Wealthy Rollo Treadway (Buster Keaton) suddenly decides to propose to his neighbor across the street, Betsy O'Brien (Kathryn McGuire), and sends his servant to book passage for a honeymoon sea cruise to Honolulu. When Betsy rejects his sudden offer however, he decides to go on the trip anyway, boarding without delay that night. Because the pier number is partially covered, he ends up on the wrong ship, the Navigator, which Betsy's rich father (Frederick Vroom) has just sold to a small country at war.
Agents for the other small nation in the conflict decide to set the ship adrift that same night. When Betsy's father checks up on the ship, he is captured and tied up by the saboteurs. Betsy hears his cry for help and boards the ship to look for him, just before it is cut loose.
The Navigator drifts out into the Pacific Ocean. The two unwitting passengers eventually find each other. At first, they have great difficulty looking after themselves, but adapt after a few weeks. At one point, they sight a navy ship and hoist a brightly-colored flag, not realizing it signals that the ship is under quarantine. As a result, the other vessel turns away.
Finally, the ship grounds itself near an inhabited tropical island and springs a leak. While Rollo dons a deep sea diving suit and submerges to patch the hole, the black natives canoe out and take Betsy captive. When Rollo emerges from the ocean, the natives are scared off, enabling him to rescue Betsy and take her back to the ship. The natives return and try to board the ship. After a fierce struggle, Rollo and Betsy try to escape in a small dinghy. It starts to sink, and the natives swiftly overtake them in their canoes. Just when all seems lost, a navy submarine surfaces right underneath them and they are saved.
jcCTVA 310
Tim Halloran
27 September 2017
A Short Review of “Sherlock Jr.” and “The Navigator”
On September 21st, 2017 at 7 PM, I watched two remarkable films, namely “Sherlock Jr.,” and “The Navigator.” They were mainly produced, acted, and directed by the same person, Buster Keaton in 1924. These two films are typical examples of Buster Keaton’s featured style, a romantic, comedic silent film with a happy ending. The setting of mise en scene and the storytelling skills that Buster Keaton used are forward and experimental.
“Sherlock Jr.” and “The Navigator” are romantic silent films and their characters share similar goals, chasing the love of their life. In detail, Buster Keaton in "Sherlock Jr." acts as a poor theatre worker who has to compete with a rival in love (a thief) and try to engage with a woman. At the end of the film, the theatre worker gets back together with the woman even though he was framed by his rival and asked to leave the woman alone. In "The Navigator," Keaton acts as Rollo Treadway, a man who goes on a honeymoon alone after failing to marry his dream wife. However, Rollo inadvertently meets a woman on a ship and they embark on a risky journey, but Rollo gets a kiss from the woman at the end. "Sherlock Jr.” and "The Navigator" both end in happiness: the protagonist gets together with the love of his life.
Although these two features have a different story setting and character backgrounds, their main roles still play similar characters. For instance, Rollo Treadway in "The Navigator" is an honorable man who was born in a first-class family, whereas the theatre worker in "Sherlock Jr." is poor and debased. They live in a different world but share similar personalities. They never laugh, but they are sincere and both have a warm heart. Nonetheless, they are not good at putting their ideas across and pleasing others; these protagonists in different classes still share similar characteristics: they are both unsmiling and inarticulate, but sincere.
The most remarkable scene that Keaton directed is the dream scene in "Sherlock. Jr." The scene takes place at a classical theatre, which is on a movie screen stage. These dream sequences wherein the theatre worker walks in or out of the movie screen were very dramatic; the continuity of editing was also an excellent arrangement and the actions were perfectly matched.
Overall, “Sherlock Jr. " and "The Navigator" are typical examples of Buster Keaton’s featured style, brought forward in both films. Before I took part in the retrospective of “Sherlock Jr. ", I had seen some of Keaton’s feature films, namely "The Saphead," "Three Ages," "Our Hospitality" and several of his short films. However, the night of September 21st, 2017 became my best silent film experience. I love the feature of "Sherlock Jr." Furthermore, the retrospective of Buster Keaton's features also made me one of Buster Keaton’s enthusiasts.
