In this 20-minute black-and-white short film from soon 100 years ago, Buster Keaton has quite challenge coming up. A man pays him to be his bodyguard and protect him, while a gang of crooks want him to kill that man. Of course, the two do not know about each other. I personally wondered how Keaton got involved with these criminals as he seems to be a quite harmonious man in this movie. Of course, the protagonist also wrote and directed this work here, together with his longtime collaborator Edward F. Cline. Surprisingly, Ingram B. Pickett who plays (not so) Tiny Tim does not have a most prolific movie career. He looks to me like a perfect choice for villain roles in these very early films. Al St. john is in this one as well.
I personally thought this wasn't a bad short film at all. I just wished there could have been more focus on this main plot with on whose side Buster is on. The first 10 minutes of the film feel like an overlong prologue to the actual story unfortunately. And even when he got his two assignments, there is still a lack of focus as the story drifts completely away at one point when Buster is robbed in his own store after handing the robber even one of his own guns. And there is a love story included with the daughter of the man Buster has to protect. But this one is also slightly underwhelming compared to other love stories in the early days of cinema. The funniest thing about it may have been the intertitles, for example the one early on with all these b-words. However, all in all, I hoped for more. Not recommended.
I personally thought this wasn't a bad short film at all. I just wished there could have been more focus on this main plot with on whose side Buster is on. The first 10 minutes of the film feel like an overlong prologue to the actual story unfortunately. And even when he got his two assignments, there is still a lack of focus as the story drifts completely away at one point when Buster is robbed in his own store after handing the robber even one of his own guns. And there is a love story included with the daughter of the man Buster has to protect. But this one is also slightly underwhelming compared to other love stories in the early days of cinema. The funniest thing about it may have been the intertitles, for example the one early on with all these b-words. However, all in all, I hoped for more. Not recommended.