The Navigator (1924)

Two spoiled rich people find themselves trapped on an empty passenger ship.

Directors:

Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton

Writers:

Clyde Bruckman (story), Joseph A. Mitchell (story),

Stars:

Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Buster Keaton	...	Rollo Treadway
Kathryn McGuire	...	Betsy O'Brien
Frederick Vroom	...	John O'Brien

Storyline

Rollo decides to marry his sweetheart Betsy and sail to Honolulu. When she rejects him he decides to go alone but boards the wrong ship, the "Navigator" owned by Betsy's father. Unaware of this, Betsy boards the ship to look for her father. whom spies capture before cutting the ship loose. It drifts out to sea with the two socialites each unaware of there being anyone else on board.

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Plot Keywords:

ship | sea | octopus | 1920s | native | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

13 October 1924 (USA)

Also Known As:

A navigátor

Filming Locations:

Lake Tahoe, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$220,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Buster Keaton Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

59 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The idea for this film began when Buster Keaton learned of a large passenger ship that was due to be scrapped. Seeing an opportunity, he purchased the ship for a low price and proceeded to build a story around this massive prop.

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Goofs

Rollo Treadway (Buster Keaton) is supposedly boiling eggs in a large pot, but he grips the edge of the pot, as well as a utensil that's been hanging inside the pot, without burning himself.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Leader of a small gathering: Gentlemen, the enemy have just purchased the steamship Navigator.
[Walks over to open the double doors, and gestures to a vessel outside]
Leader of a small gathering: There she lies now, and it is our patriotic duty to destroy that ship. We will send her adrift in the fog tonight before the new crew goes aboard. The wind - the tide - and the rocks will do the rest.

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Connections

Featured in Silent Clowns: Buster Keaton (2006)

User Reviews

One of Buster's best features - packed with fun

I found this one of Buster's best feature films with so much invention and cleverness in the gags that one is constantly amazed at his ingenuity.

Famous sequences/moments: Buster's going by car to propose to his co-star, who lives across the street; Buster and his leading lady just missing each other the first morning on board; Buster's screwing open the milk can only to find he has screwed through the bottom; the pulley seesaw; the faint co-star in the collapsing deck chair (a precursor of his undressing scene in SPITE MARRIAGE); Donald Crisp's painting swinging back and forth outside the port hole; all the cabin doors opening as the ship sways; the pulleys and inventions for the organized breakfast (stemming from a similar sequence in his short THE SCARECROW); the underwater swordfish fight; the co-star's using Buster as a boat to paddle to safety; the toy cannon attached to Buster's foot and of course the surprise rescue at the end.

It never stops and it is never less than hilarious. A must-see for Keaton fans.

KINO's print is crisp and clear and the musical accompaniment is played by a combo of violin, drums, piano and horns.