General Nuisance

Starring: Buster Keaton, Elsie Ames, Dorothy Appleby, Bobby Barber (uncredited), Lynton Brent (uncredited)
Directed by: Jules White
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Short, Comedy
Length: 17 minutes
1941

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A wealthy man (Buster Keaton) joins the army to be close to a pretty nurse (Dorothy Appleby) but his ineptitude as a soldier prevents him from getting the chance to spend time with her.

Review:

Tim: I like Buster Keaton and I think it's interesting how he worked to make the transition from silent film to talkies. This is the first short film of his I've seen and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It offers Keaton the chance to leverage his strengths, just in a more tightly compacted story.

The set up for the story is quick- Keaton's character is a wealthy man and meets a nurse who he immediately falls for. He learns from a second nurse that the girl of his dreams only goes for men in uniform. So, he does the obvious comedy thing and joins the military. It's a fairly straightforward set up, but it allows for multiple comedic opportunities. Now, we have an enlisted man who doesn't care about the military life at all and is in fact, poorly suited for it. His only aim is to get the opportunity to talk to the pretty nurse. The entire short film revolves around this concept. I understand that this film is a reworking of the 1930 film, Doughboys, a feature film that was Keaton's second talking picture. So, while I enjoyed the concept, it does lose some originality points for borrowing so heavily from that feature film.

Keaton is obviously the big draw here and the majority of the movie sets him up for humorous slapstick- he engages in a series of falls and bangs, all of which hurt and generate a decent amount of laughter. That's nearly where all the comedy comes from- people are getting hurt, but for our entertainment. It's humorous- I watched this movie with my seven year-old son and he was cackling along with me. The problem is that Keaton used to deliver better constructed comedy. The General is still one of my favorite films of all time and the stunts Keaton pulled off there were legendary. Here, he feels reduced to slapstick pratfalls. It's funny, but it's hard not to view this movie as Keaton coming down in the world.

It's not all bad, though- it all actually works. The highlight might be the the dance number. It's really well choreographed and the most entertaining part of the film. I also enjoyed the stunts in the hospital- they were well conceived and executed.

Keaton is good in the role- he might not be as charismatic as during his silent film days, but he's an experienced performer and that shows up well. Not everyone transitioned from silent to talkies, but Keaton had the skill set to make the leap. Elsie Ames was great and created a lot of the funniest moments with Keaton. They were a good pair. I thought Dorothy Appleby worked well also, her screen time is just a bit too limited.

General Nuisance (great title, by the way- I didn't catch the double meaning at first, my brain must be slow) is a decent comedy short featuring Buster Keaton. It's one of the better ones from Columbia, although it's certainly not the actor anywhere close to his peak. Still, it's worth 17 minutes of your time.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- N/A



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: His Ex Marks the Spot, Mooching Through Georgia