Ditto (1937)
** (out of 4)
Leonard Maltin called this the worst Buster Keaton-Educational short but I wouldn't go that far. The film starts off pretty good as Keaton is playing an ice seller who goes into a woman's home and quickly falls in love with her. He returns later to ask her for a date but ends up in the next house not knowing that it's the woman's twin sister and soon havoc follows. This isn't the worst Keaton short I've seen but it may very well be the most bizarre as nothing ever adds up. The first portion of the film has Keaton going back and forth between the sisters not knowing that they're twins and we get some funny gags here especially when he finally figures out what's going on. The bizarre thing is that the entire gag of him not knowing is pretty much wasted because the first sister invites him back to the house but why on Earth would she do this since she is married? Both sisters being married is what gets Keaton in trouble and while the first sister does owe him money I found it a little strange that the marriage thing didn't come up. The last minutes of the film features Buster running away to become a hermit and we flash forward fifteen-years when he has another dangerous encounter. THis final joke has somewhat become legendary among Keaton fans for being a complete letdown and I will certainly agree with that. It's been said that the lack of money caused the effect to play out the way it does but if they didn't have the money for the shot they wanted then they might as well cut the entire idea and tried something different. Keaton isn't at his best here but his manageable and at least makes you believe he's dumb enough to fall into the trap of what's going on.