Topic: Ditto (1937) - Buster Keaton

[metaldams]

I will post my thoughts within the next few days, but you guys can post your thoughts before I do if you want.  My delay is not due to a lack of excitement, more so a combination of long work hours and constant weather temperature changes wrecking havoc on my sinuses and energy, I don't have it in me to give more than one paragraph of intelligent thought.  Whether you think this short is good or bad, it is certainly interesting and a standout.  I look forward to your thoughts, mine will be coming soon.

[Freddie Sanborn]

We’re back into dumb Elmer territory here. Abbott & Costello did a skit with the same premise, here: https://youtu.be/gkX7KBHdlbY. It works better for Lou Costello because we see his confusion and frustration build to a crescendo, and that doesn’t work for Keaton’s deadpan character.

The shaving scene just looks like padding as if Lamont told an uninspired Buster to burn up two minutes of film. The joke at the end with the adult Dionne Quintuplets shot from behind is just weird, and not because the reference is dated. It makes one long for the days of “The Playhouse” when Buster could clone himself endlessly with using nothing but camera lens masking and ingenuity.

[metaldams]

We’re back into dumb Elmer territory here. Abbott & Costello did a skit with the same premise, here: https://youtu.be/gkX7KBHdlbY. It works better for Lou Costello because we see his confusion and frustration build to a crescendo, and that doesn’t work for Keaton’s deadpan character.

The shaving scene just looks like padding as if Lamont told an uninspired Buster to burn up two minutes of film. The joke at the end with the adult Dionne Quintuplets shot from behind is just weird, and not because the reference is dated. It makes one long for the days of “The Playhouse” when Buster could clone himself endlessly with using nothing but camera lens masking and ingenuity.

The Abbott and Costello scene was flat out better written than the Keaton short (and mostly a play on some early Laurel and Hardy routines with not having enough money to order).  Lou also never figures out they're twins, who are much better in the Bud and Lou episode as well.  Keaton does figure out he's dealing with twins, and watching enough of these shorts, I've grown accustomed to, and like, his aw shucks dry level of confusion.  Of course Lou's reactions are priceless as well.

Your criticism of longing for the days of THE PLAYHOUSE with the final gag is common and the reason why most people consider DITTO to be the weakest Educational.  It is a valid point, no doubt Keaton in a higher budget would have done wonders with that gag, but I find the joke itself still funny.  You probably know this, but it's worth mentioning the Dionne Quintuplets were also referenced in FALSE ALARMS when Curly was naming the baby hoses after them.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Well, the Brewster girls are identical twins, all righty.  I hadn't noticed the credits and thought in the early going that it was just trick photography.  Suddenly seeing them both without any trickery was the high point of the whole short for me.  And yes, two minutes of Buster shaving made me long for Shemp.

[metaldams]

I'll throw in a few more comments.  The shaving scene I actually like.  The joke doesn't lie in the way Buster shaves like Shemp does, it's more so the size of the beard, how long it took for him to grow it, and the fact it took meeting one pretty girl for him to finally shave it off after all these years.  I like the fact Buster goes into hermit mode after simply being rejected by a bunch of twins he barely knew.  Buster's underplayed style while overreacting to situations in action I find humorous.

I do enjoy some of the slapstick stuff.  I like the idea of Buster falling in love with a girl while buttering her arm!  Yes, a very bizarre and surreal situation.  I also just like the idea of Buster doing an old fashioned staple job of old comedies, in this case an ice man.  One of those comfort foods.

The negative issues are yes, it would be great if Buster had a budget for that last gag, a case where the idea is better than the execution.  Also, the twins themselves don't seem like great actresses.  Now in Educational's defense for this one short, finding identical twins isn't quite as easy as finding a single girl, but in general, most of these girls teamed with Buster are just too young and inexperienced.  Lona Andre was in her early twenties, and she was one of the older ones.  Now the one exception is Dorothy Sebastian in ALLEZ-OOP.  An attractive woman in her early thirties who has acting experience and genuine chemistry with Buster - notice the quality difference between her and the other leading ladies.  Buster really would have benefitted from working with her more the way the Stooges did with Christine McIntyre or Bud and Lou with Hillary Brooke.

[Umbrella Sam]

Honestly, I’m having trouble thinking of anything funny about this short. The closest I can think of is the way Keaton falls after the twin’s husband comes home. This short was really dull.

The idea of Keaton mistaking twins for the same person isn’t necessarily a bad one, but they don’t do a whole lot with it. Honestly, I think this would have worked a lot better had it gone the OUR RELATIONS route, with more and more characters gradually joining the confusion-and, yes, they kind of do that with the husbands, but it’s resolved way too quickly. This idea isn’t even that new to Keaton, considering he did basically the same joke in THE PLAYHOUSE.

The pacing in general is pretty weird. That last few minutes with Keaton 15 years later felt really pointless, considering it only builds up to one lame joke at the end, and could have easily been cut to add more build-up to the rest of the short.

DITTO is just way too boring and a waste of 17 minutes. If you want a good twins comedy, watch OUR RELATIONS. If you want a shorter twins comedy, watch the Abbott and Costello routine. If you want a funny shaving scene, watch BRIDELESS GROOM. If you want to watch DITTO...don’t.

3 out of 10

[Paul Pain]

I'm halfway between Umbrella Sam and metaldams on this one.  On the one hand, there are some funny skits, and we even get to see a Stooge era Lynton Brent and Al Thompson in talking roles.  Overall, the short is weak and many great opportunities were missed.  Much of this falls on the writing though.  Having the horse cry and then not show up again was a real downer, and I was hoping that somehow that loop would resolve.  Also... why did the one girl send Buster to the store for poison?  We never know what's going on there.  Neither was anything done with the ice statue gag.

I liked the shaving scene.  Shemp's scene is an entirely different kind of shaving scene with the humor based in the actual act of shaving.  Buster's is based in what and why he's shaving.

It's meh.

5/10

[Steveb]

Leonard Maltin in his book "The Great Movie Shorts" completely missed the point of the ending, complaining that the film relied on a rear shot to show that the Girls were Quintuplets. But he didn't notice that they were supposed to be the DIONNE Quintuplets, as clearly shown by their names on the chairs!

[Freddie Sanborn]

And short of hiring the actual Dionne Quints, which I’m guessing was beyond Educational’s budget, this was a pretty efficient way of getting the gag across.

Leonard Maltin in his book "The Great Movie Shorts" completely missed the point of the ending, complaining that the film relied on a rear shot to show that the Girls were Quintuplets. But he didn't notice that they were supposed to be the DIONNE Quintuplets, as clearly shown by their names on the chairs!

[Dr. Mabuse]

Misunderstood by some critics, "Ditto" (1937) is a surreal gem and one of Keaton's better Educational shorts. No complaints about the ending, which I find rather amusing. It's nice to see a decent print for a change.

7/10