Overrated

One of my all time favorites.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Blistering performances.

"The Saphead" was Buster Keaton's first feature length film. To me it was a disappointment. At the time Keaton was making short comedies in which his considerable talent was displayed.For this film Keaton was loaned out by Joseph Schenck to Metro Pictures in a role that Douglas Fairbanks had previously played and for which he recommended Keaton for the part. "The Saphead" is more of a drama with comedy sequences far and few between. It should be noted that Keaton did not have control over the production of the picture.The story centers around millionaire Nicholas Van Alstyne (William H. Crane) and his family. Son-in-law Mark Turner (Irving Cummings), who is married to Van Alstyne's daughter Carol (Carol Holloway), is a crooked stock broker who plans to ruin the old man. Van Alstyne's spoiled, shiftless son Bertie (Keaton) is set up to take the blame for Turner's infidelity. Bertie is called a saphead by his father in recognition of his disappointment in him. Turner manages to gain control of the old man's holdings and.......................Keaton's best scene comes when he is thrown out of the stock exchange and performs one of his famous pratfalls. He has few opportunities to display his comedic talents in a mostly dramatic role.This film perhaps foreshadowed Keaton's fate when he moved to MGM in 1928 and lost creative control over his films and quickly lost favor with his fans.

If there is any humor in this movie, it is carefully concealed. Buster Keaton gives an energetic performance in what is otherwise a dubious attempt at self-effacing humor. Now, under certain circumstances self- effacing humor can be effective but not in this movie. The story is contrived, and Mr. Keaton's character is so shallow that one must wonder why anyone would pay him any attention at all. Irving Cummings and William Crane carry this movie. They give strong dramatic performances. Mr. Keaton's attempt at humor through deadpan is out of place in this movie. It simply is not funny. It does not generate laughs. Nor is his character particularly lovable. His character, Bertie, is spoiled and shallow. His love interest with the female lead is strained and entirely implausible. The plot is predictable. The movie does have some effective moments, such as when the Crane and Cummings characters confront each other and the frantic scenes of trading on the floor of the stock market, but otherwise the movie's value lies mostly in the its status as a quaint antique of movie making from a bygone era.

He's rich, he's a bit lazy, he gets the girl in the first half-hour, he even smiles a bit. It's not the Buster Keaton you expect. But he's still Keaton, and even if his first feature film creaks a good deal, he keeps you entertained."The Saphead" presents the story of Bertie Van Alstyne (Keaton), son of Wall Street tycoon Nicholas Van Alstyne (William H. Crane). Bertie lives a life of Manhattan luxury but secretly pines for the beautiful Agnes (Beulah Booker), who secretly pines for Bertie in turn. Happiness appears at hand until a strange turn of events shatters their union.A 1920 production of a hit stage play, "The Saphead" was designed to fit audience conventions of the day, not showcase Keaton's still-emerging comic persona. Sentiment and improbable coincidences run rampant here. Given that, it's impressive how well the Keaton we would come to know is presented. He is given many chances to present his clownish athleticism, as well as that expressionless-yet-not-emotionless manner that has beguiled film lovers for decades.Was Herbert Blaché, the credited director, preternaturally wise to Keaton's style? Or did Keaton just know how to get his way even before he enjoyed full control of his features?The problem with "The Saphead" is not Keaton, but its construction. In the first ten minutes, we are introduced to everyone in the film except Bertie, and given background about an adulterous affair that is then dropped for the Bertie story. Forty-five minutes in the two story lines come together, and in such a convoluted way as to beggar belief. Bertie is somehow pressed into taking the blame for the affair, even though it's obvious his brother-in-law is the guilty party.Cue violins. A lot of "The Saphead" works toward this kind of sentimental dithering, even the Keaton parts, which get a bit strange. Bertie confesses his love to Agnes accidentally, when he tells his sister Rose about it. (Since Nicholas Van Alstyne adopted Agnes, doesn't that make her Bertie's sister, too?) Agnes is standing right there, though, and gives Bertie a bit of a shock before he recovers and takes her hand. This is strictly Buster for the old ladies.The best way of watching "The Saphead" is as a couple of clever Keaton shorts with workmanlike connecting material. The first short would be Bertie's attempt to live a wastrel life, not because his heart is in it, but because he believes the modern woman "prefers sports to saints". To this end, in a great bit of physical comedy, Bertie tries to get arrested when his speakeasy is raided even though he successfully bribed a detective without knowing it. Every time he tries to enter the paddy wagon, someone pushes him back out.The second short would be Bertie making his way on Wall Street in the last 20 minutes, overdressed in top hat, frock coat, and spats, being razzed by the other brokers. This culminates in a scene of wild physical comedy where Keaton runs around the trading floor, jumping on people and unknowingly buying up shares in his father's precious mine.The Kino DVD I saw this on also has two shorts Keaton made at the same time, "The High Sign" and "One Week", which display Keaton as both director and star, and in much sharper form. "The Saphead" lacks the inventiveness of those shorts, but it works off-and-on as period entertainment thanks to Keaton and a good supporting cast. Booker is a typically shy Keaton-film beauty who delivers her scenes with grace. Crane has a fine comic moment sending his disgraced son off with a check for one million dollars "and not a penny more!"It's not great cinema, but it's the start of great cinema, showing some the conventions of the time Keaton would do his part to break, and other conventions he would observe, en route to glory.

Buying? Selling? No, I'm waiting for the crash----7/10 Although somewhat maligned by the multiple story lines and slow paced drama of the film, 'The Saphead' is saved from its own mediocrity by an incredible ending sequence that has Buster running, jumping and practically flying around the New York Stock Exchange. In defense of the film, the part that Buster plays, Bertie 'The Lamb' Van Alstyne, was not written with Buster, or his brand of comedy in mind. The Saphead is a remake of the Douglas Fairbanks film 'The Lamb', which was released roughly five years before. Having Buster come in to do 'his thing' makes this film unforgettable, but in no way nearly as good as the films he would go on to make independently.Besides the wonderful ending, the opening credits were very creative. But 'The Saphead' turns out to be nothing more than two bookends holding up some dated and dusty romance novels.7/10. Clark Richards