The Navigator

Through a series of mishaps, a pampered rich boy (Buster Keaton) and his unrequited love find themselves the only two passengers on a huge steamer adrift in the middle of the ocean. Wouldn't be so bad, if they did not come across an island of cannibal savages who want to invite them to..ahem...dinner.

"The Navigator" breezes by quickly and easily, offering many chuckles and few outright chortles. There are some marvelous set pieces, like an underwater scene involving Keaton in diving gear, some swordfish, and an octopus. And there are other smaller but just as funny moments, like the scene where these two socialites who've never lifted a finger for themselves decide to cook dinner in a kitchen designed to make meals for hundreds. The depiction of the island savages is predictably cringe worthy in a film from 1924, but you just have to suck it up and get past it, accepting it as a product of its time. If you can get past that, there's much to enjoy here.

Grade: A-