Three Ages (1923)

Originally posted to Facebook on 8/7/2017

Three Ages was our third film from 1923, and out first feature starring Buster Keaton, though we had previously seen him in the 1918 Fatty Arbuckle short The Bell Boy. Keaton is probably my favorite of the silent era comedians -- the least corny, and the most single-mindedly comedic. It isn't entirely a typical feature, because it is broken up into three intercut sections, each set in an historical era (Stone Age, Roman, and "modern" -- i.e. the 1920s), and each starring Keaton as the protagonist, Margaret Leahy as his romantic interest, and Wallace Beery as his rival. We've seen Wallace Beery a few times previously, most recently in 1922's Robin Hood. Margaret Leahy, on the other hand, appears to have made her first and last film appearance with this movie.

This film turns out to be the source of a few recognizable clips which I've seen excerpted elsewhere. For instance this scene: (http://bit.ly/2ugktZC), and this one (http://bit.ly/2wjS55Y). There are a few other set pieces throughout, but the jokes are largely hit or miss, including unfortunately one slightly racist bit, which was thankfully brief. The only scenes that actually made me laugh were a section with Keaton and a lion during the Roman portion, but there were other amusing sequences too (as well as some lame bits -- e.g. His wristwatch is a sundial!)

I've seen some discussion of the idea that Three Ages was a parody or an homage to Intolerance. But, though the idea of switching between various historical periods may seem similar, this movie has a very different structure. Griffith's film had four basically different casts and stories, which paralleled each other only in that they ostensibly revolved around the same theme. Keaton uses the same cast in each of the three stories, and all three stories have a similar plot: Keaton as the underdog in competition with Beery for the affections of Margaret Leahy. If Three Ages directly references or mocks Intolerance in any overt way, it is only very minimally.

Overall this might not be the first film I'd recommend to someone interested in Keaton, but it's a decent movie on its own merits, and a pretty good signpost for where he was heading in his subsequent more ambitious films.

Our next film is our fourth and final one from 1923: The Extra Girl, which stars Mabel Normand, whom we last saw in the 1916 short Fatty and Mabel Adrift, and, before that, in 1914's Tillie's Punctured Romance. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT