The Balloonatic

The Balloonatic

The Balloonatic

The Balloonatic

Well, don't get too excited over the title - there are very little actual ballooning in the movie. No big stunts either, just cheap slapstick gags which some are great, but overall, the film can be quite a disappointment to big Buster Keaton's fans. Buster Keaton stars as a young man who is so inept at anything, and being so oblivious about his own bumbling ways that it is almost hard to bear. His adventures start at the fun house of the amusement park, where Buster tries to amuse himself at someone's else expense. After failed attempt to hit on a girl on a boat ride, Buster stumbles on a hot air balloon that takes him into the wilderness. Trying to survive in the nature Buster has to overcome many obstacles, to win the heart of a girl.

This is a 22-minute black-and-white silent short film from over 90 years ago and it proves that bad word plays already existed in the 1920s as well. The star here is once again Stoneface Buster Keaton, who also reunited with Edward F. Cline in writing and directing this movie. For a change, it looks like Cline did not act in here this time. But Buster is on screen basically every second. Joseph M. Schneck produced this and he is a long time collaborator with Keaton too. In contrast to that, the actresses in here really were not, which is a bit of a change as Buster usually worked with people that appeared in several films of him in the past. Another change is that Buster has no real human antagonists in here, but basically runs into animals (some dangerous, some not) all the time. Bears, rabbits, bulls etc. And there is a clumsy love story as usual with Keaton. This was made in 1923 and was already at the end of Keaton's short film career. He was in his late 20s here and moved on to full feature films quickly afterward. I did not really think "The Balloonatic" was an interesting watch. Oh and the title is not great either. Balloon action is really only for maybe the first 6 minutes and the very last scene. The rest of the movie is spent in a Gold Rush like area in the woods near the river. Not recommended.

"The Balloonatic" opens with what I believe is the most beautiful shots of all Keaton's films. The short opens at "The House of Trouble" a fun house which I find amusing, among other things, at telling how less litigious early 20th century America was. Despite the rather death-defying drop as the exit, there are no mile-long warning signs, (which we in 21st America would recognize) and it apparently hasn't been closed down, or, I bet, the owner sued for incurred injuries. I also found it refreshing that for once, Buster set his romantic eye on a curvy girl instead of the svelte jazz babies he usually longs for. The rest of the story deals with Buster vs the outdoors and the heart of a fair maid and ends with a lushly, surreal romantic image.

Although Keaton pends relatively little time flying below the balloon, the 2 passages that relate to the balloon are certainly surreal. In the first such segment, Keaton uses a ladder to get to the top of the balloon being prepared for take off. When the appointed flier.steps into the basket, and the balloon takes off, he's left on the ground, because there is no bottom to the basket!. Never fear, Keaton will make his way from the top to the basket. He also initially finds that the basket has no bottom. But, strangely, when he is putting the duck decoys out below the basket, and when he is readying his rifle to shoot any bird attracted to the decoys, clearly, there must be a basket bottom. He sees what appears to be a white dove or pigeon clinging to the balloon. and fires his rifle, making a hole in the balloon, causing a rapid decent. He lands in a tree, breaking his fall, with a steam nearby, and somebody's canoe., which he makes use of after figuring out how to make the 3 sections stay together and not leak.....At the end of the film, when the canoe contains Keaton and a young sports woman, drifting down a river, the resurrected balloon comes into play again, being tied to the canoe, though not visibly, and whisking the canoe to safety when they go over a waterfall.......Another gag I found amusing features the sportswoman being confronted by a stray giant steer. Keaton, seeing the problem, fetches his rifle and makes his way across the river, submerging his rifle in the process. He takes aim, and shoots, but only water comes out, which hits the girl((Phyllis Haver) in the face. She now musters more courage, takes the steer by the horn, and wrestles it to the ground.......Much time is spent watching them fishing, or being chased by bears. I would have preferred more adventures in the balloon.

The Balloonatic is always on a high when it comes to entertainment value present in Keaton shorts. For the first time, it begins with a close up shot of a spooked Keaton at The House of Trouble, a haunted house at an amusement park. As the camera zooms out of his face, we see him walk towards three different rooms, each time to be surprised by a spooky figure. Once he gets out of the house, he watches a stout lady enter the same place. She loves the haunted house so much she enters the second time. Keaton however moves on to another thrill and soon finds himself on top of a hot air balloon. The balloon crashes and Keaton lands on a tree. While fixing the balloon, he also goes to a lake and tries fishing; in his Keaton-esque manner, he tries to block the flow of water by placing a barricade rocks at the shallow point, only for the water to collect on the other side and soon crash into the barricade and take Keaton along. He encounters a girl who attacks him at first for coming in her way when she dives into the lake, but later becomes close to him. The ending takes you by surprise as you fully expect a disaster only to be baffled. That's the high point of The Balloonatic, another triumph in the joyful Keaton shorts.

It is not exactly the comedy who you expect. It is not the portrait of "baloonatic" defined by title. But a sweet story about a young man across different forms of adventure, victim of events, having as end of the long trip the love story as crown of efforts to be happy. Special for the simplicity with nostalgic flavor, it is just the window to a lost world of film.

1923's 'The Balloonatic' should have been so much more. Considering that it has such a great title and that it starred one of comedy's funniest and most daring performers in Buster Keaton. Actually like to love a vast majority of Keaton's short films and the best of his feature films (i.e. 'The General') are masterpieces. So that this review is not as enthusiastic as most of my other reviews for Keaton's work is regrettable, nothing malicious about it at all. 'The Balloonatic' is one of Keaton's weakest short films and for me it is lesser Keaton overall as well. It is far from terrible, would call very, very little of his work that, and it does have its charm and good things. There are just funnier, clever and bolder short and feature films that Keaton did, and the execution is quite uneven. 'The Balloonatic' is watchable enough but not essential, and is more a curio or if one wants to see everything that Keaton did. Am going to start with the good things. It is nicely made, not looking primitive. Keaton is not at his funniest or boldest, but he is amusing, he has a lot of likeability and he still shows that he is one of the masters at deadpan. Phyllis Haver is also appealing and has a spirit about her. She and Keaton have an adorable chemistry together. Some parts are fun. The stuff with the balloon is creative and Keaton's bear encounter is pure genius. 'The Balloonatic' starts and ends very well. It's what happens in the middle that's a bit hit and miss. Nothing is unfunny here, but only a few parts are hilarious and there are far more inspired and funnier gags in other Keaton efforts. Wouldn't have said no to more gags perhaps, and those that were there could have connected with each other more tightly and with more cohesion. The story is very slight and could have had more energy, it is basically a series of cobbled together gags that gives the structure a disjointed feel. Compared to other Keaton efforts, 'The Balloonatic' felt a little bland. It's not just the humour and Keaton's athleticism and mastery of deadpan that plays a huge part in his appeal, it's also the jaw-dropping and ahead of the time stunts. 'The Balloonatic' is somewhat short-changed on this front. On the whole, watchable but Keaton did so much better before and since. 5/10