1943: Two American soldiers (Franco and Ciccio) are captured on a mission to find the German general von Kassler (Buster Keaton!) who lets them escape with secret documents - fakes that are intended to fall into the enemies' hands and cause confusion. But by mistake, the two captives get away with the real plans and then get in the middle of the attack, trying to survive in various disguises. Franco has a great scene when he holds a nonsensical speech to the soldiers ("we can only win the war if we don't lose it"). But this comedy by the busy and popular Sicilian duo Franco and Ciccio stands out from the rest by its guest star. Subtle touches like Keaton playing chess or piano make a difference. The stoicism of the silent Keaton provides a great contrast for the aggression and loudness of Franco Ressel as the colonel. A recommendable little comedy.
4 Reviews
Buster's Swan Song - In Italian Yet!
theowinthrop13 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Movie titans rarely know when to leave the scene properly. Hitchcock's last film (possibly) should have been PSYCHO or NORTH BY NORTHWEST, rather than FAMILY PLOT. CHAPLIN should have avoided A KING IN NEW YORK and THE COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG (and possibly cut LIMELIGHT to a handful of scenes from the English Music Hall, including the one with his peer Buster Keaton). Welles was able to pull out one great last film, F IS FOR FAKE, but he was still appearing in terrible movies up until his death in 1985. Did John Ford really need to leave with SEVEN WOMEN rather than say TWO RODE TOGETHER or CHEYENNE AUTUMN? Did Preston Sturgis make his film record better by doing THE FRENCH, THEY ARE A FUNNY RACE!
Buster Keaton is a trifle luckier than these, his peers. His nadir as a film artist was at MGM in the early 1930s, and he slowly struggled back. It was his luck that he did find work as a joke writer, and then a supporting comic actor, and occasionally (in foreign films) as a director. Then came his rediscovery in the 1950s, due to James Mason finding many of Keaton's old movies in the mansion Mason was residing at - and handing them to a film archive to be preserved - and to television, which allowed Keaton to still do some of his old physical comedy. It's hard to realize that his appearances on THE TWILIGHT ZONE or on Allan Funt's CANDID CAMERA kept him in the public eye. The sale of his life story for the abominable film THE BUSTER KEATON STORY gave him financial support to the end of his life. If he appeared in too many drecky films like the Annette Funicello "Beach" films, he still did appearances (even if brief) in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, LIMELIGHT, and (in a final spurt of his talent) THE RAILRODDER.
Keaton's last starring part was in this Italian comedy that co-starred the Italian comic team of Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrasso. Not well known outside Italy, they were a very popular comic turn in many films. This is the only one, however, that I had the chance to see them in. Actually they were good, and fairly complemented the elderly Keaton.
Buster's physical humor was somewhat curtailed by 1966, but he was able to get mileage from the sort of complex jokes that he used in his silent films of forty years before. For example, he is using a bathroom at one point that Franco and Ciccio were just repairing (they were forced to). As he tries the sink's hot and cold water taps the water flushes in the toilet. As he tries the toilet's flushometer the shower stall starts pouring water out. As he turns on the water taps in the stall the sink fills up! Does this discourage him? No - he studies the situation and simply figures out how to fill up the sink by turning on the shower stall, etc.
As for Franco and Ciccio they bear their half of the film as well. The plot deals with how Buster (General Von Kassler) is in German hands but the Allies (directed by Fred Clark as General Zacharian) are trying to get their hands on him. Franco and Ciccio are two Italian - American soldiers who are ordered to get the General from the Germans. They make an interesting pair. Franco is rather dubious (it is 1943 - 44) about the Fascist - Italian point of view. Unfortunately he is tied to Ciccio who is pretending to be one Italian that Il Duce would be proud of - a follower of the official lie...err line. No matter how absurd their current situation is in the film, Ciccio openly insists that the Nazis are the key to victory. He keeps lauding them as engineering and mechanical geniuses, even when their new amphibious jeep - boat sinks constantly underneath himself and the more realistic Franco.
Eventually the General realizes the war is lost. Unfortunately the General's discovery leads his "protectors" into deciding they might as well get rid of him. So the General has to be saved by Franco and Ciccio (a series of events that allow Franco to do his imitation of Hitler at one point).
The film is actually an amusing film for Buster to end with - not like THE RAILRODDER perhaps, but one that is worth watching. The conclusion of the film is bittersweet too, given how the coming of sound helped wreck Keaton's star status at MGM. Wisely his part is silent - unlike Wallace Beery in GRAND HOTEL Buster did not essay a "German" accent - and he proves by the mileage of his filmed performance that he did not need dialog. But at the end, when Franco and Ciccio give Buster his freedom they present him with civilian clothes: his old pork-pie hat and an ill-fitting jacket. He quietly removes his uniform and puts these on, turns to them, and (in his well known American flat baritone) says "Thanks!". Then he walks into the sunset, and the film ends. Not a great film by any stretch, but a sweet end for a film legend.
Buster Keaton is a trifle luckier than these, his peers. His nadir as a film artist was at MGM in the early 1930s, and he slowly struggled back. It was his luck that he did find work as a joke writer, and then a supporting comic actor, and occasionally (in foreign films) as a director. Then came his rediscovery in the 1950s, due to James Mason finding many of Keaton's old movies in the mansion Mason was residing at - and handing them to a film archive to be preserved - and to television, which allowed Keaton to still do some of his old physical comedy. It's hard to realize that his appearances on THE TWILIGHT ZONE or on Allan Funt's CANDID CAMERA kept him in the public eye. The sale of his life story for the abominable film THE BUSTER KEATON STORY gave him financial support to the end of his life. If he appeared in too many drecky films like the Annette Funicello "Beach" films, he still did appearances (even if brief) in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, LIMELIGHT, and (in a final spurt of his talent) THE RAILRODDER.
