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Buster Keaton's last silent comedy was a change of pace from his earlier, independent features, lacking many of his distinctive idiosyncrasies but adding a refreshingly modern love interest with determined, temperamental actress Trilby Drew (Dorothy Sebastian), who unlike most silent film heroines gets angry, gets drunk, and throws a few well-timed temper tantrums. Because it's a corporate comedy from the MGM assembly line the film can be a bit plot-heavy at times, but even so allows room for some now classic routines: a Civil War stage melodrama sabotaged by Buster's accident-prone performance; Buster attempting to put his dead-drunk bride to bed; and a heroic chase and rescue aboard an underworld yacht. If Keaton was now performing gags that might have been suited to anyone (many seem Chaplin-inspired), at least he was doing so with his usual grace and deadpan precision, and the film highlighted a more confidant, aggressive side to his personality rarely seen in his earlier films.

The story isn't much, but Buster packs every scene with so many gags that you don't mind. It's easy to see why he was so successful, until MGM stuck him with stories that were totally unsuitable.

The original score is fantastic, here - it includes a great deal of popular music and makes commentary on the situations, but the meaning will be lost on most modern viewers (I collect records from that period, so I recognize most all of it); even so, it moves the action right along and gives us a rare chance to experience a silent film just as it was presented to contemporary audiences. No cheesy piano accompaniment, here! The sound effects are well done, and used sparingly.

The shipboard scenes could have been trimmed a bit; they seem to drag. Otherwise, time flies during this movie - you won't regret watching it! Just compare it with the average sound 'comedy' which Hollywood produced until 1932 or so, and you'll realize how they lost the art of making good films for a while. It's a crime that Keaton wasn't given the chance to produce his own talkies, because he might have changed the whole concept of what made a good SOUND comedy! It's a wonder that audiences didn't rebel against the boring, static, yawnful talk-fests that early sound comedies became; maybe the novelty of Talkies really WAS enough to bring them into the theaters.

I'd haven given this a 10, except for the draggy ship scenes - but the ending is satisfyingly Keatonesque!

"Spite Marriage" is a dividing line for Buster Keaton, the film where he began to lose control of his career. It's still a delightful movie with innovative comedy and a moving storyline, once you get past the odd and ill-fitting retooling of Buster's screen image in the first act.

Elmer Gantry (Keaton) runs a laundry, which allows him plenty of time and access to fine clothes for stalking in the guise of a rich suitor stage star Trilby Drew (Dorothy Sebastian). Trilby attaches herself to fellow star player Lionel Benmore (Edward Earle), but when Benmore takes up with a society beauty, Trilby decides to marry Elmer to show him up, to her later regret.

"Spite Marriage" is Keaton's last silent comedy (except for a short called "The Railrodder" he made near the end of his career). It's better than several of the features he made before being picked up by MGM the year before, specifically "College," "Go West," "Three Ages," and "The Saphead." But it falls short of classic Buster, often because of the role played by Buster himself.

For almost all of the first 30 minutes, viewers have to adjust to the novel notion of Buster the idiot. After an abrupt opening, we see Buster fumbling around on horseback, wiggling lovelorn in his seat as Trilby performs on stage, and finally sneaking on stage to make a mess of the show. It is funny, but in a frustrating, jerky way.

Too often the film calls attention to Buster's fish-out-of-water character, particularly when he joins the cast and stumbles over assorted props, to the annoying amusement of the audience. In his earlier films, Buster was a stoic victim of mayhem, rather than producing it himself. This made the comedy work without lessening the character. Here, you can't help but emphasize with the theatrical agent who moans: "Shoot him! They'll think it's part of the act!"

There are also odd bits of sympathy trolling. We see him bring her a stuffed dog doll with a tear running down one eye. After he discovers Trilby has left him, the camera lingers on the doll one last time, as an overt nod to Elmer's pitiful state. It's like something out of Harry Langdon.

