The Blacksmith
- 1922
- 21m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
3.1K
YOUR RATING
Buster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.Buster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.Buster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Buster Keaton
- Blacksmith's Assistant
- (as 'Buster' Keaton)
Virginia Fox
- Horsewoman
- (uncredited)
Joe Roberts
- Blacksmith
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe gleaming Rolls-Royce destroyed in the film was reportedly a wedding present given to Buster Keaton by his in-laws. By the time this film was made, relations with them had soured considerably.
- Alternate versionsIn June 2013, Argentine film collector, curator and historian Fernando Martín Peña (who had previously unearthed the complete version of Metropolis) discovered an alternate version of this film, a sort of remake whose last reel differs completely from the previously known version. Film historians have since found evidence that the version of The Blacksmith Peña uncovered was a substantial reshoot undertaken months after completion of principal photography and a preview screening in New York. They now believe the rediscovered version was Keaton's final cut intended for wide distribution. Following Peña's discovery, a third version of the film, featuring at least one scene which doesn't occur in either of the other two, was found in the collection of former film distributor Blackhawk Films.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Biography: Darryl F. Zanuck: 20th Century Filmmaker (1995)
Featured review
Early Keaton solo film is still funny almost 100 years later
This film bears a strong resemblance to the Keaton/Arbuckle collaboration "The Garage". Here Keaton is the somewhat inept assistant to a bully (Big Joe Roberts) in a garage where he works as a combination blacksmith and auto mechanic. Ordinary props and tools of the trade become instruments of mischief and mayhem, along with some not-so-ordinary devices of Buster's own design.
During this short film he completely wrecks a new Rolls Royce, a car that retailed for ten thousand dollars back in the early 20's. Did the Keaton Studios have the budget for the destruction of such a vehicle? Some have conjectured that this might have been the Rolls Royce that Keaton received as a wedding present from his brother-in-law and benefactor, Joe Schenck. Also conjectured is that the scene where he is shoeing a horse and equating it with trying to sell shoes to a finicky female customer could have been a dig at his new wife's excessive clothes shopping. This film was made about a year after his marriage to Natalie Talmadge - a marriage that even started out on very rocky ground, and these would have been the kind of passive-aggressive stunts that Keaton was well known for.
I'd recommend it.
During this short film he completely wrecks a new Rolls Royce, a car that retailed for ten thousand dollars back in the early 20's. Did the Keaton Studios have the budget for the destruction of such a vehicle? Some have conjectured that this might have been the Rolls Royce that Keaton received as a wedding present from his brother-in-law and benefactor, Joe Schenck. Also conjectured is that the scene where he is shoeing a horse and equating it with trying to sell shoes to a finicky female customer could have been a dig at his new wife's excessive clothes shopping. This film was made about a year after his marriage to Natalie Talmadge - a marriage that even started out on very rocky ground, and these would have been the kind of passive-aggressive stunts that Keaton was well known for.
I'd recommend it.
helpful•41
- AlsExGal
- Mar 27, 2017
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- El herrero
- Filming locations
- Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA(shock absorbers horse ride)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content