Seines Glückes Schmied

This 1922 short subject for First National Pictures finds Buster Keaton as the assistant to blacksmith Joe Roberts. Although by 1922 the horseless carriage had taken over the big city, you could still find a shop like this one in the hinterlands.

In fact Keaton does seek to keep up with the times and also tries to repair a car with hilarious results though not for the car owner.

Best gag in the film was the giant horseshoe over the shop which acts as a magnet grabbing everything metallic near it.

If blacksmith's like Buster were the future of the trade good thing the automobile was invented when it was.

This is an excellent short comedy with a lot of creative material and a good variety of gags. The setting, with Buster as a blacksmith's assistant, lends itself to a lot of good laughs. Buster is very funny in his approach to helping out various horse-owners, and then it gets even funnier when he tries his hand at repairing cars. There's not really much of a plot, but there's a lot of good material that keeps on coming, and it's good fun right up to the very clever last shot.

A young blacksmith's apprentice, through the usual in luck and malfunctioning gadgetry, ends up with control of the works for a while. There he tries to make do with all he's learned and what he has, including clever little jokes like horse's shoes in shoeboxes, a watch that needs to be fixed by fire, and a horse-back shock absorber. However, despite his genuine attempts at making everyone happy, eventually all of the customers grow irate, putting the young blacksmith-to-be in danger.

Typical Keaton in its inventiveness, this one has not much to make it stand out from any of his other works except for the delightful destruction of a high-class care, a neat little subversive poke towards conspicuous consumption sentiments. Otherwise, pick a plot line from any other Keaton short, make it revolve around a blacksmith's shop, and you got this neat little fun-fest.

--PolarisDiB

This is a very pleasant and amusing Buster Keaton short. Never heard of this one. Here he plays a blacksmith that, well, since this IS a Buster Keaton film, gets into a lot of various shenanigans. EG, new ideas for saddles for horses, a spotless white horse gets some new stripes, and so on. Actually, when viewing this, you get a very interesting view of a blacksmith's shop circa the 1920's. Apparently they were also doing auto mechanics as well? Keaton also has some gags with what looks to be an S.U.V. for that time period. And of course, he gets in trouble with the boss (with the boss getting his just desserts (which happens in nearly every Buster Keaton movie ever made) ) and Buster gets the girl (ditto). A very funny and light little short.

And films like this one is why. Its just one laugh after another. This is absolutely one of Keaton's better works. One gag after another, all pulled off as only Keaton could. All things work well. The photography is well done, the continuity is much better than in most films of that day, the sets, the props, the other players, all done well. And I loved the last minute or two of the film. Its just cool. And there is, of course, the destruction of the Rolls Royce. The beautiful new car had been a gift to Keaton from his in-laws. I wonder how funny THEY thought THAT was? I suppose it was cost efficient in the making of the film. But as far as cost efficiency and laughs go this flick is extravagant.