Saw The Cameraman, a Buster Keaton comedy. This one follows Keaton as he tries to become a cameraman solely to woo the hot front-desk girl at a news station. He falls in love with her after smelling her hair in the middle of a crowded street. Ah, romance! There's the usual clowning, this time usually involving an angular and pokey camera tripod. It's Buster Keaton so the gags are usually good and always funny, as long you set your expectations properly (silent film, 20s-era.)
The film is shot in some city (presumably New York) and there's a theme of overcrowding everywhere. On the bus Buster is separated from his beloved by a huge crowd of men. At the public baths, Buster loses his swimming shorts and tries to sneak away only to be thwarted by a class of synchronized swimmers. We do get to see some nice old-timey guys in only their swimming trunks however, which is nice. This overcrowding would have been topical for its time of course and is an evergreen topic for comedies set in big cities.
The film is sweet, centering on Keaton's bread and butter: a bumbling but loveable guy courting a personality-less woman. It's a fun film if a bit dated.
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