The Saphead (1920)

The simple-minded son of a rich financier must find his own way in the world.

Directors:

Herbert Blaché, Winchell Smith

Writers:

Bronson Howard (original play "The Henrietta"), Victor Mapes (play)

Stars:

Edward Jobson, Beulah Booker, Edward Connelly

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Edward Jobson	...	Reverend Murray Hilton
Beulah Booker	...	Agnes Gates
Edward Connelly	...	Mr. Musgrave
Edward Alexander	...	Watson Flint
Irving Cummings	...	Mark Turner
Odette Tyler	...	Mrs. Cornelia Opdyke
Carol Holloway	...	Rose Turner
Jack Livingston	...	Dr. George Wainright
William H. Crane	...	Nicholas Van Alstyne
Buster Keaton	...	Bertie Van Alstyne

Storyline

Nick Van Alstyne owns the Henrietta silver mine and is very rich. His son Bertie is naive and spoiled. His daughter Rose is married to shady investor Mark. Mark wrecks Bertie's wedding plans by making him take the blame for Mark's illegitimate daughter. Mark also nearly ruins the family business by selling off Henrietta stock at too low a price. Bertie, of all people, must come to the rescue on the trading floor.

---

Plot Keywords:

wedding | new york city | manhattan new york city | train station | stock exchange | 

---

Taglines:

He Forbade Them To Wed! Then he cut the lad off with a paltry million! (Print Ad- Duluth Herald, ((Duluth, Minn.)) 5 February 1921)

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Release Date:

20 September 1920 (USA)

Also Known As:

A mamlasz

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the few Buster Keaton films in which a hand double is used in a close-up shot to avoid showing that Keaton was missing his right index fingertip.

---

Goofs

When Bertie's car pulls up to the house after the aborted wedding, the front gate is closed, but when he gets out of the car it is wide open.

---

Quotes

Bertie: Do all these seats cost 100,000 dollars?

---

Alternate Versions

In 1995, Film Preservation Associates copyrighted a version with an orchestral score; no details were specified on the print.

---

Connections

Follows The Lamb (1915)

User Reviews

"Saphead" stinks, but two shorts are outstanding!

Buster Keaton's first feature -- an awful romantic melodrama -- is straight acting, little comedy. Opening titles say the film, a remake of a pre-WWI Douglas Fairbanks movies version of a popular stage play, made Keaton a star. Hard to imagine considering how he's so different in this than in his shorts.

But the two 1921 shorts included on this disk --"The High Sign" and "One Week" -- are worth the rental. Both show the Keaton character we know: eager but initially less than effectual. The gags mix complicated settings (trap doors, house walls falling on the stars (which presage later films) and Keaton's amazing physical dexterity and risk-taking. You'll laugh out loud at the shorts.