The navigator
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The navigator |
| Original title | The Navigator |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1924 |
| length | 59 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Buster Keaton Donald Crisp |
| script |
Clyde Bruckman Jean C. Havez Joseph A. Mitchell |
| production | Joseph Schenck |
| camera |
Byron Houck Elgin Lessley |
| occupation | |
| |
The Navigator (alternative title: Buster Keaton, the sailor , over, on and under the sea , The Cruise the Navigator , The Shipwreck , Buster Keaton - The Navigator ) is a silent film comedy by and with Buster Keaton from 1924. The film is one of the Keatons most successful productions and brought him the breakthrough to the most popular comedians of his time. The film was entered into the National Film Registry in 2018 .
action
Rollo Treadway, a spoiled, unworldly millionaire son, decides one morning to marry the neighbor Betsy O'Brien, daughter of a wealthy shipowner . On the same day he suddenly made her a marriage proposal, which she refused, irritated. The deeply disappointed Rollo nevertheless wants to start the already planned ocean trip for the honeymoon. But he accidentally quartered himself on the wrong ship: The Navigator was recently sold to a small state by John O'Brien - enemy spies are now trying to destroy it before the crew can go on board. At the port, Betsy's father is ambushed, and while Betsy is desperately looking for him on the Navigator , the spies unhook the ship.
Rollo and Betsy now believe they are alone on board the abandoned ocean cruiser floating on the open sea. The reunion takes some effort in view of the vast size of the ship, but it is all the more surprising. At first there is a wild chase through the ship between the two, but they calm down again. The two spoiled ones have some difficulties coping with the unfamiliar situation at first: preparing breakfast turns out to be an almost impossible task. When a ship promised to rescue approaches, they unwittingly hoist the quarantine flag and chase it away. At night a ghostly atmosphere spreads on the cruiser when all the doors open and close at the same time as if by magic, suddenly music can be heard from a gramophone or the candles turn out to be fireworks. In fact, these phenomena have natural causes. After a few weeks on the high seas, the two of them managed to settle down comfortably on the ship and to make helpful inventions.
Finally land comes into view. But when they look through the binoculars, they are shocked to find that they are drifting towards a cannibal island. The Navigator ran aground not far from the coast ; a leak is torn in the outer shell. In order not to sink, Rollo has to repair the leak from the outside and in a heavy diving suit. While he works on the ocean floor and fights with swordfish, cannibals sneak onto the ship, cut the air hose and kidnap Betsy to the island. Surrounded by the wild, Betsy lived through fear of death when suddenly Rollo in a diving suit emerges from the water and then slowly walks towards the beach. The bizarre appearance puts the cannibals to flight. Rollo and Betsy save themselves on the Navigator by using the weightless diving suit as a kind of inflatable boat.
But the cannibals return and set out with all their dugouts to storm the Navigator . The couple initially defends themselves successfully with fireworks and coconuts, but are ultimately defeated by the wild hordes that board the ship. Rollo and Betsy flee onto the water, but finally give up in resignation and throw the lifebuoy aside. But as soon as both have sunk beneath the surface of the water, closely entwined, they appear again as if by magic: They are on an emerging submarine, in which they are now rescuing - and where Rollo finally receives the longed-for, shy kiss from his beloved gets.
production
After Sherlock Jr. was only moderately successful by the audience and critics, Buster Keaton's team looked for a promising material for the next film. When Keaton heard of the sale of a decommissioned ocean cruiser, he took the chance and developed the story of The Navigator around the ship, which he had bought for $ 25,000 .
As with all of Keaton's feature films, the framework should be dramatically prepared in order to put the story and its gags on a credible basis. The scene of the spies in the prologue should be exciting, the cannibals at the end of the film authentic. So Keaton hired a director, Donald Crisp , who had some experience with film dramas. Surprisingly, he developed a great pleasure in comedic ideas and over-the-top ideas during the filming. When Kathryn McGuire woke up from her unconsciousness in the film and found herself kidnapped in a circle of wild cannibals, according to Keaton's story, Crisp staged that it is the stinking cheese feet of the cannibals that tear them out of unconsciousness. Keaton, who also rejected burlesque play in his comedic scenes, finally parted company with Crisp and shot all the dramatic scenes anew, this time under his own direction. Crisp, who later became an Oscar-winning actor, had a cameo in the film : He is shown as a rough sailor in the portrait that Betsy is so afraid of.
The underwater scenes turned out to be difficult to realize. In the film, Keaton was supposed to repair a leak in the bow of the ship from the outside in a heavy diving suit. The shooting took place in a specially set up pool and dragged on for over a month: “I could only stay downstairs for thirty minutes at a time, because the cold water penetrates your kidneys. After about half an hour you start to get stiff. Then you just want to go up and out. "
Production costs averaged $ 220,000 (3,284,000 euros) for most of Keaton's comedies, which were always around a third more expensive than comparable, dramatic films of the time. The success, however, was overwhelming, the grossing result would remain one of the best of all comedies from the Keaton studios, surpassed only by Battling Butler (1926). Previously a popular comedian, Keaton caught up with The Navigator among the most popular comedians of his time, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd .
The set design was done by Fred Gabourie .
Web links
- The Navigator in the Internet Movie Database (English)
literature
- Philipp Stiasny: Buster Keaton, the sailor. In: Heinz B. Heller , Matthias Steinle (eds.): Film genres. Comedy . (= RUB . No. 18407). Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-15-018407-3 , pp. 52-55 [with references].
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Kevin Brownlow , Pioneers of Film , pp. 559f.
- ↑ Keaton quoted in Pioneers of Film , p. 568.
- ↑ See Pioneers of Film , p. 560.
- ↑ See J. Kline, The Complete Films of Buster Keaton , pp. 101, 110.