I've seen all of Buster Keaton's silent films (several times) and this is by far the worst. It has lost almost all of the charm of his independent work. The Keaton character is still endearing, but unfortunately the plot is tired and uninteresting and the humorous moments are few and far between. I'm shocked that anyone would rate the "bed" scene in this film with his finer moments in Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr., The General, or Steamboat Bill Jr. Clearly Buster did not have the controlling hand in this film because it has almost no heart. It struck me as sad to see the normally prideful Buster sacrificing his dignity for a shallow, obnoxious woman who certainly did not deserve his attention. Her character was not developed enough that the audience can understand why Buster's character was so captivated by her or why we should care about their "relationship". This film comes across as a more extravagant "big studio" effort with more money put into it than thought or attention to detail. I even found the Vitaphone soundtrack to be an annoying accompaniment compared to the delightful musical scores which accompany the Kino releases of Keaton's independent work. It's interesting to imagine what it would have been like if Keaton had been given complete creative control and the sound equipment he had requested.
Review of Spite Marriage
