Free And Easy As Pie

A few weeks ago my friend Jesse Walker had a short review of Free And Easy, the first sound film Buster Keatond starred in. For a while I've been thinking of writing on how each of the big three (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd) dealt with sound, and some day I may get around to it.

Anyway, I finally saw Hollywood Cavalcade, a rather ridiculous 1939 Fox film starring Don Ameche and Alice Faye (whose charms I must be missing) that purports to be about the silent days. If it's remembered at all, it's for the bits with Buster Keaton (along with some other silent comedians), who is essentially playing himself, reenacting old comedy scenes.

Except he's portrayed as a great pie-thrower (in fact, the films seems to say he invented pie-throwing, and by mistake), which was not really his style. Some have been offended--the film implies he was just another silly slapstick comedian.

But I'd guess he was happy to play the role. For one thing, it was better than what he was generally being offered at the time. Second, he's allowed to do a lot of physical comedy, and while it doesn't compare to his earlier work--and I'm sure he wasn't given free rein--there are still some nice moments.

And it's worth remembering, Keaton was always willing to try new things. Take Sherlock Jr. To my knowledge, Keaton had never played pool on-screen, or even much in real life. But because it fit the story, he became an expert, performing trick shots that are still hard to believe. If he had ever felt the need to throw pies in one of his films, not only would he have done it, but would have probably done it better than anyone else.