"The Blacksmith" is probably the closest thing to slapstick I've seen from Keaton as director, and it has all the resultant appeal for me that might be expected; it's intermittently funny, and that's about it... I have to confess a prejudice -- humour that revolves around destruction and mayhem has never really been my cup of tea, and for my money Buster's character here is less appealing than the stoical underdogs he more usually plays; it's a combination of the inept and the sly that I found it hard to warm to.
That said, there are some good gags (as well as a few I simply didn't understand; why was Buster heating his stopped watch in the coals?). I liked the {horse-}shoe fitting, with its parody of a high-class shop, and the moment when Buster reaches out and calmly uses the little boy's helium balloon in lieu of a wheel-jack, continuing his maintenance without pause, is pure Keaton despite the low comedy of its aftermath -- as is the moment when, after struggling in vain to release his trapped foot from the points, oblivious to the threat of the approaching train, he catches sight of the locomotive stopped behind him and is instantly free in one bound of terror.
I didn't really find this the equal of Keaton's other comedy shorts, though. Zany filler, but there's little here that a score of other artists couldn't do as well.
That said, there are some good gags (as well as a few I simply didn't understand; why was Buster heating his stopped watch in the coals?). I liked the {horse-}shoe fitting, with its parody of a high-class shop, and the moment when Buster reaches out and calmly uses the little boy's helium balloon in lieu of a wheel-jack, continuing his maintenance without pause, is pure Keaton despite the low comedy of its aftermath -- as is the moment when, after struggling in vain to release his trapped foot from the points, oblivious to the threat of the approaching train, he catches sight of the locomotive stopped behind him and is instantly free in one bound of terror.
I didn't really find this the equal of Keaton's other comedy shorts, though. Zany filler, but there's little here that a score of other artists couldn't do as well.