The Saphead

Rating:
Summary: DVD Set is a Mixed Blessing
Review: Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of Keaton's work. This is why it pains me to say that "The Saphead" is weak, and not just by Keaton's standards. As much as I love this man - skip this film. That said, I gave this DVD three stars because of the short features which follow it. "The High Sign," described by one reviewer as "a lark," is actually one of my favorites. Filled with enough gags for any short comedy, Keaton's acting is a pleasure and the plot is the sort of comedy/conspiracy narrative G. K. Chesterton might have made if silent films were his thing - I'm always reminded of "The Man Who Was Thursday." "One Week" is another wonderful short. With the famed, surreal hobby-kit house and a perfect ending, it is another must see Keaton short.

So here's the problem: is it worth getting The Saphead just for the two shorts? If you're a Keaton fan and want to fill out the collection then go ahead, you won't regret it. If you're not a big fan, but like Keaton at his best, go for a DVD of more consistent quality - I recommend the Our Hospitality/Sherlock Jr. double feature.

Rating:
Summary: DVD Set is a Mixed Blessing
Review: Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of Keaton's work. This is why it pains me to say that "The Saphead" is weak, and not just by Keaton's standards. As much as I love this man - skip this film. That said, I gave this DVD three stars because of the short features which follow it. "The High Sign," described by one reviewer as "a lark," is actually one of my favorites. Filled with enough gags for any short comedy, Keaton's acting is a pleasure and the plot is the sort of comedy/conspiracy narrative G. K. Chesterton might have made if silent films were his thing - I'm always reminded of "The Man Who Was Thursday." "One Week" is another wonderful short. With the famed, surreal hobby-kit house and a perfect ending, it is another must see Keaton short.

So here's the problem: is it worth getting The Saphead just for the two shorts? If you're a Keaton fan and want to fill out the collection then go ahead, you won't regret it. If you're not a big fan, but like Keaton at his best, go for a DVD of more consistent quality - I recommend the Our Hospitality/Sherlock Jr. double feature.

Rating:
Summary: Three Early Keaton
Review: First of all, I want to say that I am amazed at how many people are rating "The Saphead" so lowly. I love that movie. I find it extremely underrated. I think the problem people have with it is mainly because it is different to other Keaton films, thats true, but that does not mean it is bad. I think silent fans, not just fans of Keaton will enjoy it. But I have no idea why people have been saying it is "dull". I wont go into the story, because others already have, and I wont be any good at explaining it.

"The High Sign" is one of my favourite Keaton shorts. Its just so full of comedy, and genious at the same time. The parts in the house with all of the little secret escape bits is just great. He is making out he is a perfect shot with the gun (when he actually always shoots way off target) and is made a member of "The Blinking Buzzards". Right before this, he is hired by this man to be his body guard. Unfortunately for Buster, the "Blinking Buzzards" happen to want him to kill this same guy who has just asked him to protect him from these men. So which does he choose?.....

"One Week" is maybe my favourite of all three on this disc. Buster gets married, and is given a "build it yourself" kind of house for him and his new wife to live in. It takes him one whole week to build, and its not perfect. There is this big storm and it twirls the house around, and around until it is nearly wrecked. But then, they find out they have made the house on the wrong lot. So they have to move it. It gets stuck on a train track and....

All three of the films here, have great musical scores. I especially like the one for "The Saphead". Its in 5.1 sound too. The other two, "High Sign" and "One Week" are in mono. Along with this, they all have very decent prints too. Another great release to DVD from Kino, who continue to give us the great, great silent movies on decent DVD releases.

Rating:
Summary: Three Early Keaton
Review: First of all, I want to say that I am amazed at how many people are rating "The Saphead" so lowly. I love that movie. I find it extremely underrated. I think the problem people have with it is mainly because it is different to other Keaton films, thats true, but that does not mean it is bad. I think silent fans, not just fans of Keaton will enjoy it. But I have no idea why people have been saying it is "dull". I wont go into the story, because others already have, and I wont be any good at explaining it.

"The High Sign" is one of my favourite Keaton shorts. Its just so full of comedy, and genious at the same time. The parts in the house with all of the little secret escape bits is just great. He is making out he is a perfect shot with the gun (when he actually always shoots way off target) and is made a member of "The Blinking Buzzards". Right before this, he is hired by this man to be his body guard. Unfortunately for Buster, the "Blinking Buzzards" happen to want him to kill this same guy who has just asked him to protect him from these men. So which does he choose?.....

"One Week" is maybe my favourite of all three on this disc. Buster gets married, and is given a "build it yourself" kind of house for him and his new wife to live in. It takes him one whole week to build, and its not perfect. There is this big storm and it twirls the house around, and around until it is nearly wrecked. But then, they find out they have made the house on the wrong lot. So they have to move it. It gets stuck on a train track and....

All three of the films here, have great musical scores. I especially like the one for "The Saphead". Its in 5.1 sound too. The other two, "High Sign" and "One Week" are in mono. Along with this, they all have very decent prints too. Another great release to DVD from Kino, who continue to give us the great, great silent movies on decent DVD releases.

Rating:
Summary: Art of Buster Keaton Box 1
Review: OUTSTANDING! This is a three video set. The features are The Saphead, Three Ages, Sherlock Jr. and Our Hospitality. The shorts are The High Sign, One Week, The Goat and My Wife's Relations. This is a GREAT box set (as are Box 2 and Box 3). Three Ages is "Buster's" first feature. Sherlock Jr. is awesome. The Goat is Buster's funniest short and maybe the funniest short ever made, period!

Rating:
Summary: Henrietta Mine!
Review: THE SAPHEAD is a rather dull romantic comedy. I'm guessing that if it didn't have Buster Keaton in the title role, this film wouldn't have seen a DVD release for another twenty years. From a historical viewpoint, I suppose we must be grateful to the film, as it established Keaton as a bankable star, thus enabling him to go to bigger and better things. But judging the film on its own merits, I can only say that I was completely bored by it.

The movie has a few major flaws. The most annoying is the fact that Keaton (although the star) doesn't have enough screen time, and the other characters are one-dimensional and simply not interesting. The script is adapted from a play by the name of THE NEW HENRIETTA, and I can only hope that the material was funnier on the stage, because it certainly didn't translate well to the screen. The story takes too long to set itself up, the plot isn't terribly inspired, and, worst of all, most of the jokes aren't all that funny. Keaton does his best with what he has to work with, but, truthfully, there isn't much to this. He livens things up a bit on a handful of occasions, but for the most part, he is overwhelmed by the leaden script.

Also included on the DVD are two short movies. Unlike the main feature, these two were co-written and co-directed by Buster Keaton himself. The difference couldn't be any more staggering. Give the man some creative control, and he turns out material a thousand times better. While the main feature is slow, ponderous and dull, these two shorts are fast-paced and hilarious.

The first short film is THE HIGH SIGN. By cheating his way through at a shooting gallery, Buster finds himself employed as both a bodyguard and a hit man. The movie culminates in a large house with multiple revolving walls and trapdoors. Buster and company leap through them with reckless abandon. I'm quite torn by watching this. Part of me wants to admire the craftsmanship and the effort that went into designing the physical gags and the intricate set. The other part of me just wants to be engulfed by the sheer entertainment.

The second short on the disc, ONE WEEK, starts with a fun gag involving Buster Keaton and his new bride attempting to exit one car and enter another -- while both automobiles are still moving. In any case, the newlyweds have been given a house as a wedding-gift. But there's one catch. The "house" is a kit, a do-it-yourself construction job. Thanks to some sabotage from the wife's ex, Buster builds himself a bizarre structure, with several features not found in ordinary homes. Anyone who knows anything about Buster Keaton's style of comedy should salivate at the thought of his baffled but determined character given over to that premise. And the result here is wonderful. The production crew built a giant house prop worthy of Keaton's comedy, and there's a fun gag that involves the moving of an unwieldy piano that rivals the problems that beset Laurel and Hardy in their Oscar-winning short film THE MUSIC BOX.

The picture quality is quite good considering that the material is over eighty years old. The DVD cover claims that the soundtracks are a modern recreation of the original scores, and while I can't independently verify that, it seems appropriate enough. I'm hesitant as to whether I should really recommend this DVD given that I was so utterly bored by the main feature. The two extras (of about twenty minutes each) are worthy of purchase though. Perhaps I should say that this disc will mainly be of interest to Buster Keaton fans. People looking for a solid introduction to the man's work should probably choose one of the other entries in the Art Of Buster Keaton DVD series.

Rating:
Summary: Henrietta Mine!
Review: THE SAPHEAD is a rather dull romantic comedy. I'm guessing that if it didn't have Buster Keaton in the title role, this film wouldn't have seen a DVD release for another twenty years. From a historical viewpoint, I suppose we must be grateful to the film, as it established Keaton as a bankable star, thus enabling him to go to bigger and better things. But judging the film on its own merits, I can only say that I was completely bored by it.

The movie has a few major flaws. The most annoying is the fact that Keaton (although the star) doesn't have enough screen time, and the other characters are one-dimensional and simply not interesting. The script is adapted from a play by the name of THE NEW HENRIETTA, and I can only hope that the material was funnier on the stage, because it certainly didn't translate well to the screen. The story takes too long to set itself up, the plot isn't terribly inspired, and, worst of all, most of the jokes aren't all that funny. Keaton does his best with what he has to work with, but, truthfully, there isn't much to this. He livens things up a bit on a handful of occasions, but for the most part, he is overwhelmed by the leaden script.

Also included on the DVD are two short movies. Unlike the main feature, these two were co-written and co-directed by Buster Keaton himself. The difference couldn't be any more staggering. Give the man some creative control, and he turns out material a thousand times better. While the main feature is slow, ponderous and dull, these two shorts are fast-paced and hilarious.

