Silent movies - The Scarecrow

How about some more Buster Keaton? Today's movie is one of his two-reelers - The Scarecrow from 1920.

Here's the plot (spoiler alert):

Two farmhands live together in a house on a farm. Both of them are in love with the farmer's daughter, but her father (played by Keaton's father Joe) isn't having it and sends her back to the house.

After she has baked a cream pie for him and put it on the window sill for cooling, her mother shows her an article about an dancer, so she shows that she can dance as well.
Buster is shocked to see his beloved in his housemate's arms.

A heart gets broken.

Meanwhile, the dog has eaten the cream pie and when Buster sees him with the cream around his mouth, he thinks the dog is rabid.

That is some good pie!

A wild chase ensues during which Buster loses his clothes, but he and the dog become friends.

Friends in the hay. Such a good boy.

He goes back to the farm where the girl is still dancing, but faints seeing him in his underwear.
Now Buster is being chased by her father. He quickly pretends to be the scarecrow after putting on its clothes. When the father and housemate find out, they both chase him. Then he runs into the girl and seeing him kneel as he ties his shoe, she thinks he's proposing to her and accepts.

Oh Buster, this is so sudden.

They escape from Dad and the other farmhand first by horse, then by motorcycle, and on the way happen to scoop up a reverend who marries them while being chased.

... man and wife!

This was absolutely hilarious.
The film begins with the two farmhands in their tiny house with just one room which has a lot to offer, though. The phonograph is also a stove, the tub is also a couch, the bookcase an icebox.

Put some gas in the "jukebox" to fry the bacon!

Other things like salt and sugar hang on strings from the ceiling and can easily be let down and pulled up again. Just this part would be worth watching the movie, it's like a beautiful choreography.

A game of "Catch the Bottle".

The chase is even funnier, though.
I had a really good loud laugh that I hadn't expected. Then again I hadn't known I would meet a new heartthrob. Douglas, I'm sorry, move over, there's a new kid in town and his name is Luke.
I was so impressed by this dog that I literally squealed with joy a few times. He was amazing!

Up the ladder, down the ladder. I'm in love!

So I looked Luke up and found that the English Bull Terrier (the breed was later acknowledged as American Staffordshire Terrier) was the dog of actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and his wife Minta Durfee who is said to have got him as a six week old puppy as a bonus for a particularly difficult stunt. Arbuckle taught Luke tricks and allegedly he earned $150 a week.
"The Scarecrow" for which Arbuckle lent him to his protégé Keaton was Luke's last film. Durfee got him when she and Arbuckle got a divorce, but her ex-husband got visitation rights ... well, and I like to imagine Luke had a happy life, maybe chasing a squirrel every, now and then, until his death in 1926. He was 13 years old.

You may think you already know the movie now with all the screenshots I shared, but there are so many gags in this fast-paced film that you haven't seen anything. Not in an overwhelming or hectic way, though. Everything is so well planned, yeah, it's really just a joy to watch.
And don't forget, there's Luke.
You know I don't insist on anyone watching silent movies just because I do, but in this case - watch it. Invest those 18 minutes.

Yes, he'll jump. With ease.

Sources:

1. Lea Stans: A Salute to Luke the Dog. On: Silent-ology, July 20, 2017
2. Luke the Dog on Wikipedia