''The Boat'' is a 1921 American

two-reel A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by, and starring

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

. Contemporary reviews consider it one of his best shorts, with ''One Week'' (1920), '' The Playhouse'' (1921) and '' Cops'' (1922). It is presently in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. The

International Buster Keaton Society The International Buster Keaton Society Inc.— a.k.a. "The Damfinos"—is the official educational organization dedicated to comedy film producer-director-writer-actor-stuntman Buster Keaton. Mission According to the Damfinos, their mission is "t ...

takes its name, The Damfinos, from the name of the film's boat.

Plot

Buster is married with two children (both of whom wear child-sized versions of the same

pork pie hat A pork pie hat is one of several different styles of hat that have been popular since the mid-19th century. It features a flat crown that resembles a traditional pork pie. Buster Keaton and the 1920s The pork pie began to appear in Britain a ...

). He has built a large boat he has christened ''Damfino'' inside his home. When he finishes and decides to take the boat out to sea, he realizes it is too large to fit through the door. He enlarges the opening a bit, but when he tows the boat out using a pulley line from his Model T car, the boat proves to be a bit bigger than he estimated, and the house completely collapses. When he attempts to launch the boat, Buster loses the family car. The boat passes with impunity under the exceedingly low bridges of the Venice (California) canals thanks to Buster's clever boat design. Once they're out on the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, Buster and his family are caught in a terrible storm. The boat is barely seaworthy to begin with, and it does not help that Buster nails a picture up inside the boat, causing an improbable leak; or when he further drills through the bottom of the boat to let the water out, resulting in a spectacular gusher. He radios a

Morse Code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

call for help, but when the Coast Guard operator asks who it is, he answers, "d-a-m-f-i-n-o" in Morse Code. The operator interprets it as "damn if I know" and dismisses the call as a prank. Taking to a ridiculously small dinghy that is in fact a bathtub, the family resign themselves to sinking into the sea—until they realize they are actually standing in shallow water. After wading a short distance, they come up on a deserted beach in the dark of night. "Where are we?" asks his wife (via an

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

), to which Buster replies, "Damn if I know" (mouthing the words to the camera; no intertitle is used).

Themes

''The Boat'' is a classic retelling of Keaton's favorite theme of Man Versus Machine. The accompanying themes of calamity and destruction pave the way for the "little man" to regain control of the situation. Oldham notes that the boat's name, ''Damfino'' (or "damn if I know") reflects Keaton's own reaction to the perplexing and challenging world he confronts in his films. As the name is referenced numerous times throughout the film, Oldham also describes it as "probably the longest running single pun in the history of the silent film". In their book ''Buster Keaton and the Muskegon Connection'', Okkonen and Pesch assert that Keaton picked up the name from a powerboat entry in an Actors' Colony regatta in

Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expa ...

. Keaton reused the name for a racing shell in his 1927 film ''

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

''. Members of the

informally call themselves The Damfinos.

Cast

as The Boat Builder * Edward F. Cline as SOS Receiver (uncredited) * Sybil Seely as His Wife (uncredited)

Production

Development

Neibur and Niemi consider ''The Boat'' the third installment in a trilogy of films about a young married couple, beginning with '' The Scarecrow'' (1920) and continuing with ''

One Week One Week may refer to: * One Week (1920 film), ''One Week'' (1920 film), a short film starring and co-directed by Buster Keaton * One Week (2008 film), ''One Week'' (2008 film), a Canadian feature film directed by Michael McGowan * One Week (song), ...

'' (1920). They also note the parallelism between the ending of ''One Week'', in which the couple's home is destroyed by a train, and the beginning of ''The Boat'', in which their house is destroyed by the boat. Keaton considered combining ''One Week'' and ''The Boat'' into a single four-reeler that would follow the adventures of a young couple. To that end,

Virginia Fox Virginia Oglesby Zanuck ( Fox; April 19, 1899 or 1902 or 1903 or 1906 – October 14, 1982) was an American actress who starred in many silent films of the 1910s and 1920s. Life and career Fox was born as Virginia Oglesby Fox in Wheeling, West ...

, who was originally cast as the wife in ''The Boat'', was replaced with Sybil Seely, the wife in ''One Week''. However, the idea of combining the films was never realized.

Filming and special effects

The boat launch, in which the vessel slides out of the launching ramp and sinks straight into the water, took three days to film. Technical director

Fred Gabourie Fred Gabourie (September 19, 1881 - March 1, 1951) was a technical director and department head. Gabourie was born in Tweed, Ontario, Canada. He was a member of the Seneca Indian tribe. He served in the Spanish–American War. He worked prim ...

had two boats built for the production—one to float and one to sink. However, neither vessel performed its function. The production crew initially weighted the boat meant to sink with approximately of

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

and T-rails, but as the vessel slid off the ramp it slowed down instead of gliding underwater. Keaton later explained that an undercrank could not be used because it would make the surface of the water "jumpy". The crew next constructed a breakaway

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

so the vessel would collapse upon hitting the water—but an air pocket in the nose of the boat kept the nose up out of the water. As a next strategy, the crew drilled holes all over the boat to ensure it would sink. But the buoyancy of the wood itself stopped it from sinking quickly. Finally, the crew towed the boat out to Balboa Bay off

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

, and sank an anchor with a cable attached to a pulley mounted on the stern. At the other end, the cable was attached to a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

, which dragged the boat under the water to complete the gag. Keaton and Gabourie also conceived the design of the boat's collapsible funnels, mast, and rigging which enable it to pass under bridges, in another inventive sight gag.

Release

Metro Pictures released ''The Boat'' on November 10, 1921, including versions with the foreign titles ''La barca'' (Italy and Spain), ''Frigocapitaine au long cours'' (France), ''Acksónak'' (Hungary) and ''Buster merenkulkijana'' (Finland).

Reception

''The Boat'' was well-received by filmgoers. Keaton considered it one of his personal favorites. In his autobiography ''My Wonderful World of Slapstick'', Keaton said that the signature image of his pork pie hat floating on the water at the end of the film instantly identified him and made audiences think he was "walking underwater just underneath it". A 1921 review in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' called the film a classic, suggesting that Keaton must have consulted with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to come up with "every possible mishap that can by any possibility befall a vessel plying the high seas".

References

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

* *
''The Boat''
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boat, The 1921 films 1921 comedy films 1921 short films Silent American comedy films American silent short films American black-and-white films Articles containing video clips First National Pictures films Films directed by Buster Keaton Films directed by Edward F. Cline Films produced by Joseph M. Schenck Films set on boats Films with screenplays by Buster Keaton Seafaring films Surviving American silent films 1920s American films Silent adventure films