BATTLING BUTLER

(1926)
With Buster Keaton, Sally O'Neil, Walter James, Bud Fine, Francis McDonald, Snitz Edwards
Directed by Buster Keaton
Silent, Black and White
Reviewed by JB

     JB: BATTLING BUTLER is Buster Keaton's least "Keatonesque" feature, and not coincidentally, it is my least favorite Keaton silent feature.  Adapted from a popular stage play, it is a farce about a spoiled rich man mistaken for a prize fighter.  The film contains minor gags, few big laughs and no real innovative or imaginative sequences. The vicious fight sequence at the end is the most memorable scene, with Keaton's normally blank face showing real anger and fury, but it's not enough to make me want to revisit this film any time soon.  I'd rather watch SPITE MARRIAGE or COLLEGE, also lesser Keaton films but at least lesser Keaton films with some brilliant sequences in them. 2 

Buster Keaton    The Age of Comedy