Film Review
Our Hospitality, the first of
Buster Keaton's feature masterpieces, takes as its inspiration the much
publicised feud between the Hatfields and McCoys, two southern US
families that were at war for well over a decade in the late
1800s. Despite the seriousness of the real-life events, Keaton
had no difficulty in seeing and realising the comic potential that lay
in the notion of an endless blood feud. Some of the film's
set-pieces would re-surface in later Keaton films, notably the train
sequence, which would reappear in
The
General (1927).
Appropriately, for a film about family loyalty,
Our Hospitality features virtually
the entire Keaton clan. Buster's father Joe has a substantial
role, playing the train engineer, as does his wife at the time, Natalie
Talmadge. His recently born son, James (credited as Buster Keaton
Jr.), appears in two roles, first as the young Willie McKay and then,
at the end of the film, as his new-born son. Talmadge was
the sister in law of Joseph Schenck, Keaton's producer, and would later
be the main cause for the comic's tragic descent into poverty and
alcoholism, although there is no hint of marital disharmony here.
From the spring in Buster's step and the warmth that can be felt in his
scenes with Talmadge, it is apparent that the couple are still very
much in love. The rift would begin a year later, after the birth
of their second son, Robert.
Keaton's penchant for death-defying bravado is exemplified in a
spectacular sequence involving a waterfall rescue. This comedy
thrill was one of most dangerous stunts that Keaton attempted in his
career, one in which he came perilously close to drowning.
Our Hospitality is one of the most
gag-packed of Keaton's films, offering a cornucopia of visual jokes
that barely gives the spectator a chance to rest between one bout of
laughter and the next. The best remembered sequence is the one in
which a flimsy steam train (a near-replica of Robert Stephenson's
Rocket) zigzags around numerous
obstacles in an increasingly desperate attempt to reach its
destination. When a troublesome mule refuses to stand away from
the railway line, the train-driver has only one option: to move the
tracks! Today's comedians and comic writers have so much to learn from
Keaton, the unrivalled master of mirth.
© James Travers 2010
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Film Synopsis
The McKays and Canfields are two families in a southern US state who
have been at war for so long that they cannot recall how their feud
started. When one of the McKays is shot dead in 1810 by his
sworn enemies, one of the McKay women sends her baby son, Willie, to
New York, to be brought up by his aunt. Twenty years later,
Willie heads back to the town of his birth to claim his inheritance,
not realising that his father's estate consists only of a dilapidated
house. During the long train journey, Willie gets to know an
attractive young woman, Virginia, who invites him to dinner at her
house. Willie accepts the offer, blissfully unaware that Virginia
is a Canfield and that her brothers, having identified him, are busy
taking pot-shots at him. The Canfields welcome Willie as an
honoured guest for the dinner date but intend to shoot him dead the
moment he leaves their house. Once he realises the danger he is
in, Willie is suddenly reluctant to bid his hosts goodbye...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by frenchfilms.org and must not be copied.