I don’t know what made Ted Okuda and Ed Waltz think that Keaton’s character was resourceful, outside of a couple questionable moments towards the end. Keaton feels more like Elmer here than he has in any of the other Columbia shorts so far.
While Vernon Dent gives a great performance as always, the opening scene in Dent’s office consists of Keaton asking incredibly dumb questions about spending company money on ice cream and using a picture of Santa Claus to locate the woman he’s supposed to look for. My favorite parts of this film occur, here, though, all involving Cy Schindell. I love Keaton’s reaction to Schindell’s phone threat as well as the part showing how Schindell hurt Vernon Dent. My absolute favorite part, though, is when Schindell, for no reason at all, tries to trip Keaton twice. He just does it so subtly and with such a calm expression that I can’t help but find it hilarious.
Unfortunately, Schindell disappears and the rest of the film is Keaton making an idiot of himself on a train. Passengers laugh at him because he had a “Just Married” sign stuck to him and they continue laughing at him throughout the remainder of the film, and it gets really annoying. Bud Jamison appears, so at least it’s nice to see him, even if he doesn’t get any funny lines.
Keaton attempts to undress in his berth at one point, which gives me reminders of a certain Laurel and Hardy scene. This isn’t too bad, though, since the camera is far enough away and it doesn’t last too long. Still, it isn’t funny either.
The one arguably resourceful thing Keaton does in this film is when he uses the chord to tie up the gangster. He does also imitate the bird at one point, but it’s very easily discovered. Otherwise, I can’t think of a single resourceful thing Keaton did in this. Outside of a few funny moments at the beginning, this was a pretty hard short to sit through. I’ve got to stop watching films that have the words BERTH MARKS in the title.
4 out of 10
