Product Details

• Actors: Katherine Albert, Edward Alexander, Beulah Booker, Henry Clauss, Edward Connelly
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Silent, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: January 11, 2000
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305701245
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,012 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Saphead" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Before Buster Keaton made his name as one of the silent cinema's most accomplished and creative comics, he starred in this conventional but cute comedy based on the Broadway play The New Henrietta (previously made into the Douglas Fairbanks vehicle The Lamb). Keaton plays the spoiled son of a millionaire unjustly accused of scandalous behavior and tossed into a bustling world that he's completely unprepared for. Apart from the energetic finale, in which he leaps, slides, and wrestles with Wall Street lions on the stock exchange floor, Keaton is given little opportunity for comic gymnastics and the comedy stays safe and conventional. The Saphead is a completely genial and entertaining film carried by Keaton's sweet charm and plucky naiveté and it made him a star, but it's ultimately a footnote to a career that later blossomed in creative inspiration. Keaton revived the figure of the clueless social dandy with his self-directed features The Navigator and Battling Butler. Also featured are Keaton's first two solo shorts: "The High Sign," a knockabout lark in which Keaton infiltrates a secret society of criminals, and "One Week," an inspired gem with newlywed Buster mangling a do-it-yourself house. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description

More than just a silent comedian known for his pratfalls and clever mimicry, Buster Keaton was an unqualified genius of the American cinema. This DVD presents three of his early works, displaying his extraordinary talents as actor and filmmaker alike. Keaton stars in "The Saphead" (1920, 78 min.) as Bertie Van Alstyne, the spoiled son of a powerful Wall Street financier. Unable to escape the wealth and comfort that are foisted upon him, he pursues individuality in a series of comic misadventures in the speakeasies of New York, the altar of matrimony and even the floor of the American Stock Exchange. "The High Sign" (1921, 21 min.) finds Buster unwittingly involved in a radical secret society known as the Blinking Buzzards, stumbling from assassin to bodyguard in a romantic adventure that climaxes in a mind-boggling romp through a booby-trapped mansion. Dreams of domesticity are systematically satirized and ultimately demolished in "One Week" (1921, 19 min.), Keaton's bittersweet parable of one couple's unflagging determination to build a prefabricated honeymoon cottage.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarks on The Art of Buster Keaton Video, December 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Buster Keaton, Boxed Set 1 (The Saphead / Three Ages / Our Hospitality & Sherlock Jr.) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The three box set of Buster Keaton videos contains a number of his better works. I particularly liked One Week, Sherlock Jr. (wonderful), Our Hosptitality, and My Wife's Relations. Our Hospitality contains some daring river and waterfall scenes shot not too far from where we live in the Sierra mountains of California. Sherlock Jr. is one of his top notch films. The Three Ages is perhaps one of the weaker films in the package. One Week involves Buster in an attempt to build a new house from a kit. It's quite funny, and particularly relevant to anyone who has attempted to build a home or perform major home repairs.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DVD Set is a Mixed Blessing, August 10, 2000

By 

June Miller (Brooklyn, NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Saphead (DVD)

Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of Keaton's work. This is why it pains me to say that "The Saphead" is weak, and not just by Keaton's standards. As much as I love this man - skip this film. That said, I gave this DVD three stars because of the short features which follow it. "The High Sign," described by one reviewer as "a lark," is actually one of my favorites. Filled with enough gags for any short comedy, Keaton's acting is a pleasure and the plot is the sort of comedy/conspiracy narrative G. K. Chesterton might have made if silent films were his thing - I'm always reminded of "The Man Who Was Thursday." "One Week" is another wonderful short. With the famed, surreal hobby-kit house and a perfect ending, it is another must see Keaton short.

So here's the problem: is it worth getting The Saphead just for the two shorts? If you're a Keaton fan and want to fill out the collection then go ahead, you won't regret it. If you're not a big fan, but like Keaton at his best, go for a DVD of more consistent quality - I recommend the Our Hospitality/Sherlock Jr. double feature.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buster the Lamb, October 23, 2000

By 

Cheated (California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Saphead (DVD)

This collection contains the first 3 films Buster made following the filmmaking apprenticeship he experienced under Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle from 1917-19. After seeing the dissatisfying results of "The High Sign", he was hired to do "The Saphead" while thinking up a better idea for his 2-reeler debut, which eventually came to be "One Week".

THE SAPHEAD (1920): "The Saphead" is based on the play "The Henrietta", which had been a hit on Broadway and starred Douglas Fairbanks in the role of Bertie "the Lamb" Van Alstyne. Fairbanks had recommended Buster for the role in this filmed version, retitled "The Saphead".

Buster's role doesn't start until about 10 minutes into the movie, where we see him wolfing down a big meal and being overly pampered by valets and servants. Bertie the Lamb is the son of a wealthy man who thinks his son is spoiled and soft. Because Bertie has read a book that states that the modern girl is more interested in a dangerous guy than a safe guy, he goes to a gambling parlor and then tries to get himself arrested. In this scene, fans of Buster's are given a rare treat: He opens his mouth and shows his teeth, which almost develops into a full smile! What a cutie!!

"The Saphead" is actually a drama that's peppered with the subjects of infidelity, illegitimate children, death, suicide, and financial ruin. The only comedic moments in the film are supplied by Buster, who is allowed to practice his trademark pratfalls in a few scenes, which help illustrate the depth of his inept character, the Lamb. But because of his role, the film is worth watching simply because he's in it.

THE HIGH SIGN (1920): "The High Sign", a 2-reeler that was shelved after its completion in January 1920, was actually released to the public after Buster had an unforeseen accident that derailed his filmmaking schedule, thus leaving him without a release to fulfill his contract obligations in April 1921. Buster intended "The High Sign" to be his 2-reel debut under his new contract, but was unsatisfied with the results, believing that his debut should have stronger material. "The High Sign" features him as a shooting gallery employee who is forced into the role of "button man" for a group of low-rent gangsters, who use a "high sign" for a password. Although "The High Sign" wasn't up to Buster's standards, it's as good as most of the 2-reelers he made in the future, and I think it deserved a better reason to be released than as an alternative because of the consequences caused by a broken foot.

ONE WEEK (1920): "One Week" is the second 2-reeler Buster made, which did pass his quality control inspection. It's also, to this day, one of his most popular 2-reelers, so he was correct in releasing it first. "One Week" is about newlyweds who are gifted with a house-building kit. Not knowing that the jealous former suiter of his bride has sabotaged the construction directions, they build what turns out to be a cockeyed house (and throughout the film, they don't seem to notice that anything is wrong with it). The gags center around this dysfunctional building until the end, when we get to see one of the most famous scenes of Buster's career (involving a train).