The Scarecrow by Gardner
The Scarecrow (1920) is a short film comedy that was written, directed, and performed by Buster Keaton along with Edward F. Cline.[1] An amusing romance, this 19-minute film is reminiscent of the vaudeville humor so common in Keaton films as one of the lead roles is played by Luke the Dog.[2]
Plot
Two farmhands (Buster Keaton and Joe Roberts) live in a one-room house resembling a Rube Goldberg invention. The house contains pulleys and levers that flip the room from bedroom to kitchen and back again. In the early minutes of the film, Roberts has to help Keaton remove a sore tooth. He does this by tying a string from the tooth to a doorknob and then slamming the door to yank the tooth out. After eating a meal together, the met set out to fight over the woman they love.
Both men work on the same farm and share the same love interest: the farmer's daughter (Sybil Seely). Both men attempt to win her love by various competitions resulting in broken limbs and soaked clothing. While running from a seemingly rabid dog (Luke the Dog), Keaton loses most of his clothes in a haystack and is forced to borrow clothes from a scarecrow in the farmer's field. He trips to his knees as the farmer's daughter appears, and she takes it as a marriage proposal. The two run off together with the farmer, (Joe Keaton) in hot pursuit. The happy couple picks up a pastor as they make their escape and are declared man and wife in the last scene - in the middle of a muddy stream.[3]
Production
The Scarecrow examines romantic comedy through scenes of marriage and competition for courtship in America during the 1920's. The set is well developed with an elaborately designed bachelor pad that has pulleys and carts which deliver breakfast, seasonings, and toast to the two farmhands as they sit at their table. The ruins of an old building provide an excellent backdrop for the chase between Luke the Dog and Keaton, and a giant haystack provides both a playground for Keaton and a comic allusion to finding a needle in a haystack as Keaton is chased around by Luke the Dog.[4]
Cast
- Buster Keaton, First Farmhand
- Joe Roberts, Second Farmhand
- Edward F. Cline, Truck Driver
- Luke the Dog, Dog
- Joe Keaton, Farmer
- Sybil Seely, Farmer's Daughter
- Al St. John, Motorcyclist
See Also
References
- ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0011656/
- ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1832937/?ref_=tt_ov_st
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarecrow_(1920_film)
- ↑ James Curtis, Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life (New York: Knopf, 2022), p. 150-153
External Links
- The Scarecrow on YouTube
