One Run Elmer

One Run Elmer (1935)

** (out of 4)

There's not too many things more American than Buster Keaton and baseball and this two-reeler from Educational gives us both. In the film Keaton plays Elmer, a gas station owner out in the middle of nowhere who soon has a rival (Harold Goodwin) put up a similar station right across the road. The two end up fighting over every customer but especially a beautiful girl (Lona Andre) who pulls up one day. She tells the boys that she'll go out with whichever one wins the baseball game later that day. ONE RUN ELMER is a rather strange short because it sadly shows you how far Keaton had fallen but at the same time there are a few good gags here that make the film worth viewing. The bad stuff is pretty obvious and one thing that hampers the movie is its low budget. I've read that each of these Educational-Keaton shorts had a $20,000 budget with Keaton getting a fourth of that for his salary but by looking at this movie you'd think he pocketed the entire thing. Many of the scenes are shot silent with noises later edited in and this just gives the thing an ultra cheap feel. It also doesn't help that many of the early gags are rather lazy and obvious including one where the girl pulls up with dust all over her car. Buster goes to be nice and tries to wipe it off but he just ends up blowing it back onto her. The highlight of the film is clearly the baseball game where we get to see some rather funny gags including one where Keaton tries to use a large part and nearly kills the catcher and the umpire. There's another good bit where he gets into it with the umpire who is still upset because Buster broke his windshield earlier. Keaton is in pretty good form as are the supporting players of Goodwin and Dewey Robinson as the umpire.