L'As du feu

As a kid I first knew of Buster Keaton as a grizzled old guy who appeared on TV variety shows and in commercials. I was vaguely aware that he'd once been a famous movie comedian in the ancient past, but his silent work was very rarely shown on television in those days. It wasn't until later that I had access to his classic comedies thanks to the occasional museum screening, or through 8mm prints borrowed from the library. Along the way I learned that Keaton had had a rough time when talkies came in, and that his comedies of the 1930s and '40s were generally considered to be awful, but those movies were even more elusive than the silent films had once been.

Cable TV brought all kinds of obscure oddities back into circulation, and one afternoon I happened to catch one of Buster's talkies, a two-reel comedy called Blue Blazes that was made for the Poverty Row studio Educational Pictures. Maybe my low expectations gave the film a boost, but it proved to be surprisingly enjoyable. Buster plays an inept city fireman who manages to get left behind during an emergency, and is therefore demoted to a remote outpost in the suburbs. He eventually redeems himself when a fire breaks out at the fire chief's home, and he rescues the chief's daughter. Mind you, this is no unsung masterpiece; it's obviously a low-budget film with spare (i.e. "cheap") sets, and a couple of the supporting players are barely competent, but Blue Blazes is nonetheless a passably fun short that displays odd flashes of Keaton's offbeat sensibility and great physical skill.

As heard here, Buster's husky voice already has that four-pack-a-day rasp familiar from his later TV appearances. He was about 40 when this film was made, but still quite capable of performing great flying falls, as he reveals when he flies off the back of a fire-truck as it takes a corner at high speed. As for dialog, there's an amusing scene where Buster winds up at the wrong home and attempts to call his headquarters for instructions while the sarcastic lady of the house gives him a hard time. It's not brilliant or anything, but it's a sequence that demonstrates Buster could deliver the goods as a talking comedian when he had the right kind of material, i.e. when he wasn't forced to recite lame wisecracks. Perhaps the funniest bit in this film, certainly the most unexpected, comes when Buster is transferred to the suburban fire station that never sees any action. The firemen there have been idle so long that -- how can I phrase this? -- they've all turned sissy, spending their time arranging flowers and mending dolls for little girls. This sort of gag was more typical of the silent era, but surprising in a film made in the mid-'30s after the stringent Production Code had kicked in.

Since happening upon Blue Blazes I've managed to see several of Buster's other comedies made for Educational, and some of them are surprisingly good. This is one of the better efforts, well worth a look for Keaton fans.

Blue Blazes (1936)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Another weak picture between Buster Keaton and Educational. This time out Elmer (Keaton) is a bad fireman who finally gets sent off to a small town where he can't cause any trouble. Once there he loses his co-workers and ends up at the house of the man who demoted him and here he gets lucky when the house catches fire. BLUE BLAZES is yet another low-budget, poorly written and at time embarrassing picture that Keaton made after being let go of at MGM. One of the most embarrassing moments happens at the end when the "house", obviously a soundstage, catches fire and everything is taking place at nighttime but whenever we see the house from different angles it's now daytime and sunny. How anyone could have made a blunder like this is beyond me but it certainly looks like someone would have either caught it or perhaps everyone knew they were working on junk and just didn't bother going back and fixing the issue. Either way, this is a pretty laugh-less comedy where Keaton once again has to act down to the material. The majority of the running time features him acting stupid and not knowing what he's doing. There's one long sequence when he shows up at the house asking the wife if she knows where the fire is, knows where the fire house is or if she can help him find any fire. I'm sure this was meant to be funny but it isn't. Other attempts at comedy has Keaton constantly falling off the back of a truck or falling down holes. Again, I'm sure this was meant to be funny but it's not. The highlight of the film is when Keaton gets demoted to a "sissy" fire house where the man spend all day planting flowers and fixing dolls for little girls. This sequence is actually pretty funny and is the sole highlight of a forgettable movie.

With many of Keaton's cut-rate 1930s two-reelers, one gets the impression that the studio put more effort into thinking up a snappy title than script; and "Blue Blazes" is scarcely an exception. I saw this film as a 16mm print which featured some "Singin' in the Rain"-style sound effects as the cast clumped around the elevated sections of the sound-stage: fortunately much of the action takes place outside. I don't know if this sound quality reflects the original, but frankly I wouldn't be surprised!

"Blue Blazes" boasts a couple of genuinely funny shots, real Keaton-moments; unsurprisingly, these are sight gags and probably Keaton's own contribution. Much of the action, however, doesn't appeal to me, and I think this is because it's basically clowning, rather than the ingenuity and misdirection I associate with Keaton's silent films. It's an art-form he respected, but it's not one I've ever really enjoyed, in the circus or out of it.

The plot features yet another 'Elmer', a fireman (of the fire-fighting variety, alas, rather than the type to be found on the footplate of Buster's beloved trains!) whose salient quality is that he keeps vanishing with unfortunate timing and hence never manages actually to attend any fires. This tends to involve falling down man-holes, out of windows, etc., and thus involves Keaton in a lot of acting generally inept, thrusting out his chin and mumbling; however, while this kind of plot typically involves the underdog 'making good', here, with the exception of a few characteristic moments of resource, the hero remains more or less inept to the end. In classic Keaton comedy, while the central character may be unsuccessful or incompetent (e.g. "The Frozen North", "Daydreams"), it's not for lack of misapplied ingenuity -- "Blue Blazes" aims to get its laughs more in the style of a Harry Langdon vehicle, and as such it's not really up my street. Others may find this a lot more amusing.

Sharp-eyed viewers will spot references to "The Goat" and "One Week" among the gags, and those alert to such things (I totally missed this one until it was pointed out to me!) can take note of a major -- and repeated -- continuity error towards the end...