Topic: Taming of the Snood (1940) - Buster Keaton

[Paul Pain]

https://vk.com/video-2989343_162941577

Watch THE TAMING OF THE SNOOD in the link above and get the Damfino's note here:
http://www.busterkeaton.com/Films/F05_The_Taming_of_The_Snood.html

Thread's up... I totally forgot to do this and am truly sorry about it.  Dreck to come...

[metaldams]

...if you're wondering about the edit, I changed the title.  You originally named it Pardon My Berth Marks.

[Paul Pain]

...if you're wondering about the edit, I changed the title.  You originally named it Pardon My Berth Marks.

Thanks 

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Once again, I'm O K with this, Buster's timing of the physical routines is incomparable, and again his distaff partner is not only excellent, but also a very good sport.  The slapstick borders on the mathematical. At first I thought she was Mary Wickes, but as the bit went on, it was obvious that she was a trained tumbler, or acrobat, or stuntwoman, or somesuch, and I've never heard of Mary Wickes having such training.  So Elsie-Whatever-your-last-name-is-I-missed-it-sorry, Brava.  And Dorothy Applebee turns out to be a natural with Buster, in looks ( i.e. not only does she look great but also if looks could kill Buster would be pink mist ), attitude, and even height.  I don't know how far apart her Buster shorts were ( THAT certainly sounds wrong ), but for our purposes it's three in a row and I say brava, brava, brava.  Seventeen minutes of Snood has ten times the comedy of Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath, IMHO.
     Clearly, Clyde Bruckman is all over these as well as the stooges stuff in the 1940's.  The flagpole scenes both here and with the stooges  bear his stamp, to cite one of a hundred instances.  I assume Buster took a lot of comfort in having Clyde on the team as an emollient to the sledge-hammer direction of Jules White.
     One thing that Buster didn't have that most of the other aces had is a distress call, and it's apparent here in the flagpole scene.  At Columbia, all four stooges had distinct and memorable screams of fright, and elsewhere both Laurel and Hardy had theirs ( Hardy's was known as the best in the business ), and Lou Costello had a huge repertoire.  Even in The Wizard of Oz, all three character-heroes had easily identifiable distress calls, which significantly enhanced the terror, at least to Little Chief Apumtagribonitz.   Buster on the flagpole has human, natural grunts as he tries to save himself, understandable in that he was doing his own stunts, and I honestly can't imagine what a trademark ( even overdubbed ) distress call would have sounded like from Buster, since his real voice was nothing but the familiar croaky monotone, but the kids in my day would imitate those nyuk-nucks and woo-woos and eeb-eebs and gnong-gnong-gnongs and heeeey-Abbotts, and in that arena Buster was no more than an annoyed oyster.

[metaldams]

      Pretty much agree spot on with Big Chief's assessment.  I'll even go as far as to say it's the best Dorothy Appleby ever looked...something about that sparkly dress.  Yowzas ma ba sheeta la boko toya!  But yeah, the main joy in this short is the physical comedy Keaton and Elsie Ames pull off together, just fantastic stuff, especially since Buster is about 45.  Buster at one point is carrying her around vertically on her shoulders, they both take falls that should put any chiaropractor in business, there's splits galore from Ms. Ames, and Buster jumps up at one point while standing on the table while she's swinging on the ground and does a great fall.  Also love when he catches her when she falls the first two times and they fall in the opposite direction the third time.  Yes, Elsie Ames is more over the top than the standard Keaton actress...so what?  Her physical comedy in this short more than makes up for it.

      I also enjoy Buster trying all those crazy hats on for Dorothy Appleby.  The deadpan way he models the hats is hysterical.  Also notice the sign - 4/3 off.  Meaning Buster pays the customer for the hat, and yes, he gives Dorothy Appleby money.

      I also agree with Big Chief that Buster lacks the trademark Curly or Costello yell that those comedians would use hanging off the building.  Look, in the twenties, it would be silent and more realistic than some rear screen back drop, and Keaton would have done it better then.  In the sound era, you need some over the top Curly type to sell this thing...simply not Keaton's style.  I can picture Jules White telling Keaton how to act here.  Still, there's one great shot where a vase lands on Keaton's head.  He takes this fantastic drop off the ledge, check it out closely, it's another impressive physical feat.

[GreenCanaries]

I also enjoy Buster trying all those crazy hats on for Dorothy Appleby.  The deadpan way he models the hats is hysterical.  Also notice the sign - 4/3 off.  Meaning Buster pays the customer for the hat, and yes, he gives Dorothy Appleby money.

Funny you mention it, because I was perusing through some old trade magazines at archive.org, and I discovered that FOUR-THIRDS OFF was the original working title for this short.

Once again, I'm O K with this, Buster's timing of the physical routines is incomparable, and again his distaff partner is not only excellent, but also a very good sport.  The slapstick borders on the mathematical. At first I thought she was Mary Wickes, but as the bit went on, it was obvious that she was a trained tumbler, or acrobat, or stuntwoman, or somesuch, and I've never heard of Mary Wickes having such training.  So Elsie-Whatever-your-last-name-is-I-missed-it-sorry, Brava.

