Timid Young Man, The (1935)
** (out of 4)
While this Educational film isn't all that good, it's still rather historically important as it's the only film where Buster Keaton was directed by Mack Sennett. In the film, Keaton takes off for the mountains after a woman demands that he marries her. On the road Keaton runs into another woman (Lona Andre) and the two hit it off but they soon bump into a large man (Tiny Stanford) who wants to take the girl for his own. THE TIMID YOUNG MAN isn't a very good movie and consider the two legends both in front and behind the camera you can't help but call this a major disappointment. When you see the name Keaton and Sennett you expect something much better than what you actually get here but I'm sure everyone knows that neither man were near their prime during this period. While there aren't any great laughs to be had we at least get a couple good scenes. One happens when Buster accidentally feeds a dog some Mexican jumping beans, which makes the dog jump at a wild pace. Since he's fishing Buster decides to try and catch fish using these beans. The joke itself is a fairly good one but the low-budget is painfully obvious as you can easily see the string that is making the fish jump out of the water. Another very embarrassing scene is when Buster is driving down the road and first meets the young woman who is hitchhiking. Just take a look at how poorly edited this scene is as the takes are so different that you can't help but wonder what Sennett was doing to allow such a bad connection. It's even worse later when the duo run into the large man on a mountain yet the next shot has Keaton and the girl back on the road where they met!! There are a few other decent moments including one where Sandford is making the duo make him salad and Keaton accidentally puts gas in it. Keaton, Andre and Sandford are all very good together and you can tell that the cast are trying to do the best that they can to bring the material to life. In the end, however, this is a disappointing film that doesn't have enough laughs to make it a memorable film but considering it's history, film buffs will at least want to watch it once.
