Cops
1922 · 18m · USA
Directed by Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
A hapless young man tries to impress his sweetheart by becoming a successful businessman, but a series of misunderstandings leads him into an escalating chase with the entire Los Angeles police force during a parade.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A simple misunderstanding metastasizing into the entire LAPD chasing one man through a parade — Kafka with stunts. Keaton at his most existentially funny.
The endless-pursuit structure that anticipates Kafka and Keaton's deadpan culminates in one of the most desolate closing images in silent comedy. The cited URL is unfortunately blocked.
The structural escalation from one cop to a hundred is Kafka in slapstick form — the stunt choreography against a real parade-day LA crowd is technically wild. YouTube version pulled for copyright but the film itself is canonical.
Reviews
A very funny and very well-crafted short comedy with a wide range of comic material, ranging from subtle timing gags to hilarious slapstick, and featuring some impressive choreography.
This very Kafka-esque film was filmed during the trial of his former collaborator Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, a circumstance that may have influenced the short's tone of hopeless ensnarement.
Festivals
- National Film Registry 1997, Selected for Preservation