alfred in shape. In the end, the real Battling Butler fights and wins, and then shows up in the locker to beat up Alfred. Alfred ends up going crazy and knocks out the real Battling Butler. He confesses to his wife that he lied, but she says she is glad he's not a real prizefighter. Overall, not one of Keaton's better movies. The sparring sequence is absolutely hilarious, and you can find it on YouTube (the uploader disabled embedding or I would have put it on the post). However, the rest of the film was a bit dull. Some funny parts here and there, but not nearly as good as his other movies. I was going to rate it about a 5, maybe as low as 4, but I'd say the sparring scene pushes it to a 6. Entertainment Rating: 6/10 Historical Rating: 6/10