Topic: The Hayseed (1919) - Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton

[Paul Pain]

http://www.busterkeaton.com/Films/A13_The_Hayseed.html

Watch THE HAYSEED in the link above.

As most of these shorts do, this one is missing 2-3 minutes, creating some awkward jumps, but it doesn't matter.  The other 24 minutes are fantastic.  By this stage we are seeing Buster Keaton in the form that we will see him in his early solo efforts, and, boy, am I looking forward to it.

This short sees fantastic acrobatics from Buster, Roscoe, and Jack Coogan.  I wish I knew who played the store manager because he takes good falls as well, but not even The Damfinos know.  Without these acrobats, this short doesn't work.  Notice the reaction of the manager when he walks into the store and sees Buster with the broom; and that's not the last broom joke in this!

About 3 minutes into the film is one of the greatest tangents/side plots of all time.  When I saw Roscoe put that rock as a headstone for that vacuous vile of sin bottle of booze, I almost died laughing.  Remember, it's not the funeral that counts; it's that it's somethingone that you love.

Roscoe has that almost 6th-grade approach to love.  Hide-and-seek?  You're an overly grown man!  Ah, love...

Jack Coogan makes an acceptable villain.  He's not as hammy as Al St. John, and not ruthless either.  Sadly, his four Arbuckle shorts were it for him, and he was killed in a car accident in 1935.  But he sired someone important as metaldams told us last week!

The bowl of onions... now, my grandfather and his father used to, for a snack, each peel an onion and cut two big chunks off a stick of pepperoni and have some quality time together.  But who keeps a bowl of scallions on their table?  Nevertheless, onions make for great results.

10/10

[Umbrella Sam]

This is another short that I think gets better as it goes along, although not to the extent of THE BELL BOY. Once it gets to the cheese part, I think things really pick up. Keaton and Coogan's fight is a joy to watch along with Keaton and the store manager's attempt at being magicians. The highlight to me, though, is the onion part. The reactions and misundertandings that come as a result do indeed make for great results.

I also agree that Jack Coogan is a passable villain. It's mostly just a case of him not having much to work with, as I thought that he was really good in BACK STAGE (even though he isn't the main villain in that short). It's also nice to see Luke the Dog again.

Really, I don't have much to say about this short. I do think that it's a bit of a step down from the last two weeks' shorts, but I still like it.

8 out of 10

[metaldams]

      Eh, I'm not as high on this one as you guys.  I suppose the storytelling is alright, minus the quick ending, but the humor lacks in areas.  I guess the whole romantic angle just doesn't work for me.  Lacks the emotional depth of Chaplin and Lloyd combined with their humor.  Some of the gags are cute, I suppose, like how Arbuckle way of getting his girl's ring size, but there's just too much hide and seek running around stuff, and I just never found the rivalry with Jack Coogan to be all that engaging.  There really aren't many great gags to tell a story, to be frank, something Keaton solo has plenty to offer.

      I like Arbuckle, but really Keaton is the superior comedian.  Just the way he pantomimes while oiling the horse's shoes at the beginning shows great work and the fall he takes onto Arbuckle as he's thrown off the horse is fantastic stuff.  The latter Arbuckle shorts tend to show more maturity, and while the pacing of THE HAYSEED is mature, I just never could grab onto the story or get into this minus the wonderful outdoor picture scenery (common in silent film), and the occasional great falls.  Nothing particularly terrible, just not great.  A blah review for a just OK film, but I don't have much to say.  The final Arbuckle is much better, more memorable gags and less cutesy romance, yet the storytelling quality remains.

7/10

[Paul Pain]

      Eh, I'm not as high on this one as you guys.  I suppose the storytelling is alright, minus the quick ending, but the humor lacks in areas.  I guess the whole romantic angle just doesn't work for me.  Lacks the emotional depth of Chaplin and Lloyd combined with their humor.  Some of the gags are cute, I suppose, like how Arbuckle way of getting his girl's ring size, but there's just too much hide and seek running around stuff, and I just never found the rivalry with Jack Coogan to be all that engaging.  There really aren't many great gags to tell a story, to be frank, something Keaton solo has plenty to offer.

      I like Arbuckle, but really Keaton is the superior comedian.  Just the way he pantomimes while oiling the horse's shoes at the beginning shows great work and the fall he takes onto Arbuckle as he's thrown off the horse is fantastic stuff.  The latter Arbuckle shorts tend to show more maturity, and while the pacing of THE HAYSEED is mature, I just never could grab onto the story or get into this minus the wonderful outdoor picture scenery (common in silent film), and the occasional great falls.  Nothing particularly terrible, just not great.  A blah review for a just OK film, but I don't have much to say.  The final Arbuckle is much better, more memorable gags and less cutesy romance, yet the storytelling quality remains.

7/10

What I find humorous about the Coogan-Arbuckle-Malone triangle is that Coogan's character is just so un-manly and entirely unlikable that a girl like Malone would never entertain him for even a second.

BTW, I want to let y'all know that after we do THE GARAGE, we will moving onto THE SAPHEAD rather than ONE WEEK.  We'll mix the silent movies in with the silent shorts.

[metaldams]

What I find humorous about the Coogan-Arbuckle-Malone triangle is that Coogan's character is just so un-manly and entirely unlikable that a girl like Malone would never entertain him for even a second.

BTW, I want to let y'all know that after we do THE GARAGE, we will moving onto THE SAPHEAD rather than ONE WEEK.  We'll mix the silent movies in with the silent shorts.

Nice!  I haven't watched THE SAPHEAD in ages, looking forward to watching and reviewing.

[Paul Pain]

Actually, I have to renege on that.  It turns out that ONE WEEK was released before THE SAPHEAD, so we'll do ONE WEEK first.