This is probably the most predictable of Keaton shorts, only with an unpredictable ending that's somewhat disappointing.
Keaton loves the girl, and wants to marry her, but her father won't hear of it until he "makes good" in the big city. He proceeds to run off to do so, working at various odd jobs (with obvious results) while sending home misrepresentative letters to his girlfriend, who sits and imagines him occupied at great and important jobs.
While the wordplay in the letters (the plot device that drives most of the action) is somewhat humorous in its playfulness with both words and occupations, once the viewer gets the idea (which is quickly) it all becomes rather simplistic. Actually, I notice in this short a few homages to Chaplin movies, which I think shows that Keaton was trying something a bit more like Chaplin's tramp. If such a possibility is so, it clearly shows that the two comedians really did have different enough approaches that register differently to their distinctive storytelling.
And then it just sort of ends, in a way ultimately unsatisfying.
--PolarisDiB
Keaton loves the girl, and wants to marry her, but her father won't hear of it until he "makes good" in the big city. He proceeds to run off to do so, working at various odd jobs (with obvious results) while sending home misrepresentative letters to his girlfriend, who sits and imagines him occupied at great and important jobs.
While the wordplay in the letters (the plot device that drives most of the action) is somewhat humorous in its playfulness with both words and occupations, once the viewer gets the idea (which is quickly) it all becomes rather simplistic. Actually, I notice in this short a few homages to Chaplin movies, which I think shows that Keaton was trying something a bit more like Chaplin's tramp. If such a possibility is so, it clearly shows that the two comedians really did have different enough approaches that register differently to their distinctive storytelling.
And then it just sort of ends, in a way ultimately unsatisfying.
--PolarisDiB