Daydreams (1922)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Directors:

Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton

Writers:

Edward F. Cline (writer)
Buster Keaton (writer)

Release Date:

November 1922 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Plot:

A sincere young man leaves his home to win his fortune so he can marry his home town sweetheart.

Plot Keywords:

Wall Street | Surgeon | Police Chase | Ticker Tape Parade | Silent Film

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	The Young Man
Renée Adorée	...	The Girl (as Renee Adoree)

Runtime:

18 min | Argentina:19 min | Spain:17 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | Spain:T

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

Although existing prints are incomplete with such scenes as Buster working in a hospital etc remain lost, however, a scene in which Renee Adoree imagines Keaton to be a policeman have been rediscovered and restored and is presented as an extra on the Keaton Plus DVD available from Kino.

Quotes:

The Young Man: I've come to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage.
The Girls Father: How will you support her?
The Young Man: I don't know. I'll leave for the city to make good. If I'm not a success, I'll come back and shoot myself.
The Girls Father: Splendid. I'll lend you my revolver.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Great Stone Face (1968)

Entertaining Keaton short

Buster Keaton asks a father for the hand of a nice girl. Since Keaton does not know whether he is able to support the girl he goes to the city to prove that he can and promises to her father he will shoot himself when he fails. The girl gets letters from Keaton explaining what he is doing at the moment. First he works in a sanatorium, his letter says. The next shot tells us that he is nothing more than an assistant in a dog clinic. Of course things do not go well. Then he writes he was tired of the sanatorium and is now cleaning up things. What and how he is cleaning up is the best part from this short. Again he messes things up big time and his next job is in the theater, doing 'Hamlet' to be precisely. Of course things are not as they appear to be in the letter. His coming home is another highpoint in this short.

Although 'Daydreams' does not belong to the funniest Keaton shorts I have seen so far, it definitely has some Keaton magic. I like him more than Chaplin because he is able to really make me laugh instead of just smile. Here he does that a couple of times, especially in the two parts I mentioned above. Although there are less chases, parts where I think he is at best, than I am used to, Keaton gives us a nice short. I have come to understand that the surviving prints of this film are incomplete but I can assure you that the story feels complete.