But there are compensations throughout the early part. Trilby's play, "Carolina," is a wonderful send-up of theatrical conventions. When Lionel makes his entrance as a wounded fugitive, he stops to acknowledge the applause. "A scratch is nothing to a Southern gentleman," he tells Trilby's character, a goofy line that gets a nifty callback late in the film.

Sebastian is a big part of why "Spite Marriage" works as well as it does. For the first time, I watched a Keaton feature not pining for Sybil Seely. Trilby is no gentle flower, but rather a scheming, petty character who uses Elmer's affection for her own ends. As an ex-spite boyfriend, I could relate to this. Most important, she is very funny, especially in a scene in a speakeasy where she gets drunk and loses her cool when she sees Lionel with his new babe. It's a great use of Buster's expressionless manner by director Edward Sedgwick and the MGM team, playing it off Sebastian's scowling and histrionics. She also takes a fall as well as Buster, which helps.

The movie's most famous scene uses her athleticism to splendid effect, where he tries to put his unconscious bride to bed. He tries to sit her on a chair, only to have her roll off. As other reviewers here note, it's easy to ignore the effort she must put forth, keeping Buster hopping without apparently moving a muscle.

The finale, aboard a yacht, is the film's best sequence. Ironically, as historians John Bengtson and Jeffrey Vance note in their helpful DVD commentary, this was one part of the movie Buster didn't want to do, probably concerned he was repeating "The Navigator." But "Spite Marriage" takes the same idea in different directions, and most importantly, ramps up the laughter while giving us Buster in take-charge form. A key bit of business involves his wearing a captain's hat, which seems to signal a sense of newfound authority for the performer.

Alas, it was not to be. Buster's subsequent work for MGM, while quite profitable, would run the gamut from weak to awful, with Buster himself anything but in charge. "Spite Marriage," with its misplaced emphasis on poor, stupid Elmer, would inaugurate this trend, but it's more of a piece with his days as silent comedy's master clown. Keep this in mind, and you will have a good time.

This film is certainly not Buster Keaton's best work, though that's a very high bar. The plot meanders and lacks the charm and spontaneity we love from him. It too often relies on simple pratfalls, and there is not enough time devoted to his playful antics or wild stunts. The middle of the picture in particular is slow, and co-star Dorothy Sebastian acting drunk shows just how hard it is to do physical comedy that is sophisticated and funny, or to create something out of nothing, as Keaton so often does.

With all of that said, 'Spite Marriage' has a 34-year-old Buster Keaton still in his prime, and some pretty clever scenes. He gets enlisted into a stage play in the first part, and after botching up his make-up while another actor puts his on professionally, proceeds to foul up the production in various funny ways. As he tries to elude those chasing him afterwards, he does a rapid change into a top hat and tails that is both entertaining and shows off his muscular body. Later in the film, he does some impressive stuntwork on a yacht, at one point getting thrown off, and then as the yacht goes by quickly, catches a small boat trailing behind and hauls himself into it. Throughout the movie, he's lovable and a joy to watch. This was Keaton's last silent picture, and as the 1930's would not be kind to him, it marks a transition for him. If you can avoid comparing it to his masterpieces (which I know is tough!), you'll probably find it's well worth watching.

Though not of the quality of "The General," an almost perfect movie, "Spite Marriage" is worth watching both for the fun and for the historical value of its being Keaton's last silent.

Co-star Dorothy Sebastian deserves a medal both for her performance and for putting up with being knocked about so.

So many of Keaton's leading ladies get treated very physically, surely part of the auditions was a test of their good-natured sportsmanship -- and probably their physical conditioning, too.

Dorothy Sebastian's character is not very sympathetic at first, but she learns, and when she has to assist in her own rescue, she is adorable, cute as the proverbial button.

Keaton, though, is the real reason to watch, this or almost everything else he is in.

He ranks among the top of the certifiable geniuses of motion picture making, with an unfailing sense of timing, with uncanny physical control, and with an understanding of what was (and is) funny that the studio bosses of his latter career should have paid attention to.

Even with the worst material, with which he was saddled in so many of his talkies, Keaton and his abilities and talents still stand out, are still memorable.

Buster Keaton will deserve our awe forever.