The Invader (1935) Review
One of my favorite comedians is Buster Keaton. His silent films are very charming due to his resourcefulness and athletic ability. As for his storytelling skills, while they weren’t as good as his contemporaries’, he could still tell an emotionally impactful story to his audience in films like Steamboat Bill, Jr. and Our Hospitality. He clearly had a lot of passion for what he did and cared a lot about the quality of what he made; one of his short films, The Blacksmith, was received so badly by test audiences that he ordered reshoots and he even shelved his first short film, The High Sign, when he deemed it to be a weak debut.
Unfortunately, Keaton fell on hard times in the 1930s and his passion became less obvious at MGM where he was given little creative freedom and gradually put less effort into his performances. After his MGM contract ended, he went on to take on various roles ranging from short subject star at Educational and Columbia Pictures to gag writer for MGM. He starred in three independent features during this time: Le Roi des Champs-Élysées, The Invader, and El Moderno Barba Azul. Today we’re going to look at The Invader and see if it shows any signs of the Keaton charm, or if it’s just as dreadful as the worst of the MGM films.
Keaton plays Leander Proudfoot, a millionaire who visits the Café el Toro Fuerte. He comes across a dancer named Lupita Malez (Lupita Tovar) who is going to marry café owner Gonzalo Gonzalez (Lyn Harding). She is in love with José (Esme Percy) and they come up with a plan to have Proudfoot fall in love with Malez, which will cause the jealous Gonzalez to kill him. Gonzalez will be hanged and Lupita will get the café while also getting to be with José.
It may sound like a complicated plot on paper, but it really isn’t. A good portion of the film is dedicated simply to Malez attempting to woo Proudfoot and vice versa, and there’s quite a bit of filler thrown in as well. There are pointless dance and song numbers that often are just really dragged out and only feel like they are there because they couldn’t come up with a way to make this feature length. Even the few dramatic moments that do relate to the plot really don’t work out as well as they should. For example, there’s a scene on Proudfoot’s boat where Malez and Proudfoot are standing on the outside and Malez falls off. She later comes to on the boat and realizes she loves Proudfoot because he saved her. The problem is that Proudfoot didn’t save her. He doesn’t even notice that she fell off until he falls off himself and the butler ends up having to save both of them. This was supposed to be such an important moment in character development and they botched it!
The comedy is nothing special either. Keaton seems very lifeless throughout the film, though there is an occasional moment where he shows some sign of interest. Sadly, a lot of moments early on simply consist of him bumbling around while audience members of the café constantly laugh at his stupidity. Keaton’s character could occasionally show moments of stupidity like in Go West where he fails to milk a cow. To Go West’s credit, though, he clearly is being asked to do something he has never done before so it’s natural that he wouldn’t understand the concept. Here, he just bumbles towards center stage and makes an idiot of himself, as opposed to his silent comedies where his falls were often caused by outside situations, such as the cyclone in Steamboat Bill, Jr. This was a problem that plagued most of Keaton’s MGM films and unfortunately it seemed to carry over here as well.
Keaton is not solely to blame for the film’s problems. As much as people like to bash Keaton’s MGM output, at least they had nice production values. This film feels very rushed, is on a much lower budget, and the actors feel like they weren’t given very good direction. Even Lupita Tovar, who was wonderful in the Spanish Dracula, is given very little to do outside of the pointless dance sequences. The poor direction seems to be another reason that the comedic sequences fall flat. For example, there’s a scene where the butler tells Keaton he’s going to go to sleep, so he jumps off the boat. This could be a funny scene, except he flails his arms around doing some routine before jumping in, basically giving away what we were supposed to not be expecting.
On the bright side, there are moments that work every now and then. Keaton gets a rare chance to show his resourcefulness again when he tricks a crowd that was chasing him by making them think he’s taking a group photo. Probably the best scene in the film is when Proudfoot is trying to serenade Malez, only to have a bunch of objects thrown onto his head. It’s a pretty well-timed scene, though it would be done again in Pest from the West, a 2-reel remake of this film that is far superior to the original. The filler is gone, Keaton seems to be more invested here and it benefits from being directed by Del Lord, who was very experienced in slapstick comedy. The Invader is not the worst thing Keaton was involved in, but it’s a very depressing sight to watch Keaton at such a low point in his life.