开头交代背景。之后是阴错阳差的海上“蜜月旅行”。遇到救兵却又因误会错过。
以前的人都乱丢烟头，并且不熄灭的吗？
互相追逐想找对方那段，很《恐怖游轮》。
划船追赶的BMG很熟悉啊。
高空跳水这个是来真的，基顿真的很拼命。
湿身诱惑。
画像那个笑死。事实证明，人吓人真的是可以吓死人。
一排门开启、关闭，很恐怖片。
玩牌这个很无聊，虽然是想苦中作乐。
接下来又到基顿展示各种半自动餐饮日常发明的时间。
危机再次降临。
遭遇原始部落。
“人舟”这个太无厘头了。
椰树梯子这个好有创意。想起印度神片《巴霍巴利王》里有“树弓”这一神武器，好像也是椰树。
潜水艇真是神仙救兵。
这个片子还说明了一个真理：向女孩子求婚得选择一个合适的时间。
夜，茫茫大海，孤舟，一男一女，未知的危险（各种天灾人祸）。这个片子可以说开了恐怖动作片的先河。
Buster Keaton的电影是一口满溢着想象与灵感之力的泉眼，艺术家、作家如果才思遭遇阻塞，而产不出东西时，不妨从工作台起身去舀一瓢来享用。（很惭愧，一直以来我对他的了解只是作为Colin Firth的偶像……）
《The Navigator》中，一个忧郁的小个子公子哥决定今天就要结婚，未等来答复就做了一切度蜜月的准备，其中就包括买好了在海上航行的船票。他唐突地出现，用悲伤的语调向自己的心上人求婚 "Will you marry me?"，但富家小姐碍于矜持，在管家把帽子挂好手杖放下之前便拒绝了他。
"Going on a honeymoon without a bride is like singing the words of 'Kiss me again' to the music of 'Alice, where art thou?' "
在那之后，这两个严重缺乏自理能力的年轻贵族阴差阳错上了同一艘幽灵船，所有的船员都遭遇了绑架，为了生存下去他们不得不自力更生。从用煮沸的海水沏咖啡豆，用大砍刀开罐头，寻声找人上演脚前脚后的追逐大战，窗外老男人头像荡来荡去，没有一个煮鸡蛋可以寿终正寝而不被摔得头破蛋花流，再到两周后他们用大小滑轮组等各式工具将厨房变成半自动化机械工厂……（基顿的另一个梦想便是成为土木工程师，他对机械的热爱也体现在了他的电影里）这当中他们也自然而然地得到了成长。
但长大的过程美好中又充满苦涩，当他们终于看到陆地，却又用望远镜瞥见了兴致勃勃迎接他们的食人族，于是基顿穿潜水服修船、放danger标志牌、用龙虾当钳子、同金枪鱼击剑、用爆竹当大炮却没料到点着的小炮被缠在脚上跟着主人走、敌人架起椰子树攻船，基顿就在树的另一端摘椰子反抗，其间还有他穿着老式潜水服戴着厚重头盔登陆酷似水神降临吓跑食人族抱得美人归，美人执桨划充满空气因此可以仰面漂浮的英雄……
最终，当二人弃船而逃望着像蚂蚁般涌现的土著，绝望着没入水下，却因为脚踩潜艇而又浮出水面……两个患难与共忧伤又快乐的年轻人跳进舱内，他们得救了，而食人族站在潜艇的上方以为已将猎物俘获而开心地跳起了奔放的舞蹈，Ignorance is a bliss，无知是福。
没有tinting导致进船舱开灯的动作完全失效。（MoMA也没有觉得有必要讲一下吗？）第一次听Ben Model，无比佩服他对默片/档案的热情和学识，策展很厉害，即兴发挥也很熟稔，但他的配乐对我来说还是过于稳重了呢（
私以为基顿的电影应该开发成一款游戏。。。
从笨手笨脚的海上菜鸟进阶成机械能手&机关专家，并成功升华感情，也算没白吃苦，虽然开场某些剧情显然被遗忘了……充分利用船体空间进行追逐，利用各种巧合和误会制造笑点，又惊悚又搞笑，简直可爱无敌，动作场面后世效仿太多，几乎已成模板。比起机械装置，水下摄影更惊艳，神奇的基顿。
Honestly, that girl in the navy's suit turned me on..
