The rituals of courtship, romantic rivalry, and love play out three times as a man vies with a villain for the girl. In the Stone Age, the rivalry is set off by dinosaurs, a turtle used as a ouija board, and a round of golf with stones. In ancient Rome, the men display their brawn through a chariot race, using dogs instead of horses. In contemporary times, the man finds himself overcome by modernity, including a very fragile car.
Stunts
Keaton's building-leap rivals anything today
Practical Effects
Dinosaur puppets and dog-drawn chariots
Direction
Three timelines, zero wasted frames
Director
Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
The Boy
Margaret Leahy
The Girl
Wallace Beery
The Villain
Joe Roberts
The Girl's Father
Lillian Lawrence
The Girl's Mother
Kewpie Morgan
The Emperor / Cave Man / Roman Thug
Lionel Belmore
Undetermined Role (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
George Davis
Roman Guard Knocked Down (uncredited)
Louise Emmons
Old Fortune Teller (uncredited)
Blanche Payson
The Amazon (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Keaton filmed this as insurance: if audiences rejected the feature-length format, he could release three shorts instead.
The Stone Age golf sequence directly parodies D.W. Griffith's Intolerance, roasting epic pretension with stone clubs.
US