Keaton's last starring part was in this Italian comedy that co-starred the Italian comic team of Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrasso. Not well known outside Italy, they were a very popular comic turn in many films. This is the only one, however, that I had the chance to see them in. Actually they were good, and fairly complemented the elderly Keaton.
Buster's physical humor was somewhat curtailed by 1966, but he was able to get mileage from the sort of complex jokes that he used in his silent films of forty years before. For example, he is using a bathroom at one point that Franco and Ciccio were just repairing (they were forced to). As he tries the sink's hot and cold water taps the water flushes in the toilet. As he tries the toilet's flushometer the shower stall starts pouring water out. As he turns on the water taps in the stall the sink fills up! Does this discourage him? No - he studies the situation and simply figures out how to fill up the sink by turning on the shower stall, etc.
As for Franco and Ciccio they bear their half of the film as well. The plot deals with how Buster (General Von Kassler) is in German hands but the Allies (directed by Fred Clark as General Zacharian) are trying to get their hands on him. Franco and Ciccio are two Italian - American soldiers who are ordered to get the General from the Germans. They make an interesting pair. Franco is rather dubious (it is 1943 - 44) about the Fascist - Italian point of view. Unfortunately he is tied to Ciccio who is pretending to be one Italian that Il Duce would be proud of - a follower of the official lie...err line. No matter how absurd their current situation is in the film, Ciccio openly insists that the Nazis are the key to victory. He keeps lauding them as engineering and mechanical geniuses, even when their new amphibious jeep - boat sinks constantly underneath himself and the more realistic Franco.
Eventually the General realizes the war is lost. Unfortunately the General's discovery leads his "protectors" into deciding they might as well get rid of him. So the General has to be saved by Franco and Ciccio (a series of events that allow Franco to do his imitation of Hitler at one point).
The film is actually an amusing film for Buster to end with - not like THE RAILRODDER perhaps, but one that is worth watching. The conclusion of the film is bittersweet too, given how the coming of sound helped wreck Keaton's star status at MGM. Wisely his part is silent - unlike Wallace Beery in GRAND HOTEL Buster did not essay a "German" accent - and he proves by the mileage of his filmed performance that he did not need dialog. But at the end, when Franco and Ciccio give Buster his freedom they present him with civilian clothes: his old pork-pie hat and an ill-fitting jacket. He quietly removes his uniform and puts these on, turns to them, and (in his well known American flat baritone) says "Thanks!". Then he walks into the sunset, and the film ends. Not a great film by any stretch, but a sweet end for a film legend.
A Solid Finale for Buster
frankebe19 December 2010
This is a very likable movie, very much UNlike the American sibling "Sergeant Deadhead", which is awful. Although I agree with the opinions of theowinthrop's review, here and there he makes a statement that sounds as if he was watching a different movie. I did not see Keaton figure out how to "fill up the sink by turning on the shower stall"--to the contrary, Keaton never figures out a thing in this scene and simply runs off; I also saw no amphibious jeep-boat in the movie
I suppose theowinthrop saw this film a billion years ago and simply mis-remembers it; and this is too bad because these ideas are really quite good and I regret they are not in the film.
Despite such disappointments, and despite the nagging rumination about what a different movie it would have been if the producer had let Keaton co-write the script, this film has a lot going for it. It moves along fairly briskly (although it could still use a little editing), there are enough visual jokes and action sequences that it doesn't matter if you see it without English subtitles (although it will help if you can find a story breakdown before watching), and having Buster Keaton in it sure doesn't hurt! Although Franco and Ciccio are not really funny, they are fun to watch, and do keep things moving along. I give much credit to the director that Franco & Ciccio, and Keaton are in the film almost continuously, and Keaton seems to have gotten his way with a few gags and the entire washing-his-face routine. And as mentioned by the other reviewer, this movie does have the warmest send-off ever given to an aging comedy icon. The little epilogue is quite funny, too.
Despite such disappointments, and despite the nagging rumination about what a different movie it would have been if the producer had let Keaton co-write the script, this film has a lot going for it. It moves along fairly briskly (although it could still use a little editing), there are enough visual jokes and action sequences that it doesn't matter if you see it without English subtitles (although it will help if you can find a story breakdown before watching), and having Buster Keaton in it sure doesn't hurt! Although Franco and Ciccio are not really funny, they are fun to watch, and do keep things moving along. I give much credit to the director that Franco & Ciccio, and Keaton are in the film almost continuously, and Keaton seems to have gotten his way with a few gags and the entire washing-his-face routine. And as mentioned by the other reviewer, this movie does have the warmest send-off ever given to an aging comedy icon. The little epilogue is quite funny, too.
Mizzica
GianfrancoSpada17 October 2023
As a fan of World War II war films and as an Italian, I couldn't miss this comedic movie starring two sacred icons of Italian comedy and the great Buster Keaton. The film, with a low budget and B-movie status, manages to bring a good smile by ridiculing both sides of the conflict, leaving a pleasant taste. Obviously, it's not a masterpiece, and no one involved in the production intended it to be. Still, it has moments of pure hilarity and typical comic gags of comedy movies. The details are, of course, not meticulously attended to, with many errors in costumes and historical settings. However, these aspects cannot be considered as such in a film of this kind. Everything should be seen as mere props to set the stage for the narrative. One of the moments that caught my interest is when the actor Ciccio Ingrassia impersonates the figure of Hitler, a clear reference to the famous interpretation by the great Chaplin, only this time in a Sicilian-Italian version. Please don't look for anti-war motivations in these types of films, even though it may seem that way due to the ridicule of everything the war represents. Here, we simply have a work of pure entertainment.
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