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The Blacksmith

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For the occupation, see Blacksmith. For other uses, see Blacksmith (disambiguation).

The Blacksmith
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Directed by
Written by
  • Buster Keaton
  • Malcolm St. Clair
Produced byJoseph M. Schenck
StarringBuster Keaton
CinematographyElgin Lessley
Distributed byFirst National Pictures
Release date
  • July 21, 1922 (1922-07-21)
Running time
25 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent
English intertitles
The Blacksmith (1922) by Buster Keaton and Malcolm St. Clair

The Blacksmith is a 1922 American short comedy film co-written, co-directed by Malcolm St. Clair and Buster Keaton and starring Keaton.[1][2]

The central conflict in The Blacksmith emerges when Keaton, a young blacksmith, struggles to master the shop’s machinery and implements which seem to defy his efforts to control them. Virginia Fox, a pretty elite equestrian, is an unwitting victim of his ineptitude.[3]

Plot[edit]

Buster (Buster Keaton) is an assistant blacksmith who makes horseshoes and repairs automobiles. He finds himself at odds with virtually every inanimate object in the shop: the forge, the blowtorch, the winch, and sledgehammers resist his control. Even a single red-hot horseshoe proves unmanageable. He is dismayed when he inadvertently destroys an Rolls-Royce automobile.

An equestrian gentlewoman (Virginia Fox) arrives to have her snow-white mare re-shod. By the time she departs, Buster has dirtied the equine with black axle grease.

When a giant horseshoe suspended from the ceiling of the shop becomes magnetized, iron objects begin disappearing from the shop floor. Suspecting his assistant of tomfoolery, the enormous senior blacksmith (Joe Roberts}, becomes enraged and a fight ensues. A sheriff arrives and his badge disappears, then his pistol. He summons the posse. Buster discovers the secret of the giant horseshoe and disables it: dozens of tools plunge to the floor. The senior blacksmith is escorted to the jail to explain.[4]

Cast[edit]

Buster Keaton hoists a Model T engine from a wrecked car as Virginia Fox flirts with an unidentified actor in a scene still for the 1922 comedy short The Blacksmith.

Alternate versions[edit]

In June 2013, Argentine film collector, curator and historian Fernando Martín Peña (who had previously unearthed the complete version of Metropolis) discovered an alternate version of this film, a sort of remake whose last reel differs completely from the previously known version.[5] Film historians have since found evidence that the version of The Blacksmith Peña uncovered was a substantial reshoot undertaken months after completion of principal photography and a preview screening in New York. They now believe the rediscovered version was Keaton's final cut intended for wide distribution.[6]

Following Peña's discovery, a third version of the film, featuring at least one scene which doesn't occur in either of the other two, was found in the collection of former film distributor Blackhawk Films.[6]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Progressive Silent Film List: The Blacksmith". Silent Era. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
  2. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 50, p. 192: Filmography
  3. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 45, p. 49, p. 192: Filmography
  4. ^ Dwyer, 1996 p. 45, p. 49-50, p. 192: Filmography, plot synopsis.
  5. ^ "El Socio Del Silencio". pagina12. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  6. ^ a b Scott Foundas (October 18, 2013). "Keaton's Lost 'Blacksmith' Forges New Path in Lyon". Variety. Retrieved September 23, 2014.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Blacksmith.
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