• Buster’s debut feature film—my first time catching it and I’m very happy I finally did. It doesn’t have the polish of his second feature, 1923’s Our Hospitality, but it is certainly funny, and ambitious, here Buster is spoofing DW Griffith’s masterpiece Intolerance (1916) telling the story in three separate intersecting (and parallel) stories of love through the ages (Stone Age, Roman, Modern day).
  • It’s tough for those that haven’t seen Griffith’s masterwork (shame on you if you haven’t) but instead of Gish as eternal mother who rocks the cradle we have a hilarious father time here with a scythe
  • So apparently Keaton decided to construct the three stories this way not only to parody Griffith’s masterwork, but to use as comic shorts (roughly 20 mins a piece) in case they didn’t work as a feature- but the main part of the comedy is in the cross-cutting and parallels through ages (riding a dinosaur, riding a chariot, riding a car, etc)
  • Wallace Beery here as Keaton’s adversary and competition—perfect size juxtaposition (wit vs. brawn). He’s a cave man. Oddly he’s sort of playing himself in the contemporary setting with “Beery” on the screen
  • It is not quite what we’d get later in the decade in terms of Keaton’s acrobatics but it’s great to see him walking back and forth on a miniature dinosaur like he would in the train in The General
  • Highlight may be a moment when Keaton (50-60 years before Jackie Chan and 80 before Tom Cruise) tumbles off a cliff and blows a big kiss to the camera on his way down
  • Impressive Roman-era sets
  • Great gags like the sundial watch and “no parking” sign for the chariot in the Roman era
  • Recommend/Highly Recommend border