Parlor, Bedroom and Bath

 (1931)
Directed by Edward Sedgwick
Written by Charles W. Bell and Mark Swan (Play), Dialogue by Richard Schayer, Robert E. Hopkins
Starring Buster Keaton, Charlotte Greenwood, Reginald Denny, Cliff Edwards, Dorothy Christy, Sally Ellers, Edward Brophy
IMDB Entry

I've decided to investigate more of the sound films of Buster Keaton. As is well documented, Keaton slowly lost control of his movies and was forced to do what the studio asked of him. Parlor, Bedroom and Bath is another example that isn't bad, but wastes Keaton's talent.

It starts out with a love complication. Jeffrey Heywood (Reginald Denny) is in love with Virginia Embrey (Sally Eilers), but she won't marry before her sister Angelica (Dorothy Cristy) so she won't be (gasp!) an old maid. Jeffery runs into Reggie Irving (Buster Keaton). Reggie is shy and know nothing about women but is convinced to pretend he's a rich playboy to attract Angelica. Jeff tries several schemes to make Reggie seem more attractive, one of which is to ask a newspaper reporter, Polly Hathaway (Charlotte Greenwood) to pretend to be a romantic party in a hotel to make Angelica jealous. Meanwhile Virginia is angry with Jeffrey and joins Reggie on the trip.

The extremely contrived plot still manages to be funny. Polly shows Reggie how to be romantic. It's ludicrous but turns out to be extremely effective. 

Since this was from a stage play, the only Keatonesque portions of his role were the pratfall, except for one sequence where he and Virginia are driving to the hotel. It is Keaton at his best, especially with one gag where his car gets stalled on the railroad tracks as a train is coming. I laughed out loud twice -- unusual for me. It goes on to a very funny sequence when they arrive sopping wet at the hotel.

Most intriguing is Charlotte Greenwood. She had a lot of second banana roles in films over the years and was a gifted physical comic, using her long legs to great effect. She and Keaton make an excellent teaming and it's too bad it didn't happen again.

Spotted in the cast is Cliff (Jiminy Cricket) Edwards and Edward Brophy, who was memorable as a thickheaded cop in The Third Man.