BEST FILMS OF 1921
by Mike Lorefice

The Boat
Buster Keaton & Eddie Cline

In contrast to his full lengths films, all the highlights come early. There's a classic scene wher Keaton's house comes tumbling down when he drives his newly finished handmade boat out of the garage. What makes it great is not the destruction, but the fact that Buster doesn't react to it, instead digging through the wreckage for something to replace the lifeboat with, a bathtub! The car winds up in the ocean, and when Keaton finally sets sail he goes down with the ship! Keaton always got as much as he could out of his props, which was a lot more than the others. That said, though the premise of the problems building a boat causes him and his family is good, the comedy begins to sag toward the end with too much rocking and rolling over stuff. Still, it's hard to complain when you figure today they'd just have an explosion every few minutes and none of them would be an attempt at humor. [9/7/05] ***

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse
Rex Ingram

***1/2

The Haunted Castle
F.W. Murnau

***

The Kid
Charlie Chaplin

***

Orphans of the Storm
D.W. Griffith

***