User Reviews

***SPOILERS, FOR YOU HEATHENS WHO HAVEN'T YET SEEN THIS MOVIE***

Many critics and scholars contend that Keaton was at his funniest and most brilliant in his silent comedy short films, and I happen to agree. While his feature films are certainly enjoyable, they don't pack in the laughs as thick and fast as his one- and two-reelers, and 'The Boat' is one of his two best, in my opinion (the other being 'One Week').

From beginning to end, the gags come in rapid-fire succession, from our first illusion of Buster in 'rough seas' to his final, silently-spoken pun, and what a series of gems they are. Any of the silent comedians could have built a boat too large to get out of their garage, and some of them would have come up with the idea to have it demolish the house when they try to pull it away. Only Buster, however, could play the tragedy with such a non-reaction. He walks stoically back to the wreckage, unearths the family bathtub to replace his boat's demolished lifeboat, walks back to his flivver and drives away, boat in tow.

If anything, the gags arrive TOO fast, in come cases (though that impression may only come from viewing a modern edit). Stan Laurel, genius of film editing that he was, timed the laughter of the audience at his previews, then went back and recut the film to lengthen certain shots so the laughs didn't overlap the next gag. Of course, this is less important in a Keaton silent than in a Laurel & Hardy talkie, but in my earliest viewings of this film, I actually missed some of the subtler gags because I was still reacting to the big knee-slapper which preceded it (for instance, after Buster has accidentally dumped one of his sons overboard, he throws the boy a life preserver, which sinks like a stone).

A key difference between this short and almost all of others is the presence of a leading lady who actually has a developed personality. Most of Buster's leading ladies were treated primarily as props and decorations, but Sybil Seely lets us know early on in the film that she's the long-suffering wife of a man who's a little absent from reality, and very little he does is going to surprise or upset her unduly.

This film contains what may be the single funniest and most iconic scene of the entire silent comedy genre: the launching. Once again, it's not just the gag itself, but Buster's reaction to it, that turns it from a funny sight gag into a hilarious, textured joke. As the boat is released and slides down the launching ramp, Buster standing firmly on the bow with his back to the camera, the ship proceeds to slide directly down under the water. Even as the water is slipping over his little ship, Buster determinedly stands rock-steady on the bow. The water passes over his shoes, and still he stands. The water reaches his waist, and he remains immobile. Only as the water reaches his chin does he suddenly seem to acknowledge the fact that his boat is sinking with him on it, and make an effort to escape.

If you've not been exposed to Keaton's masterpieces, this is a good film to start with. If you're already a fan, I suggest you use this film as the first Keaton film you show to your friends who are unfamiliar with him.

This film for a silent short has a lot of elaborate sight gags, more than you'd expect. There are a lot of foreshadowing scenes of how funny & elaborate Keatons films would become here.

The film has an opening sequence which reveals the boat interior set used in the film. An interesting way to open.

Keaton is the father with a wife & two young sons who is building a boat in his basement. When he finishes his project, he names it Dam fino & finds it will not fit out of the basement door. So he enlarges the basement door, & then hooks the boat up to the car & pulls it out- pulling the house down with it. Remember, in this era prior to special effects this pulling the house down is an elaborate gag. They are really pulling the house down.

Next- Buster & his family are trying to launch the Dam fino & have all kinds of trouble doing it. When it finally goes off the ramp, the boat & Buster promptly sink.

With no explanation, in the next sequence the boat is actually floating. Keaton & one of his sons do a routine involving the setting up the smokestack on the Dam fino & trying to find the kid inside the stack which is good physical comedy that is a prelude to what Keaton would do later, & would train Lucille Ball how to do.

Classic in this - the first use of "cruise control" with the boat going without a pilot while everyone is below. The below decks often seem much larger than the above decks.

The voyage the boat goes on has a lot of perils, many of which are amazing sight gags for this era. In the end, the Dam fino sinks & the family are all floating in a bath tub. Then, the tub starts to sink, but stops when it hits the bottom of shallow water.

The family walks up on shore together & one of them asks dad where they are. Without needing lip reading skills- Keaton mouths to the camera "Damn if I know". A clever ending for a movie full of impossible sight & physical gags.

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

"The Boat" is a black-and-white short movie from almost 95 years ago. The star here is Buster Keaton and he also wrote and directed it, together with his longtime collaborator Edward F. Cline. And the cast also has familiar names. Apart from Cline, who also acts in this one, the female lead is played by Sibyl Seely, who appeared in many other Keaton movies.

Well.. the action is very clear. Stoneface is on a boat this time and, of course, there is no other possible ending than Keaton shipwrecked and stranded on an island. If you know how basically everything that he touches in his films turns into chaos, you can only imagine what this would look like on a boat. One major difference to his other works is that there is no real antagonist in here, so Keaton is even more at the center of it all than usual. At 26 minutes, it's one of Keaton's longer short movies. He was only in his mid-20s when he made this and yet together with Chaplin and Lloyd the biggest star of his era. I like him, but I have to say I was not really entertained that well here. Most of the slapstick wasn't particularly funny. That's why I cannot recommend it.

This is a very good Buster Keaton silent comedy short from 1921. However, unlike most of his other films where he is either co-starring with another guy (such as Fatty Arbuckle) or going solo, in this case everything he does, he does with the family in tow.

Buster and his wife are building a boat in the garage. Unfortunately, it's much larger than the opening and so Buster is forced to cut the garage door opening larger. You discover it still isn't large enough as the boat rips the entire side of the house off and destroys most of the home. Now THAT'S a sight gag! Once out of the house, dopey Buster doesn't fare much better. He manages to lose his car off the end of the dock, and later once they've been at sea a while, the boat sinks but our family somehow survives.

The movie excels because it has a real plot--it's not just slapstick. Also, the stunts, when they are done, are BIG and very impressive!