（7/10）基顿是不是拍着拍着把某些人给忘了……………………………… 中间那段闹鬼情节笑惨，原来鬼片是这么拍出来的哇哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈
故事依然很沉闷。这部电影尤其突显了基顿电影里角色人物只是推动特技场面和杂耍奇观的道具而已，除此之外不需要任何性格和情绪。在基顿与女主互相寻找的场面中，整艘船才是镜头的主角，而上窜下跳穿梭其中的人物显得那么渺小。这让人想起马戏团里的表演，杂技者和舞台上的道具功能相似，都为了吸引观众
看的59分钟版本。从此认识“冷面笑匠"Buster Keaton，说冷面但我觉得他更有忧郁气质呢w没有声音对话但也蛮紧张，明明只有1小时却觉得故事讲的很饱满不少有趣的地方，想象力给赞。有机会看他的福尔摩斯二世去=。=
（8.5）基顿对于机械的利用在二十年代简直登峰造极，也包括同年的福尔摩斯二世以及稍后的将军号，那俩也是我的影史百佳。相对来说这部把超过一人的冒险分摊到不同事件中就不像那两部有着对于一个人一件事足够专注时那般巨大的张力。另外，是不是有群演借机骚扰凯瑟琳了啊？
一艘近万吨的轮船，让人与机器对抗的母题发挥到极致。基顿的潜水衣打扮和下水特技场面，当时都是令人耳目一新的高科技，却几乎要了基顿条命。
21年短片the boat的長片版，我想成龍也是姓keaton的。
片子有些闷，轮船、杂耍、潜水、潜水艇，光看道具都觉得基顿的片子永远那么洋气，演得也努力。
Going on a honeymoon without a bride is like singing the words of “Kiss me again“ to the music of “Alice ,Where Art Thou”
《航海家》和《将军号》是基顿最喜欢的作品。第29分钟模拟轮船倾斜、结尾模拟潜水艇倾斜的手段太超前。第34分钟的机械化设备很有创意。水下片段太惊艳。穿着潜水服抽烟、danger标志牌、龙虾物尽其用、金枪鱼击剑、猴子打基顿、火炮跟着走脑洞大开，想象力爆棚；穿上追逐、划人肉帆船、椰树搭梯子更是神来之笔。PS：闹鬼的头像其实是导演唐纳德·克里斯普。原本基顿还用1200条道具鱼拍了一段给鱼指挥交通的片段，可惜最后剪掉了。《航海家》纪录片：https://www.bilibili.com/video/av13308582
利用海船立体空间营造的男女主「不相逢」，一闪而过的利用机械制造有趣的「生活工具」，利用航海晃动制造「午夜遇鬼」，后半部水下修补都是放到今天看牛逼十足的创意与编排，在基顿电影中，已经可见电影工业在非电脑特效时代的巅峰。
如果有基顿这样笨拙忧伤的男孩子问我“Will you marry me” 我说什么也会答应他
基顿开始单飞后，电影史上就多了一位天才。这部片子有许多先进场面调度和摄影技巧：比如两个人在船上互相寻找，巧妙利用了船上的楼层，调度非常巧妙。晚上睡在甲板上，女主对男主的误会，当看到自己处在边缘有落水危险时，女主吓得抱住了男主的头，这个真是笑cry。电影的地点设定在封闭空间。水下摄影
机械化的厨房是亮点，延续了《稻草人》中房子的创意。变身皮划艇一段肿麽想到的哈哈～～
美好的联环巧合造就的动作喜剧，惊喜不到最后一分钟都停不下来，90多年前的基顿已经学会了像库布里克诺兰一样“翻滚重力”，还完美玩转了把水下冒险，和食人族的大战也是无比精彩。
杂耍——潜水（深海摄影）、皮筏艇等，最后一个镜头（翻滚）。这片如果有声音和色彩应该效果会好一点，有几处都需要用颜色来传达信息，不过也影响不大。
偏激发言）谁不会感叹一句“巴斯特基顿是个天才”呢