Buster Keaton (nicknamed Pamplinas and Cara de palo -stone face in Spain) was a silent movie actor, director and screenwriter who made many great films such as the General or Steamboat Bill. But in 1928 he signed with MGM. That was the beginning of the end. Talkies had just begun and the studio simply did not know what to do with him. Trying to change his character into a new different one they decided to stop Keaton having full control on films, leading him to disaster. This picture is an example of this and its Spanish title "El comparsa" (the yes man in one of its connotations) becomes poignantly right: Keaton's character has no longer the charm nor the energy that he had in his previous films; it is poorly defined and this affects the entire movie, leading to a series of more or less fortunate sketches with little link plot between them. And yet, it is still a good Keaton movie with good scenes here and there (i.e. Buster trying to put her spouse in bed where miss Sebastian shines as the totally drunken spouse) but seemingly it has lost the lust of his yesteryear films. The last part is maybe the best and pure Keaton. It could have been a great film if Metro had only left Keaton leeway.
Review of Spite Marriage
