"She's Oil Mine" basically consists of three set-pieces -- in the workshop, in the bedroom, and at the duel -- of which the second two are straight re-workings of the corresponding sequences from "The Passionate Plumber". As with "General Nuisance", however, these are not simply reused gags but in fact improved and more sophisticated versions which Keaton has taken the chance to develop further. I actually liked "The Passionate Plumber", but there's no denying that the 'tapping-on-the-water-pipes' sequence here is slicker and more plausible than the one in the earlier film -- I only wish one could send it back in time as a replacement! Other developments serve to escalate the existing humour a step further in trademark Keaton fashion: for example, the introduction of the time-clock is a stroke of pure genius, and the famous gag in which a towel-clad Buster instinctively retaliates to a blow from his aristocratic rival's gloves via the only means at hand acquires a subsequent twist. (Now in his mid-forties, Keaton very sportingly plays a prolonged undressed sequence, demonstrating a trim physique still nothing to be ashamed of.)
As a comedy in its own right it's good fun -- regarded as a cut-down version of the MGM feature it's equally entertaining. And the workshop sequences, although the humour can be somewhat cruder, are also worthwhile. There's a topical nod to Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds", a brief but classic moment in which the two men catch sight of one another in an unexpected context, a broad piece of misdirection where we are led to assume Buster is about to hit his partner with a hammer, and a brilliant sequence in which he gets his finger caught in a pipe, requiring an inventive (and impressive) stunt expedient; "Your finger's got a left-hand thread", Monty informs him cheerfully afterwards. (Oddly enough, they *don't* make use of the special effects potential provided by the fact that the digit in question is notoriously missing its last joint; perhaps because the implied amputation would be too serious a matter for a laugh.) This was Keaton's final Columbia short, and it's a pretty good note to go out on.