The first short film is THE HIGH SIGN. By cheating his way through at a shooting gallery, Buster finds himself employed as both a bodyguard and a hit man. The movie culminates in a large house with multiple revolving walls and trapdoors. Buster and company leap through them with reckless abandon. I'm quite torn by watching this. Part of me wants to admire the craftsmanship and the effort that went into designing the physical gags and the intricate set. The other part of me just wants to be engulfed by the sheer entertainment.

The second short on the disc, ONE WEEK, starts with a fun gag involving Buster Keaton and his new bride attempting to exit one car and enter another -- while both automobiles are still moving. In any case, the newlyweds have been given a house as a wedding-gift. But there's one catch. The "house" is a kit, a do-it-yourself construction job. Thanks to some sabotage from the wife's ex, Buster builds himself a bizarre structure, with several features not found in ordinary homes. Anyone who knows anything about Buster Keaton's style of comedy should salivate at the thought of his baffled but determined character given over to that premise. And the result here is wonderful. The production crew built a giant house prop worthy of Keaton's comedy, and there's a fun gag that involves the moving of an unwieldy piano that rivals the problems that beset Laurel and Hardy in their Oscar-winning short film THE MUSIC BOX.

The picture quality is quite good considering that the material is over eighty years old. The DVD cover claims that the soundtracks are a modern recreation of the original scores, and while I can't independently verify that, it seems appropriate enough. I'm hesitant as to whether I should really recommend this DVD given that I was so utterly bored by the main feature. The two extras (of about twenty minutes each) are worthy of purchase though. Perhaps I should say that this disc will mainly be of interest to Buster Keaton fans. People looking for a solid introduction to the man's work should probably choose one of the other entries in the Art Of Buster Keaton DVD series.

Rating:
Summary: An Unusual Keaton Film
Review: The Saphead is an underrated film. Many Keaton fans consider it to be one of his worst silent features. It is true that it lacks the comic ingenuity of his later films and does not, on the whole, show the athletic Buster flinging himself about performing ever more mind-boggling stunts. Nevertheless, The Saphead is an extremely funny film. The comedy depends not so much on various gags, but on the story and the way that Keaton looks and acts. This makes it an unusual Keaton film. It is partly because of the fact that The Saphead is unlike Buster's other films, that I found it so interesting. Although he is the main character of the film, he is part of an ensemble cast and thus there is the chance to see Keaton's interaction with other fully developed characters. This interaction is often hilarious. Buster's persona, in this film, is fully developed and his character is similar to that which appears in films like The Navigator and Battling Butler. In the Saphead, Keaton shows just how expressive his stoneface could be. The incredible thing about this film is that Buster can be so funny when he does nothing. Even when he stands still and just looks, I found myself laughing. It may be that The Saphead is not one of Keaton's very best films, but it is unusual and judged by its own standards works well. The tinted print used for this DVD is fairly good. There are times when it is a little dark and faded, but for the most part the images are clear.

This DVD also includes two of Keaton's best short films The High Sign and One Week. These films show a more familiar Keaton and have some incredible comic stunts. The High Sign also features a cameo from the wonderful Al St. John, familiar from Buster's films with Roscoe Arbuckle. These two films are surreal and weird. The High Sign has Buster getting involved with a bizarre secret society the Blinking Buzzards, while One Week shows Buster's disastrous attempt to build a house with faulty plans. The result is a house which Picasso might have designed. Both these films have very good black and white prints with very little apparent damage.

Rating:
Summary: The Saphead/ One Week/ The HIgh Sign
Review: THE SAPHEAD is not a true "Buster" feature. This was Buster's first feature but he is playing a role that is not 100% the Buster character. He does not have his later degree of creative control in this movie. There are some very funny moments at the stock exchange. Lots of screen time without Buster. This is a good movie but not a great one.

ONE WEEK is Buster's first short (that was released) and it a great one. Buster and his wife build a house and the results are less than perfect.

THE HIGH SIGN is the first Buster short he produced. It is another great one. There are some very funny scenes in the shooting gallery. The High Sign also contains a rare moment wher Buster gives the high sign to the viewer.

Rating:
Summary: The Saphead/ One Week/ The HIgh Sign
Review: THE SAPHEAD is not a true "Buster" feature. This was Buster's first feature but he is playing a role that is not 100% the Buster character. He does not have his later degree of creative control in this movie. There are some very funny moments at the stock exchange. Lots of screen time without Buster. This is a good movie but not a great one.

ONE WEEK is Buster's first short (that was released) and it a great one. Buster and his wife build a house and the results are less than perfect.

THE HIGH SIGN is the first Buster short he produced. It is another great one. There are some very funny scenes in the shooting gallery. The High Sign also contains a rare moment wher Buster gives the high sign to the viewer.