The Saphead (1920)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The Saphead was Buster Keaton's first feature length film, but is usually ignored as it is not a true comedy. In this film Buster plays Bertie van Alstyne (who was played by Douglas Fairbanks in an earlier version) and the film is a transfer of a Broadway production called the "New Henrietta". By watching the opening sequences you can tell that the film will not be a true comedy and Buster does not appear in the early parts of the film. The Saphead begins with us finding out that a character named Mark Turner has had an affair with a now dying woman, who wishes to break up his marriage. Finally now we get to see Buster in a scene with some subtle comedy. We discover that he is in love in a woman called Agnes, who is coming home that evening by train, Buster does not see her at the station and she travels home alone. Eventually they are to get married when during the ceremony Mark Turner's affair is discovered, but he manages to force it upon Buster who is sent away. This film may sound boring, but the last 20 minutes are funnier than any Keaton film I've seen (most of them). Buster visits the stock exchange only to get confused and...you have to watch it for yourself to find it truly funny. Overall I found it to be a very good film with its mix of melodrama and comedy.

This movie is a very successful transfer of a hit Broadway play to a feature film. It gives us a chance to step back to the time of 1920 and enjoy the theatrical experience of attending a very popular Broadway play. The actors are splendid . The film is an adaption of the play :The New Henrietta " and it was originally filmed as "The Lamb" starring Douglas Fairbanks and it helped establish him as atop movie star. The print is excellent. I totally enjoyed it as a Silent movie and would very much doubt that it would be improved as a Talkie Enjoy...From personal experience, I have found that I need conditioning for satisfactory enjoyment of Silent films. I usually begin by viewing a short silent comedy such as a Chaplin, etc and thus distance myself from the talkie movie attitude.

Buster Keaton's first feature -- an awful romantic melodrama -- is straight acting, little comedy. Opening titles say the film, a remake of a pre-WWI Douglas Fairbanks movies version of a popular stage play, made Keaton a star. Hard to imagine considering how he's so different in this than in his shorts.But the two 1921 shorts included on this disk --"The High Sign" and "One Week" -- are worth the rental. Both show the Keaton character we know: eager but initially less than effectual. The gags mix complicated settings (trap doors, house walls falling on the stars (which presage later films) and Keaton's amazing physical dexterity and risk-taking. You'll laugh out loud at the shorts.

Keaton plays a character that is somewhat bewildered by life-he meets the wrong train, he asks permission to quit winning at gambling, he is even inept in getting arrested. All is done with his deadpan expression and his intense eyes. This combination of innocence adrift in a life of circumstances provides Keaton with ample humorous moments. At times, I found the comedy to be somewhat muted; yet the pacing was well done and the stock market scenes are thoroughly delightful. `The Saphead' is not on a par with `The General', ‘Sherlock, Jr.', or `Seven Chances', but the film has its share of riches for the viewer.