This is the story of the disastrous maiden voyage of the boat that Buster Keaton built(with some help from his wife, played by Sybil Seely, and 2 sons.) In the first place, Keaton shouldn't have built it in his basement, as it clearly was too tall and too wide to fit through the existing door. He did knock some bricks out to make the door taller, but failed to appreciate that he needed to widen the door, as well. So, when he tried to pull the boat out with his car, the sides of the boat knocked out large sections of the brick wall, destabilizing the house, which promptly collapsed: Disaster #1....... Next, we see the boat in its launching slip. A rope is tied to the boat and car, which is near the end of the pier. Somehow, the car gets pulled off the pier, and into the sea: Disaster # 2. Then, when Keaton pulls the boat out of its mooring, he forgets to release the rope from the pier to the boat, causing the end of the pier to collapse and the people on it to fall in: Disaster : #3....... I must assume his boat runs on a diesel motor. Although he has 2 masts, there's no indication that he has sails. He also has a funnel, like the funnels on a steam ship. For what purpose? These get in the way when the boat has to pass under a low bridge. Fortunately, they have been arranged to fold down on command.......The boat rocks badly when a motor boat passes by, knocking things around in the cabin. Things also slide around when the boat goes up a steep incline, and then down again: a problem apparently unique to this boat! ....... Keaton makes the mistake of nailing a painting to the wall of the cabin, below waterline, resulting in a significant leak, as the nail penetrated through the hull.......During a storm, the boat is tossed about badly, causing things in the cabin to slide around, and water to come in through the port hole. Eventually, the boat turns completely over and over, bringing in more water to the cabin. Probably, the stupidest thing Keaton does is to drill a hole in the boat bottom to let the water out. Of course, this sinks the boat. They all get in the bathtub, which serves as a lifeboat. Unfortunately, one son didn't learn the lesson about drilling a hole in the boat bottom, and pulls the plug in the bathtub, dropping the plug over the side. This might have been fatal, except that they discovered they were in shallow water, near a shore........The peculiar name of the boat: Damfino, comes into play twice. Once when Keaton sends out an SOS, and the receiver asks the name of the craft. The receiver replies "Neither do I". Then, at the end, when Keaton's wife asks "Where are we?", Keaton responds "Damfino!".......See it at YouTube
Review of The Boat
