The Blacksmith (1922) starring Buster Keaton
In The Blacksmith, Buster Keaton plays an inept blacksmith’s assistant. He’s as bumbling in his work as the blacksmith is mean-spirited.
Review
The Blacksmith is a very funny, fast paced Buster Keaton silent comedy film.
Comedy highlights
- The magnet at the blacksmith shop, that gets Buster in trouble with his boss. And gets the boss in trouble, and thrown into jail!
- Shoeing the horse
- Possibly the funniest segment of the film! Buster treats the horse like a customer at a shoe store, measuring her feet, showing her multiple shoe choices, showing her the result in a mirror, etc.
- Oil’s well – Buster getting hand prints, etc. covered with oil on the horse, etc.
- Horse shock absorber! An absolutely hilarious visual joke.
- Using a young boy’s helium balloon to hold up the axle of a car while he’s changing a flat tire.
- The grumpy blacksmith returns! And throws everything but the kitchen sink at Buster!
- Buster, running away, nearly getting hit by a train.
- And a hilarious psyche out moment, when Buster & his lady love have left on the “honeymoon express”, the audience sees a train fall off the bridge! But it’s not what it looks like.
Cast of characters
- Buster Keaton (Cops, Sherlock Jr.) … Blacksmith’s Assistant
- Virginia Fox (Electric House) … Horsewoman (uncredited)
- Joe Roberts (The Love Nest) … Blacksmith (uncredited)
Trivia for The Blacksmith
- The gleaming luxury automobile 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.
- The white mare that appears in the movie is the same animal as the broken-down old horse that pulls the wagon in Cops. She had dropped an unexpected foal in the interim.
Product Description
Silent film legend Buster Keaton brings his slapstick magic to the role of a Blacksmith’s assistant in this spoof of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem “The Village Blacksmith”. Along the way, he’ll also try his hand at horseshoeing and auto repair, managing to make a mess of them all! The hilarious gags never stop in this silent era classic.