Notes on…

The Scarecrow(1920)

Dir. Directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton

Just two guys living in the same house and the same time; no wonder we need the disavowal photograph of the farmgirl on the wall. Anyway, the contraptions to aid these Totally Not Gay guys with their dinner not only reminded me of Charlie Chaplin's The Kid (1921), but also of Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit although in distinctly bowdlerised form. Oh, and, of course, somewhat more forcefully, in Tom Green's Freddy Got Fingered (2001)... It's interesting to consider that all four of these auteur-driven films (and Buster Keaton's artistic project more generally) is derived in varying degrees from the surrealist movement.

* * *

Synopsis: Two farmhands compete for the love of the farmer's daughter.