Product Details

• Actors: William Bechtel, John Byron, Ray Cooke, Edward Earle, Pat Harmon
• Directors: Buster Keaton
• Format: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302049016
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,908 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buster's Hybrid, July 25, 2000

By 

Cheated (California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spite Marriage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In "Spite Marriage", Buster plays Elmer, a dry cleaner's employee who has a crush on a stage actress named Trilby Drew. He erroneously is given a part in Trilby's play, and uses it to his advantage to get a chance to kiss her. She later marries Elmer out of spite in order to get her true love jealous. In the second half of the movie the plot turns to involve them with rum-running gangsters on a boat at sea (which was filmed on Buster's very own yacht).

"Spite Marriage" is the only film Buster made that was a combination of "talkie" and "silent" (I call it a hybrid). None of his other films have the same atmosphere. When it was made in late 1928, the sound system used was similar to what was used in "The Jazz Singer": a synchronized phonograph record that included music, sound effects and bits of dialogue. This film's "record" includes: (a) a jazz band score that was similar to what was being heard on radio at the time; (b) sound effects like cuckoo clock noises, imitation duck quacks to draw attention to a gag, "ouch" noises; (c) intermittent crowd noises such as applause and laughter in the play's audience and paranoid gibberish when a panicked crowd discovers that the boat is on fire; and (d) imitation wind noises when the boat is caught in a storm. However, there is no dialogue...title cards are still being used. By the time Buster made his first all-talkie, "Free and Easy", a year later, the synchronized phonograph record had been replaced by a soundtrack embedded within the left side of the film strip, enabling full dialogue for the entire length without the risk of running out of sync with the picture.

The quality of this VHS print is excellent (very clear), unlike the condition of his previous silent "The Cameraman" (worn out). Buster snuck in some dangerous acrobatic stunts that enraged the suits of his employer, MGM, after they viewed this picture, and thus, his future pictures were not so daring. Previously in his all-silent pictures, when he was his own boss, he practiced some of the most life-threatening stunts on film, and today that's one of the reasons why his all-silents are considered such classics.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buster's Farewell to Silent Films, May 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Spite Marriage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

While Spite Marriage isn't quite up to the standards of Buster Keaton's independently produced films, it's still very, very funny indeed.Buster is a pants presser so besotted with a famous stage actress (Dorothy Sebastian), that he shows up everywhere she does just to near her (these days we'd call him a stalker!). When her leading man jilts her, she immediately marries Buster out of spite. Eventually, through numerous comic mishaps, Dorothy of course realizes she does love Buster.While the plot meanders, there are several hilarious scenes that "make" the picture: Buster ruining a Civil War melodrama is one, and his attempts to ouwit some modern day pirates is another. But perhaps best of all is the marvelous pantomime of Buster attempting to put a drunken Dorothy to bed. Using just two actors, a bed, a chair, and endless Keaton inspiration, Buster created a classic comedy routine.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keaton's Silent Farewell, May 14, 2000

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spite Marriage [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Spite Marriage" (1929) was Buster Keaton's last silent film and his second production for MGM. Sadly, the studio had little understanding of Keaton's comedic and cinematic gifts, which became evident in the mediocre talkies that followed. Nevertheless, this fast-paced romantic comedy has Buster in splendid form with some remarkable visual gags and dazzling acrobatics. The climactic fight on board a gangster's yacht is one of Keaton's best setpieces. "Spite Marriage" was released with a music score and synchronized sound effects - an ideal approach that Charlie Chaplin would utilize in "City Lights" (1931). Regrettably, the loss of Keaton's creative independence prevented him from taking full advantage of this inventive use of sound. Though a lesser-known effort, "Spite Marriage" remains a memorable finale to Buster Keaton's art of silent-film comedy.