The Blacksmith (1922)

Buster Keaton shoes horses and repairs cars, with mixed results.

Directors:

Buster Keaton, Malcolm St. Clair

Writers:

Buster Keaton, Malcolm St. Clair

Stars:

Buster Keaton, Virginia Fox, Joe Roberts

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Buster Keaton	...	Blacksmith's Assistant (as 'Buster' Keaton)

Storyline

Buster clowns around in a blacksmith's shop until he and the smithy get in a fight which sends the smithy to jail. Buster helps several customers with horses, then destroys a Rolls Royce while fixing the car parked next to it.

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Plot Keywords:

horse | rolls royce | blacksmith | sheriff | magnet | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 July 1922 (USA)

Also Known As:

A kovács

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The white mare that appears in the movie is the same animal as the broken-down old horse that pulls the wagon in Cops; she had dropped an unexpected foal in the interim.

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Connections

Featured in L'Art de Buster Keaton (2001)

User Reviews

Village Smitty and his assistant

This 1922 short subject for First National Pictures finds Buster Keaton as the assistant to blacksmith Joe Roberts. Although by 1922 the horseless carriage had taken over the big city, you could still find a shop like this one in the hinterlands.

In fact Keaton does seek to keep up with the times and also tries to repair a car with hilarious results though not for the car owner.

Best gag in the film was the giant horseshoe over the shop which acts as a magnet grabbing everything metallic near it.

If blacksmith's like Buster were the future of the trade good thing the automobile was invented when it was.