During the beginning of his contract with Educational Pictures, Buster Keaton made "Palooka from Paducah"--a film that featured his real-life sister, mother and father as his family in the film. Here in "Love Nest on Wheels", they are all back--along with Keaton's brother (who looks an awful lot like Buster). In addition, the film features Al St. John--a guy famous for acting with his uncle, Fatty Arbuckle, as well as playing sidekicks in B-westerns. St. John also starred in a few comedy shorts for Educational---one of which is one of the funniest shorts I have ever seen ("Bridge Wives").
In this film, despite being a family of hillbillies it is not a sequel to "Palooka from Paducah". Instead, the family runs a hotel in the middle of no where and the bank is about ready for foreclose, as business is terrible. And, when you see how they care for their guests, it's no wonder. The short is jam-packed with silly sight gags that make fun of these country folk and the film comes off a bit like an episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies". But what sets it apart is the insane physicality of the film. Buster AND his family take some wonderful pratfalls--such that you really wish you could have seen them on stage during their Vaudeville days when the Keatons were a family act.
As this is Buster's final film for Educational, it's nice to see he went out on a bang. Not a brilliant film but it's funny and you just have to see the Keatons doing their thing. Too bad most of his subsequent films for Columbia were pretty awful--he should have stuck with Educational.
