The Scarecrow (1920) :
Brief Review -
Yet another marvelous piece of scenic designing which proved that why Buster Keaton is the Best Structural Engineer of Comedy Hollywood ever got. The Scarecrow should have been a long feature film than a short and i am sure people would have been mad over it. Keaton's short films didn't recieve immense praise like his popular flicks of 20s, well not just him but Chaplin's short films too. Maybe audience didn't really understand the proportions and limits of a short and rather liked long featured more. That's okay for the future audience who didn't watch the films in its time, including us but the contemporary audience must have loved it for sure. Sadly, those are not alive Today to tell us about the film and in that period i don't think this Critics and reviews things would have mattered much. Two inventive farmhands compete for the hand of the same girl and the hilarious competition is wrapped in 20 minutes. The entire house section is structured smartly by Keaton and the art team, in similar way we have seen in his couple of other films of the same time. Keaton has structured the proporties in such manners that they look innovative first and while you are being wowed by the artistic values of it, it suddenly throws a laughter at you. That bed, dining table, forks, handkerchief, dustbin every single element is used brilliantly to make out a creative comedy, not just typical gags. That Scarecrow scene and marriage scene last for a minute or two but leaves solid impact and it wasn't an old thing for 1920, especially in comedy genre which had just started looking up. This wasn't the first time Buster Keaton made such an innovative comedy, he had plenty in the same period before he moved on to make adventurous comedies mostly after 1922. That's why i always looked at him as the Best Structural Engineer of Comedy in Hollywood. The Scarecrow just proved the same thing again.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
Yet another marvelous piece of scenic designing which proved that why Buster Keaton is the Best Structural Engineer of Comedy Hollywood ever got. The Scarecrow should have been a long feature film than a short and i am sure people would have been mad over it. Keaton's short films didn't recieve immense praise like his popular flicks of 20s, well not just him but Chaplin's short films too. Maybe audience didn't really understand the proportions and limits of a short and rather liked long featured more. That's okay for the future audience who didn't watch the films in its time, including us but the contemporary audience must have loved it for sure. Sadly, those are not alive Today to tell us about the film and in that period i don't think this Critics and reviews things would have mattered much. Two inventive farmhands compete for the hand of the same girl and the hilarious competition is wrapped in 20 minutes. The entire house section is structured smartly by Keaton and the art team, in similar way we have seen in his couple of other films of the same time. Keaton has structured the proporties in such manners that they look innovative first and while you are being wowed by the artistic values of it, it suddenly throws a laughter at you. That bed, dining table, forks, handkerchief, dustbin every single element is used brilliantly to make out a creative comedy, not just typical gags. That Scarecrow scene and marriage scene last for a minute or two but leaves solid impact and it wasn't an old thing for 1920, especially in comedy genre which had just started looking up. This wasn't the first time Buster Keaton made such an innovative comedy, he had plenty in the same period before he moved on to make adventurous comedies mostly after 1922. That's why i always looked at him as the Best Structural Engineer of Comedy in Hollywood. The Scarecrow just proved the same thing again.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.