Parlor, Bedroom and Bath

Dir. Edward Sedgwick

73 Minutes

USA

1931

Starring: Buster Keaton, Charlotte Greenwood, Reginald Denny, Cliff Edwards, Dorothy Christy, Joan Peers, Sally Eilers

***1/2/*****

The best of the early Keaton talking films and a really nice comedic surprise in general. The film starts with a little bit of a Taming of the Shrew set-up: the wealthy Jeff wants to marry his girl Virginia, but she will not do it until her sister Angelica (Dorothy Christy, recently seen alongside Maurice Chevalier in Playboy of Paris) is engaged. Enter Buster Keaton (pretending to tack up a sign while oggling Angelica on a diving board) who is recruited as a patsy for the whole endeavor to work out in Jeff's favor. Jeff passes Keaton off as a popular playboy ("Oh, you know Reginald Irving of course!") which complicates things when he is suddenly pursued by a sampling of female high society. It all culminates in a hotel where Keaton mingles with a real harem of characters (including a bellhop who always walks in at exactly the wrong time). The real discovery of the film (for me) is Charlotte Greenwood, who is tremendous alongside Keaton during the second half. Greenwood's physicality alongside Keaton's is hilarious, and there are moments during the final chase where one gets the sense that Keaton is having the most fun he has had on screen since we started hearing him speak.

August 20th, 2019