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Sunday, Jul 23, 1995
Steamboat Bill, Jr. and Short Films
The Boat (1921). In this strange and surreal comedy, Buster, his wife and kids are all adrift at sea on a boat called "Damfino" that refuses to stay afloat. "The Boat can rank with Keaton's great feature-length comedies. No Keaton film previous to it was quite so sustained in its melancholy, or provided such continuous laughter" (David Robinson). With Keaton, Sybil Seely. (20 mins) Daydreams (1922). Another exercise in surrealism with Buster playing doctor, Wall Street mogul, and Hamlet in his efforts to prove himself marriage material. In the end, he is just material, delivered parcel post. With Keaton, Renée Adorée. (20 mins) My Wife's Relations (1922). Keaton's satire on the Melting Pot. Drawn into court for breaking a window, Buster winds up married to his accuser by a Polish-speaking judge. His attempts to negotiate a meal with his wife's many Irish brothers looks forward to Woody Allen's classic one-liner: "Dynamite ham!" With Keaton, Kate Price, Monty Collins, Wheezer Doll. (25 mins)
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