[OUT] BRIDES rush (1925)

Buster Keaton went on to gags and demonstrate a technical mastery is impressive with Brides in madness (1925), in which a rich millionaire, who must flee an army of women in a fury.

Adapted from a piece of Broadway Roi Cooper Megrue, (The) BRIDES of MADNESS (1925) directed by Buster Keaton produced by Joseph Schenck, is a small gem of burlesque and the perfect example of what the silent film could provide the best at the time. Perfectly paced, BRIDES IN MADNESS multiplies gags big bill (humorous but also technical) with those of a taste more doubtful. In fact, several gags are filmed around the figure of the black (a home a bit fool), which gives an idea of the humour tolerated at the time. However, the film also enjoys the social conventions related to marriage, parodying its own rituals (to make his proposal to his knees, the church ceremony). And gives the female figure a ascending non-negligible. It is for a man who is besieged of good women, and more ugly than usual.

Once again, Keaton excels in his role of the nice dumb shy having just inherited a large sum of money but who, to obtain it, must marry before the end of the day. This famous day will not be, therefore, that a succession of gags in the form of denial (learn to kneel romantically, the move of the paper into a thousand pieces, the back and back on the stairs, etc) until the moment where his two accomplices, trying to “help” her through an ad let’s say highly touted (“young millionaire looking to marry !“), forced to flee an army of women in a fury. This is the moment that chooses the movie to offer an impressive pursuit race that gives Keaton the chance to show his ingenuity burlesque, as well as his amazing physical abilities. During this crazy race, Keaton will in turn jump to a tree, dive into a river, climb cliffs to avoid rockfalls from rock to finally arrive late at home, he thinks first, in order to marry his girlfriend Mary. Fortunately, his watch being broken, the marriage can finally take place. BRIDES IN the MADNESS chains, therefore, the gags with a geometric accuracy (defined in framework) and a scramble (meaning of assembly), absolutely mind-blowing mastery.

“Brides in the madness offers a good entry point into the world of Buster Keaton” Click To Tweet

However, his prologue offers a small parenthesis dramatic the most beautiful effect via ellipses, and boxes of a great plastic beauty, revealing the nature of the “anti-heroic” Keaton (he never cheat, he is not cunning like Chaplin). All the rest of the film, all the gags, will participate in this shift ruthless between the victim and persecuted character, and her desire to be back in the ranks, finally becoming a true hero. Advert by Splendor Films, this silent movie classic is a beautiful entry in matter in the universe keatonien, as hectic as it is irresistible.

Antoine Gaudé

Your opinion ?