Igenlode Wordsmith Neither the prospect of eighty minutes of biting headwind nor snow showers has been able to keep me from the National Film Theatre over the three weeks so far of its Buster Keaton season, and every time the films have yet to disappoint: "Battling Butler" is no exception! I'd instantly give this a 9 if only I could justify it relative to the early scenes; despite the pitch of enthusiasm I'd reached by the end of the film, I'm still not quite sure in all fairness that I can.It definitely takes a while to get up to speed (at the start, I took the father to be a doctor giving his sickly son only three months to live!) and for the initial reel or so it depends largely on a single extended gag -- the elegant fop's complete unsuitability for an outdoor environment. Alfred's elaborate al-fresco living arrangements echo Keaton's trademark fascination with complicated contrivances, and there's one very typical bit of misdirection where we wait for the shotgun's recoil to knock Alfred backwards into the water, only for a somewhat different turn of events to prove his downfall; but this film doesn't come properly to life until its hero engages our sympathy as well as being a walking joke. In "The General", we engage with Johnnie Gray almost immediately -- in "Battling Butler", Alfred remained a cipher for me until the moment when he nervously rehearses "Beatrice Faircatch"'s newspaper advice on making a proposal, with such an earnest air: it's funny, but it's also touching, and it's no coincidence that it is with his subsequent first steps towards standing on his own two feet -- tearing up and throwing aside the useless newspaper column -- that Alfred Butler may finally be said to have progressed beyond a simple one-dimensional character, and the film can really begin.From here on the picture becomes a Keaton classic, sweeping the hapless hero further and further from the cushioned normality of his life with a series of escalating and plausible coincidences. Ultimately the worm will turn, of course -- but not in the time and manner that we are expecting. And Keaton acts here not just with that famous face but with every line of his whole body: triumph, exhaustion, despair, apprehension, indignation, timidity, pugnacity... and finally, in the last scene, sublime confidence in his own skin, modelling a costume so incongruous that only Buster Keaton could carry it off with such genuine elegance! The scenes of Alfred's ordeal are hilarious and moving by degrees -- it's almost impossible to analyse Keaton's appeal. 'Sweet' is quite definitely the wrong word, as is 'lovable': Buster is no Little Tramp. 'Bittersweet' might be closer to the mark... or 'poignant'; the metaphor of the man who gets knocked down but keeps on trying has never been more apt. There is a brief vivid moment when Alfred, bewildered and worn out, turns his face aside into the arms of his second with such a hopeless little air that instead of a laugh, it raised a murmur of pity from the auditorium. But Keaton never allows himself to milk the audience for sympathy -- the best of his films may mingle laughter through tears, but he never falls into the trap of sentimentality.I'm not sure if this is among the best of Keaton's films... but it's certainly one of those I've ultimately enjoyed the most so far. I've changed my mind: I'll give it a 9 after all, and say I'm dropping a mark down instead from a 10! :-)

H_A_Wellington_IV Battling Butler (1926) was a funny film by comedian/director BusterKeaton. This is one of his lesser known films that he made before theclassic The General. Keaton plays a soft "mama's boy". His father decides that his son needs to toughen up. So he does everything he can to make aman out of his son. Meanwhile, Buster finds true romance with a nice girl. Can Keaton become a man and win the girl or will he always be a weakling?A fun film from Buster Keaton. The usual stunts and prat falls are in thispicture. Old stone face can take an average storyline and breath some lifeinto it. The direction is executed very well and the film has a very quaintending. Not a classic by any means, just an entertaining film.Recommended for Buster Keaton fans.B+

frankgaipa This relatively slight Keaton effort includes some intricate identity switching, but let me describe instead one superb bit of choreography. Near the end of the riverside idyll, rich pansy Keaton's met farmer's daughter Sally O'Neil, they've fallen for each other, and been discovered by her father and brother. After a brief unhappy confrontation, the father and brother disappear through a clump of trees to the left. Night comes, and Keaton walks O'Neil home through the same clump of trees. Arriving, they turn and face each other, somewhat at ease now, from opposite sides of the gate. The father and brother, seeming even larger than they are because they enter from nearer the camera, come storming from the right, pass between the couple, through the gate, and up some steps into the house. The couple look away from us to the house, then at each other. Keaton begins to take his leave, and they both look slightly right, roughly toward us, at the route he will take. He starts off, but takes fright of the trees. She sees, catches up and walks him home, then walks back. The to and fro, the coming and going, of all this is delightful. It's delightfully timed and executed. (If you pay closer attention than you're supposed to, you'll realize it's a smallish set, the forest is a tree or two, and Keaton's tent maybe 50 strides from the house, probably in full view of it.)Great shot later: Keaton clad only in boxing shorts, shoes, and top hat, bare-chested, walking O'Neil through an authentic-looking evening-dressed crowd along a real-looking downtown street.

Sleepy-17 Keaton shows off his physical mimicry as a wealthy fop who must train as a prize fighter, but the climactic payoff doesn't deliver so great a punch: Keaton misses the Big Bout and fights the winner in the locker room! Good stuff, but a lesser effort.