The Navigator Review- By Michael Carlisle

 Title: The Navigator
Year: 1924
Director(s): Buster Keaton & Donald Crisp
Country: US

While The General (1926) and Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) are the most revered Buster Keaton pictures among modern film enthusiasts, The Navigator was  Buster Keaton’s most popular vehicle in his own day, and said to be Keaton’s favorite of his own films.. The Navigator isn't as thought provoking and intelligent as his best works, but it's a brilliant slapstick comedy regardless. It has a fantastic third act, culminating in a riotous climax.

The star plays a spoiled rich twit who seeks solace from a rejected marriage proposal in a long sea voyage, Then Keaton and his intended (Kathryn McGuire) find themselves stranded on an otherwise deserted ocean liner, fending for themselves for the first time.

The Navigator was co-directed by Keaton and actor/director Donald Crisp. In a familiar Keaton-esque setup, The Navigator's plot is dependent on utter lunacy. The premise is quite inventive, even if it is quite far fetched. Comic highlights include a virtuoso exercise in comic timing in which the hero and heroine, unaware of each other’s presence, wander the ship looking for another soul; their subsequent struggles to make breakfast; and Buster’s battles with a recalcitrant deck chair.  

Keaton drifted through his career with content passivity; it had always been other who pushed the stoic comic into new heights.  Keaton wanted stories of a certain kind of innocence, and aspiration, and even mulish indifference to what might make people laugh.  His pictures gave the action sequences a documentary flavor, not just because he never faked stunts but also because what was captured on film was a bold attempt at something really dangerous or difficult, not a practiced slam dunk. Unlike Chaplin, Keaton thought rehearsing performances looked "too damn mechanical" The Navigator itself is s richer in gags and weaker in drama. It lacks the warm heart of his later pictures, yet is special because it has such a remarkable Keaton touch. 

Buster Keaton's excellent use of body language, pantomime, and facial expression put him in league with other of his revered peers, such as Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd.This picture is a fine example of his genius at work; a prime explanation of the man's popularity at the time. Though it doesn't feel as complete as its other works, The Navigator is an hour well spent. 3.5/5