Buster Keaton on Blu-ray: THE NAVIGATOR Review

Each new Buster Keaton Blu-ray from Kino Classics brings mixed feelings. While I'm certainly thankful for the wonderful presentations and fascinating extras, there is always a little bit of sadness mixed in as I realize that Kino is reaching the end of their Keaton catalog. Buster's The Navigator marks the penultimate feature from The Great Stone Face in Kino's catalog, and now that only College remains, I'm already starting to miss the collection. Thankfully, we'll be left with some fantastic films, great extras, and the potential for a wonderful personal Keaton archive, and The Navigator certainly earns its place in that number.

For The Navigator, Buster Keaton revisits one of his most beloved character types, the spoiled little rich boy. The clueless children of privilege that Buster had portrayed in films like Battling Butler, The Saphead, and Seven Chances led to a large portion of his box office success. In the case of The Navigator, he actually proves to be much more resourceful than in his other films, in most of which he's seen as a feeble minded dolt who can barely manage to tie his own shoes because he's never had to. However, when Buster Keaton's Rollo stumbles inadvertently onto the titular ship, The Navigator, we are set up for some wonderful gags, and in it's brief sixty minute run time, The Navigator delivers in spades in the comedy department.

One of the most impressive things about The Navigator for me is the inclusion of a strong female character. Rollo's estranged girlfriend, Betsy (Kathryn McGuire), winds up on the boat with him through a series of calamitous circumstances, and the pair are forced to work together to keep themselves alive and the boat afloat. More often than not in Keaton's films, the gags are entirely his, however, for The Navigator, Keaton wisely shares pratfall duty with McGuire who proves to be a more than worthy partner in crime. This may be the only of Keaton's films in which an actress is given such latitude and screen time as well as given solid gags of her own. She does wind up playing the damsel in distress eventually, but not before making a solid mark with the audience.

Buster Keaton had a famous fascination with the comedic opportunities provided by various new and old modes of transportation. The Navigator was hardly the only Keaton project to be centered around a boat, for example, Steamboat Bill, Jr. took the boating comedy to an entire new level, and his short The Balloonatic is among his best. What makes The Navigator unique among these films is that with the others use the boat as a prop, approaching it only when necessary. For this film the pair are trapped on the boat for about 90% of the film, making the boar into a setting and forcing Buster (who took over directing duties after it became clear that Donald Crisp wasn't going to cut the mustard) to utilize every piece of the boat in order to effectively wring every comic possibility from this boon of a setting.

It doesn't look like it was easy, but nothing worth doing ever is. The only times I found myself losing interest momentarily was when the action left the boat, or during the film's opening before they make it to the boat, but everything involving The Navigator is superb! The film, like all of Keaton's best work, still stands up today, nearly 80 years later. I can show my seven year old son The Navigator and he'll laugh his butt off, this is the power and universality of truly great cinema, and The Navigator has it in spades.

The Disc:

Kino Classics presentation of The Navigator is solid, but otherwise unremarkable. The image quality varies from moment to moment depending on the print sources, and there are numerous noticeable instances of print damage, but nothing to worry about. Frankly, I'm more supportive of Kino's commitment to avoiding digital tampering than I am of scrubbing the film until all of the character is gone. We are treated to a lovely Robert Israel score in a booming DTS-HD MA 5.1 version that will keep your neighbors up at night, the stereo mix is significantly quieter, but also pretty good.

For the first time in a long time, Kino Classics have graced a Buster Keaton Blu-ray with an audio commentary. In this case is is film scholars Robert Arkus and Yair Solan, who have a jovial and informative conversation throughout the film with few dead spots. Also included is a brief featurette that explains and explores Keaton's fascination with boats in his film. I found this featurette informative, though it was a bit shorter than I'd hoped.

Kino Classics' treatment of the work of Buster Keaton has been nothing less than stellar, and this edition of The Navigator is no exception. If you're a fan, this is the version you need to have. Highly recommended.