"Battling Butler" (1926)

Snitz-Edwards-and-Buster-Keaton-in-Battling-Butler-1926-00

Buster Keaton and Snitz Edwards

Directed by Buster Keaton
Produced by       Buster Keaton, Joseph M. Schenck
Written by    Paul Gerard Smith, Al Boasberg, Charles H. Smith, Lex Neal
Based on       the play Battling Butler by Stanley Brightman and Austin Melford, adapted by Ballard MacDonald
Starring    Buster Keaton, Sally O'Neil, Snitz Edwards, Francis McDonald
Cinematography          J.D. Jennings, Bert Haines
Distributed by    MGM
Release date          September 19, 1926
Running time       77 minutes
Country       United States
Language       Silent film, English intertitles

"Battling Butler" is a sparkling comedy starring Buster Keaton and featuring our star Snitz Edwards.

PLEASE NOTE:

The review posted below contains spoilers, so you may want to skip it if you intend to watch the whole film.

Buster Keaton plays a young fellow by the name of Alfred Butler, who is unable to take care of himself, so for everything he counts on the help of his valet Snitz Edwards.

One day Buster Keaton's parents decide that they have had enough and send him to go camping to rough it and make a man of himself. With the forests full of game and the creeks full of fish Buster Keaton is unable to catch anything. Instead, he falls in love with a mountain girl (Sally O'Neil). Then Snitz Edwards stumbles upon an article in the newspaper that a namesake of Buster Keaton, Alfred "Battling" Butler, is a boxer who will fight for the championship.

Buster Keaton decides that he wants to marry Sally O'Neil. Snitz Edwards delivers the marriage proposal to her family, but is rebuffed with "We don't want any weaklings in our ranks". Snitz Edwards then concocts a story, saying that his master is a prizefighter and shows the article in the paper. When Buster Keaton asks Snitz Edwards "How will we get away with this lie?", the latter replies that "Battling" Butler is bound to lose the fight and that nobody will hear of him again. Complications arise, however, when "Battling" Butler wins and Buster Keaton is welcomed with flowers and music by Sally O'Neil's family, and is immediately taken to a minister with her in a wedding dress.

Buster Keaton is then forced to go through a rough boxing training and exhausting physical conditioning to take the next fight of "Battling" Butler, who declares that he quits. On the day of the fight Buster Keaton learns that everything has been a joke and that "Battling" Butler will step into the ring himself. The joke turns to a terrifying reality when "Battling" Butler knocks out his opponent and comes back to the locker room to exact his revenge on Buster Keaton for impersonating him and for perceived flirting with his wife.

In the middle of taking a real beating Buster Keaton catches a glimpse of the horrified faces of Sally O'Neil and Snitz Edwards, who witness the carnage. He manages to find the strength and the courage to turn the fight around and knock out his adversary.

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