4 out of 10
Unfortunately, Keaton fell on hard times in the 1930s and his passion became less obvious at MGM where he was given little creative freedom and gradually put less effort into his performances. After his MGM contract ended, he went on to take on various roles ranging from short subject star at Educational and Columbia Pictures to gag writer for MGM. He starred in three independent features during this time: Le Roi des Champs-Élysées, The Invader, and El Moderno Barba Azul. Today we’re going to look at The Invader and see if it shows any signs of the Keaton charm, or if it’s just as dreadful as the worst of the MGM films.
Keaton plays Leander Proudfoot, a millionaire who visits the Café el Toro Fuerte. He comes across a dancer named Lupita Malez (Lupita Tovar) who is going to marry café owner Gonzalo Gonzalez (Lyn Harding). She is in love with José (Esme Percy) and they come up with a plan to have Proudfoot fall in love with Malez, which will cause the jealous Gonzalez to kill him. Gonzalez will be hanged and Lupita will get the café while also getting to be with José.
It may sound like a complicated plot on paper, but it really isn’t. A good portion of the film is dedicated simply to Malez attempting to woo Proudfoot and vice versa, and there’s quite a bit of filler thrown in as well. There are pointless dance and song numbers that often are just really dragged out and only feel like they are there because they couldn’t come up with a way to make this feature length. Even the few dramatic moments that do relate to the plot really don’t work out as well as they should. For example, there’s a scene on Proudfoot’s boat where Malez and Proudfoot are standing on the outside and Malez falls off. She later comes to on the boat and realizes she loves Proudfoot because he saved her. The problem is that Proudfoot didn’t save her. He doesn’t even notice that she fell off until he falls off himself and the butler ends up having to save both of them. This was supposed to be such an important moment in character development and they botched it!
The comedy is nothing special either. Keaton seems very lifeless throughout the film, though there is an occasional moment where he shows some sign of interest. Sadly, a lot of moments early on simply consist of him bumbling around while audience members of the café constantly laugh at his stupidity. Keaton’s character could occasionally show moments of stupidity like in Go West where he fails to milk a cow. To Go West’s credit, though, he clearly is being asked to do something he has never done before so it’s natural that he wouldn’t understand the concept. Here, he just bumbles towards center stage and makes an idiot of himself, as opposed to his silent comedies where his falls were often caused by outside situations, such as the cyclone in Steamboat Bill, Jr. This was a problem that plagued most of Keaton’s MGM films and unfortunately it seemed to carry over here as well.
Keaton is not solely to blame for the film’s problems. As much as people like to bash Keaton’s MGM output, at least they had nice production values. This film feels very rushed, is on a much lower budget, and the actors feel like they weren’t given very good direction. Even Lupita Tovar, who was wonderful in the Spanish Dracula, is given very little to do outside of the pointless dance sequences. The poor direction seems to be another reason that the comedic sequences fall flat. For example, there’s a scene where the butler tells Keaton he’s going to go to sleep, so he jumps off the boat. This could be a funny scene, except he flails his arms around doing some routine before jumping in, basically giving away what we were supposed to not be expecting.
On the bright side, there are moments that work every now and then. Keaton gets a rare chance to show his resourcefulness again when he tricks a crowd that was chasing him by making them think he’s taking a group photo. Probably the best scene in the film is when Proudfoot is trying to serenade Malez, only to have a bunch of objects thrown onto his head. It’s a pretty well-timed scene, though it would be done again in Pest from the West, a 2-reel remake of this film that is far superior to the original. The filler is gone, Keaton seems to be more invested here and it benefits from being directed by Del Lord, who was very experienced in slapstick comedy. The Invader is not the worst thing Keaton was involved in, but it’s a very depressing sight to watch Keaton at such a low point in his life.
4 out of 10
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