The Invader (1936) Online

The only reason why I'm giving this practically forgotten low-budget film 6 out of 10 stars is that it is historically very interesting and important for Keaton completists. It's a fairly artful example of BK and his drunk mid-30s worst work BUT he also clearly managed to get a lot of input into gags, and the basic premise - a version of Spite Marriage (wrong guy gets married to girl to make bad guy jealous) - reminds us of previous and better fleshed-out MGM era films.

Note that Keaton re-made (or had it remade) this film as a short at Columbia years later, a 16-minute distillation that services the admittedly thin plot better. Seeing the same gags in different context is often illustrative of how they were thought up. Here producer Sam Spiegel tries to cash in on Keaton's fame, and actually hired German DP Eugen Schüfftan, who had worked with Pabst, Wilder, Carne, and other very expressionistic directors earlier in his career. This low-budget film actually tries to look much better than it can ever hope to.

I recommend seeing this film on the recent Laughsmith's INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH KEATON DVD, which has a knowing commentary telling us the behind-the-scenes stories of the film.

As a life long Buster Keaton fan, I was excited to see this little known sound feature made in England. It is down right horrible! Even Buster's "A Modern Bluebeard" is better. The plot is barely enough for a two reel comedy. In a remote Spanish village, a jealous husband threatens to kill the next man who flirts with his wife. Of course, that man turns out to be Buster. That's it. Now it takes an hour to tell that story! The production values are so low on this film, that it makes Buster's Educational two reelers look like "A" prestige movies. There is an inept musical number in the middle of this mess which goes on far too long and is definitely there just to pad out the slim pickings of the plot. Buster, as always, is terrific, but there is not enough to support him. This film was remade as a Columbia two reel comedy in 1939; it was called "Pest from the West". This is a wonderfully funny film because it is over in 16 minutes. The slow pacing, shoddy sets, and lackluster direction really kill off "The Invader". I only recommend it to Buster fans who have seen everything else.

... as this is one of the few bad films Keaton ever did. After being fired from MGM at the height of the Great Depression, Keaton easily found roles in shorts such as those he did at Educational Pictures, but starring roles were hard to come by. Partly this was because of the Depression itself, partly it was because Keaton was still seen as a silent star, but some of the problem was with the fact that Keaton had a problem with alcohol that was almost suicidal during the early and mid 30's. When this film was made his illness was at its height.

The producer, Sam Spiegel, made some great films in the 1950's. In 1934, however, he was under-financed, inexperienced, and basically did not know what he was doing. There simply was not enough story to fill up a feature length film. Thus we have painfully prolonged scenes such as Lupita Tovar's dance scene at the club near the beginning of the film. Are there funny moments by Buster here? Sure there are, mainly because although Buster did not get writing credit, the story was his own. There's still not enough good material to make up for sitting through all of the padding. To see a recovered Keaton do his best material from this prolonged film in a more appropriate 20 minute short, see the Columbia short "Pest From the West". Both this film and that short are available on DVD.

Of all the items culled for the "Industrial Strength Keaton" DVD collection, this was not only the worst looking one because of a bad print but, quality-wise, there's hardly any comedy even with The Great Stone Face's presence, and the music numbers just show how padded this feature called An Old Spanish Custom (at least here in the U.S.) is. It's not that there aren't any good gags here-like when Buster sings "In An Old Spanish Town" while some fruit drops on his head-it's just they come at arbitrary points and you have to wade through a lot of plot-related dialogue that is just performed monotonously to get to them. Also, Buster doesn't have too much motivation for his character so I don't find myself feeling for him here. Still, anything featuring the legendary comic is at least worth a look at least once so there you are...

Quota quickest are often barely passable when they don't have major stars, but when one of the biggest comic geniuses of the silent era ends up in one, it is a sad day for movie going audiences. This is perhaps one of the worst, a creaky but loud farce involving a fiery Mexican senorita who plans to marry a successful cafe owner, pretend to love wealthy American Buster Keaton, and get her husband so jealous that he'll kill Keaton so she can be with the man she really loves. It's melodramatic nonsense, only boosted by a few really funny sequences involving "the great stone face".

Keaton is at his most hysterical while singing "In a Little Spanish Town" totally deadpan while being clonked on the head by apples. The long scene ends with a sight gag that came out of nowhere and was not what I expected to happen. A few years later, Virginia O'Brien would sing this in deadpan in "Thousands Cheer", and I wouldn't be surprised if she was coached by Keaton himself.

But as a whole, this is ridiculously tedious, a genuine forgettable chapter in Keaton's long career. The supporting players are not very interesting, and they really stand out as being weak when they appear opposite Keaton. I rank this as perhaps the worst feature of Keaton's lengthy career, a sad testament to Hollywood's golden age that they often didn't see what treasures they had and how they would often let gold slip through their fingers.

The Invader is practically a silent movie, and most of the dialogue could have been taken care of with a few well-placed title cards like in the olden days. For the first twenty minutes of the movie, the leading man doesn't even talk. Finally, when Buster Keaton opens his mouth, he stammers over the word "Senorita" when trying to speak Spanish to Lupita Tovar. It turns out she speaks English, so he doesn't have to worry for the rest of the movie. He does try to woo Lupita by singing, but his rival throws things at him until he stops, pouts, and stalks off the screen with his guitar under his arm.

Let's face it, there's no reason you'd rent this movie unless you're a die-hard Buster Keaton fan and want to watch all his movies. If you've accidentally stumbled upon this movie and haven't seen much or any of him, don't bother with this one. It's not very good, and even if you love Buster-which I absolutely do-you're better off watching something better.

Old Spanish Custom, An (1935)

BOMB (out of 4)

Extremely cheap British film about a stupid American (Buster Keaton) who flirts with another man's wife and then must do a Spanish custom by challenging him to a duel. This is an extremely bad film on all levels from the cheap production to the horrid direction to the screenplay, which really only allows Keaton to have water thrown on him. There's not a single laugh to be found but there's plenty of tears having to see Keaton doing stuff like this.

You can find this film on the Buster Keaton Laughsmith set.

I guess we can call this a "review" but I won't write about the plot, or anything much else in the film, because it's always better to let the film explain itself.

This isn't the best film from Keaton, but it is certainly a hidden gem. Keaton is 40yrs old and that means that he can only do so much physically, but that's quite a bit.



If one of the points of a review is to help the reader decide whether or not to give a film a look my advice is very short.

If you like Buster Keaton's silent films, you'll love this (and you'll get to find out the exact words the stereotypical-Giant-Male-bully says to the stereotypical-Tiny-Female-victim & her exact words back).

If you don't like Buster Keaton's silent films, well... Well, golly. That's a shame.

(Just kidding: If you don't like Buster Keaton's silent films, BUT you kinda-sorta want to "find out the exact words the stereotypical-Giant-Male-bully says to the stereotypical-Tiny-Female-victim & her exact words back," according to one of those weird 1920's Silent Movies then I can safely tell you this is the movie for you!)