Buster Keaton's 20-minute panic attack you can't look away from.
Elmer attempts to elope with his fiancée, but they escape her parents by driving off in a car that's actually owned by a wanted gangster. When they hear on the radio that the police are looking for them, they dump the car and hide out near a farmhouse. But the farmer's radio also broadcasts the couple's description, so they run away and start hitchhiking, only to be picked up by two policemen. They manage to flee into a railroad yard and hop a train that turns out to be refrigerated. Finally they decide to turn themselves in -- just as they learn that the real crooks have been apprehended.
Acting
Keaton's stone face versus escalating panic — unmatched physical comedy.
Direction
Lamont crams five set pieces into twenty relentless minutes.
Practical Effects
Pre-CGI train and car stunts hit different in 1935.
Director
Charles Lamont
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was one of Keaton's Educational Pictures shorts, made during his 'poverty row' period after losing creative control at MGM.
The 'radio as omniscient narrator' gag reflects 1930s anxiety about broadcast media exposing private lives.
US
