The Blacksmith

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The Blacksmith is a 1922 American short comedy film co-written, co-directed by and featuring Buster Keaton[1]. Buster plays an assistant blacksmith to the boss played by Joe Roberts, with predictable results. The film runs for around 22 minutes.

Plot

The boy readies his slingshot moments before disaster.

The film begins with some children watching Buster, an assistant blacksmith, do his work. His boss arrives, chasing the children away. Once his boss catches him cooking a meal on the fire, Buster pretends to work by hammering the plate, ruining the food. He burns both of his feet and his behind on a hot horseshoe, putting each into a bucket of water to cool off. His boss has him bring a hammer outside, but it is attracted to the large magnet above the door of the shop. This happens again with another hammer, then the wagon wheel. His boss starts hitting him and the sheriff tries to stop the fight, but he loses his badge and his gun to the magnet. They try to arrest the boss, which is helped by Buster releasing all of the magnetized tools on top of his head.

A horsewoman then enters the shop to buy some horseshoes. The horse does not like the options Buster tries until it sees some nice ones in a glass case. The horsewoman buys the nice horseshoes and leaves the shop. Another woman enters asking for something that will make horse riding less bumpy. Buster brings out a saddle shock-absorber, which makes it difficult for the woman to mount the horse, since it is so tall. But she seems pleased and leaves the shop.

Buster releases water from a water tower onto the angry mob.

A child enters with a balloon and Buster uses it to lift the car he is working on, but the child pops the balloon using a slingshot, which makes the car fall and break the floor. A man with a white car enters and leaves it for Buster to work on. Soon after, Buster has covered the car in oil, dented the hood, smashed the windows with a hammer, and burned the side with a welding torch. He then lifts an engine by a pulley and smashes the new car with it. The horse with the new saddle comes into the shop alone, and the boss returns just as Buster tries to leave. The boss tries to attack Buster, but they mostly end up damaging the new car even more. Buster lifts the boss up with the pulley and cuts the rope, which makes him fall onto the new car. The man and the second horsewoman return, and Buster runs away. He is dragged along the ground by a horse and gets caught in some railroad tracks.

The first horsewoman stops on the street to look at an uncovered pothole, but an explosion goes off inside it, scaring her horse into running. The train stops just before hitting Buster, and he runs away. The horse runs by and Buster catches the horsewoman. After saving her, he moves her ring to her left hand. Everyone catches up to them, but Buster pulls a rope which dumps water on their heads. They run away, jump on the back of a train, and ride off together. The final scene shows Buster fixing a model train in a living room, while the horsewoman holds their new baby.

Cast

Production

The film was originally called The Village Blacksmith, but the title along with numerous scenes were changed after receiving a negative pre-release review from James Quirk, an editor from the popular movie magazine Photoplay. To improve pacing, some repetitive scenes were removed and more slapstick scenes outside of the blacksmith shop were added. Keaton was reportedly disheartened by the production process and ultimately considered the film "a dud," even though it ultimately made a decent profit and was well-received by critics.[2]

References

  1. "Progressive Silent Film List: The Blacksmith". Silent Era. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  2. Curtis, James. Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2022, pp. 196-197.