This is a 22-minute black-and-white silent short film from over 90 years ago and it proves that bad word plays already existed in the 1920s as well. The star here is once again Stoneface Buster Keaton, who also reunited with Edward F. Cline in writing and directing this movie. For a change, it looks like Cline did not act in here this time. But Buster is on screen basically every second. Joseph M. Schneck produced this and he is a long time collaborator with Keaton too. In contrast to that, the actresses in here really were not, which is a bit of a change as Buster usually worked with people that appeared in several films of him in the past. Another change is that Buster has no real human antagonists in here, but basically runs into animals (some dangerous, some not) all the time. Bears, rabbits, bulls etc. And there is a clumsy love story as usual with Keaton. This was made in 1923 and was already at the end of Keaton's short film career. He was in his late 20s here and moved on to full feature films quickly afterward. I did not really think "The Balloonatic" was an interesting watch. Oh and the title is not great either. Balloon action is really only for maybe the first 6 minutes and the very last scene. The rest of the movie is spent in a Gold Rush like area in the woods near the river. Not recommended.
Review of The Balloonatic
