Alongside The General and Sherlock Jr., The Navigator is one of the best Buster Keaton films ever made in cinematic history. It celebrated its 100th anniversary in October.

The black-and-white silent comedy is displayed in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It runs 59 minutes long although Wikipedia seems to be one of the few to list The Navigator with a run time of 65 minutes. In any event, it was the biggest hit during Keaton’s career, earning $680,406 on a $385,000. The fact that it played a rare second week at the Capitol Theatre in New York speaks to hit being a hit with audiences. What’s so interesting is that the film’s genesis is because Sherlock Jr. had previously flopped at the box office with just over $448K.

A wealthy man, Rollo Treadway (Buster Keaton), proposes to his neighbor, Betsy O’Brien (Kathryn McGuire). She turns him down but he decides to go on the planned trip to Honolulu anyway. As luck would have it, he ends up on the Navigator by mistake–the ship just happens to be owned by Betsy’s father and was recently sold to a country at war. The situation only deteriorates from there. The ship is set adrift and when Betsy’s dad checks on the ship, they tie him up. Betsy soon boards the ship after hearing her father scream for help.

Rollo and Betsy reunite and raise a flag upon seeing a navy ship. But rather than come to the rescue, the ship turns away because they raised a flag representing their being under quarantine instead. They make the best of the bad situation until finding themselves grounded on tropical island. Rollo works to fix the ship but Betsy is taken captive by the island’s natives. They struggle to free themselves of the natives until the navy saves the day.

Donald Crisp came on board The Navigator as Keaton’s co-director by accident. Keaton had thought Crisp had directed The Goose Woman and that was enough to recruit him. Crisp had directed many shorts up until this point in his career. The future Oscar winner’s work was too lackluster for Keaton and he was fired. Keaton wanted Crisp to direct the dramatic scenes, not become a gagman. Crisp still ended up with director credit as Keaton’s co-director but had no involvement with the climactic underwater sequence. The sequence was all Keaton, frozen and struggling to stay warm and all. It’s all because the Riverside municipal pool didn’t work out and production moved to Lake Tahoe!

Since entering the public domain a few years ago, The Navigator has received a few new printings on home video. The Cohen Film Collection–via Kino Lorber–paired the silent comedy with Sherlock Jr. in their second volume of The Buster Keaton Collection. Kino Lorber’s selection is honestly the way to go since their Buston Keaton films are almost all available on Blu-ray. They probably have the 2021 restoration with a new score, too. Alpha Video released it on DVD back in September 2024. If you want more insight on The Great Stone Face, I highly recommend reading Camera Man by Dana Stevens. You won’t go wrong. Trust me!

When AFI announced their top 100 comedies in 2000, the Keaton classic came in at 81st on the list. Two other Keaton comedies, The General and Sherlock Jr., were 18th and 62nd, respectively. The fact that Keaton and Charlie Chaplin had multiple films on the AFI comedy list speaks to their talent as silent film stars and filmmakers. Chaplin had four films to Keaton’s three. Of course, the Marx Brothers out did both with five films on the list. Not too shabby!

The Navigator sees the iconic Buster Keaton put on another masterclass in comedy.

DIRECTORS: Donald Crisp and Buster Keaton
SCREENWRITERS: Clyde Bruckman & Joseph Mitchell and Jean Havez
CAST: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Frederick Vroom

Metro-Goldwyn released The Navigator in theaters on October 13, 1924. Grade: 4/5

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