Elsie Ames and her husband Nick Arno -- who also pops up in some Columbia shorts, including I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN ("Picture, please!"), DIZZY YARDBIRD, and the soon-to-be-discussed GENERAL NUISANCE -- were a veteran vaudeville slapstick team who performed together through the 1950s. Here are Ames & Arno performing their crashing act in the Bing Crosby picture DOUBLE OR NOTHING (1937): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYaKSViFA5Y

Her acting may not be the greatest, but indeed, no one can deny Elsie's physical talents. Since Nick was also there at Columbia, I always sort of wondered why they didn't just do an "Ames & Arno" series of Columbia two-reelers instead of trying to pair Elsie with Buster, Harry Langdon, etc. while keeping Nick in supporting and bit parts.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Just watched it again, and yes the fall off the ledge is practically superhuman.  Also, I've blamed previously hammy drunk performances on the stooges themselves, but from Elsie Ames's performance here, it's obvious that she acts drunk exactly the same as the stooges act drunk.  Thus I now officially blame director Jules White for all not-of-this-planet drunk performances, though of course as you might know, it's nothing new for me to blame all gross departures from human reality on Jules White's ham-fisted direction of his actors.  Drunks just don't behave like that, Jules, they talk nonsense, throw up and pass out.  Trust me on this.  Plus, Elsie sobers up very very fast.  If I were to offer a constructive suggestion in setting up the scene, I would suggest that Elsie be seen tippling a bit before Buster knocks on the door  ( her behavior as shown would certainly demonstrate that ) and then when Buster gives her a small restorative nip after her fall, it ( unbeknownsed to him ) knocks her right over the edge.  This avoids the assumption that she is instantly fall-down drunk from inhaling a pint of whisky, and also lets her sober up a bit more credibly on cue.   I'm in way too deep here, but my point is that drunks don't act like acrobats.  Otherwise, I'm still O K with this.

[Umbrella Sam]

I feel this is the perfect example of a short that could work very well if the lead comedian was different. That’s not to say that Keaton himself doesn’t provide any laughs, but the set up feels like it was written for just about any of the comedians at Columbia.

The opening is fine enough. I like the designs of the hats and the 4/3 gag is pretty good too. The middle with Elsie Ames is definitely impressive, but this kind of goes with the point I’m trying to make. Elsie’s act would feel more effective if she had a more fitting partner. It feels like she needed someone who was good with reactions like Shemp or Lou Costello rather than the normally stoic Buster. There definitely is potential here and occasionally it works, like when Keaton and Ames fall in opposite directions, but it could work better if the partner looked truly scared by the situation. The “hanging from the flagpole” ending, of course, was done by the Stooges a few times and I think Big Chief makes a good point about Keaton’s lack of a distress call being the reason this part doesn’t work all that well.

In the end, it’s not particularly good as a Keaton film, but Elsie Ames’s performance and some good gags make this somewhat worth watching. It just would have felt better with a different lead.

7 out of 10

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Sam, I can't think of any other lead comic who could have kept up with Elsie Ames.

[metaldams]

Sam, I can't think of any other lead comic who could have kept up with Elsie Ames.

Agreed completely.  No Stooge or probably anybody else at Columbia, certainly not Langdon and Chase, could have done what Keaton did with Elsie Ames.  Keaton could do more physical things than those other comedians, taking falls the others simply were not capable of.  Notice how Columbia uses stunt doubles for Keaton much less than other comedians.

Also, if anybody has the DVD set, listen to the audio commentary.  It is believed these physical table gags are the closest filmed thing we have to what Keaton did on stage with his parents when they were billed as "The Three Keatons."  So yeah, definitely unique to Keaton.

In a normal comedy, you're probably right, Sam.  Ames, with her demeanor, probably would work better with a Shemp or Lou type.  However, this isn't a normal comedy.  I don't believe Shemp or Lou, or most other comedians, could pull off the physical stuff Keaton does.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

That and the fact that this scene, if not the whole short, was planned around what Buster and only Buster could do.

[Umbrella Sam]

Sam, I can't think of any other lead comic who could have kept up with Elsie Ames.

Agreed completely.  No Stooge or probably anybody else at Columbia, certainly not Langdon and Chase, could have done what Keaton did with Elsie Ames.  Keaton could do more physical things than those other comedians, taking falls the others simply were not capable of.  Notice how Columbia uses stunt doubles for Keaton much less than other comedians.

After watching it again, I must admit that you’re both right about the physical aspect of Keaton during the Ames scenes and that I was mistaken when I said Keaton wasn’t a good choice for that section. However, the premise itself, with Keaton being tricked by the thief, still doesn’t feel very fitting for him and the flagpole ending also still feels pretty underwhelming. I still do have to give credit where credit’s due, though, and after thinking about it, I’m going to bump up my rating for the short by one more point.

8 out of 10

[Paul Pain]

I finally have time!

Yes, this isn't the best vehicle necessarily for a Buster comedy, but it worked still.  Elsie Ames is beloved by Buster afficionados the word over because she was able to perform all the physical stunts much as he did.  The bad part is that Elsie Ames also has terrible body language and a horrible voice.  She's a bit of a wash because of this.  It's odd to have two physical comedians working together without a different style to back them up; the rest of the characters are playing it straight.

Jules White shows his horrors well here.  Elsie Ames hams up a drunk worse than The Three Stooges do.  Seriously, if she got drunk that easily (nevermind her stupid personality prior to the drink), then imagine her post-communion at a Roman Catholic church?  She'd stagger into the pew and bang her head, but she'd be funny in her fall!

The rest of this almost feels like a 1950s Stooges short as far as quality goes.  It has that fake drama feeling, whereas 1940s Stooges convinced you they really could die should they fall.  Honestly, this plot, as Big Chief said, is not special and could have done [possibly better] by any other team.  This is a standard Columbia short with Buster elements added.

This is a really good short hampered by factors that the actors can't control.

7/10

[Kopfy2013]

Those pratfalls look painful ....  loved the "clothesline' hat ....  I will give it a 5 ... average .... would have been lower accept for the pratfalls.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Even with Jules White at the helm, "Taming of the Snood" is better than it has any right to be. Though his frustration with the Columbia style occasionally shows, Buster remains a joy to watch. Elsie Ames definitely earns her salary in terms of pratfalls.

7/10