Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931)

Director:

Edward Sedgwick

Writers:

C.W. Bell (play) and
Mark Swan (play) ...

Release Date:

28 February 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Jeff wants to get married to Virginia, but Virginia won't marry until her older, hard-to-please sister Angelica gets married off first...

Plot Keywords:

Sister | Butler | Car Accident | Innocence | Mistaken Identity

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	Reginald Irving
Charlotte Greenwood	...	Polly Hathaway
Reginald Denny	...	Jeffrey Haywood
Cliff Edwards	...	Bell Hop
Dorothy Christy	...	Angelica Embrey
Joan Peers	...	Nita Leslie
Sally Eilers	...	Virginia Embrey
Natalie Moorhead	...	Leila Crofton
Edward Brophy	...	Detective
Walter Merrill	...	Frederick Leslie
Sidney Bracey	...	Butler (as Sidney Bracy)

Also Known As:

Romeo in Pyjamas (UK)

Runtime:

73 min | Germany:76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Buster Keaton Villa - 1018 Pamela Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Filmed in Buster Keaton's own house.

Quotes:

Jeffrey Haywood: Now, when you first get to your room, order some... uh, champagne and broiled lobster.
Reginald Irving: Champ... Ch... Can't you make it beer?
Jeffrey Haywood: Beer? Certainly not. Champagne!
[pause]
Jeffrey Haywood: C, H, A, M, P, A, uh... oh, well, make it wine. W, I, N, E.
Reginald Irving: Oh well, what do I call her?
Jeffrey Haywood: Oh, call her... kid, sweetheart, baby...
Reginald Irving: Kid, sweetheart, baby.
Jeffrey Haywood: Uh huh. And then when you're helping her to take off her...
Reginald Irving: Take off her what?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in So Funny It Hurt: Buster Keaton & MGM (2004) (TV)

OK pre-code farce, but a bad vehicle for Buster

If you ignore that this film is part of the downhill slide Buster Keaton's professional life is experiencing at the hands of MGM, this is a rather enjoyable example of a pre-code farce, particularly the last half of the film that is set at the hotel. The first half is rather slow and clumsy, and has a rather unbelievable premise - a wealthy young woman, Angelica, is only attracted to womanizing cads, and furthermore only wants to marry such a man. Normally, this would just be her problem, but her younger sister wants to marry, and due to custom cannot until the older sister does so. The younger sister's fiancée enlists Buster's character, Reggy, to play the part of international playboy and hopefully future husband for Angelica since Reggy is quite attracted to the older sister, but is completely inexperienced with women.

The second half of the film is the amusing part. It's set at a hotel where Buster is supposed to have a prearranged rendezvous with a woman and be discovered by Angelica, thus sealing his reputation as a cad and stealing her heart. Unfortunately, Buster takes the wrong woman to the hotel - and she's a woman who happens to have an insanely jealous husband. The woman Buster is supposed to meet, Charlotte Greenwood, is the funniest part of this film. She literally steals the "training session" scene she has with Buster. Cliff Edwards has some funny lines too as the hotel bell boy who keeps walking in on Keaton who is always in the embrace of a different woman each time.

It's just so sad to see MGM casting Buster once again as a clueless bumbling fool and doing their best to make it look ridiculous that Buster could ever be considered a ladie's man. Keaton does the best he can with the material he is given, but it makes you wonder what could have been if anyone had listened to his ideas about making comedies in the sound era.

As for film quality, I have never seen a copy of this film that was not unacceptably fuzzy. The only one I'd recommend is the copy that comes with "Industrial Strength Keaton". That copy has been restored and it shows. Plus it has a commentary track and there is a featurette included about Keaton's mansion, the Italian villa, which is the setting for the first half of this film.