Spite Marriage

Released Apr 6, 1929

1h 14m

Comedy

List

100%

9 Reviews

Tomatometer

60%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Whenever Elmer (Buster Keaton) sees actress Trilby Drew (Dorothy Sebastian), his heart beats wildly, but she only has eyes for her lover, Lionel Benmore (Edward Earle). When Lionel breaks up with Trilby, however, she decides to make him mad by marrying Elmer instead. Although Elmer is thrilled at first, he grows despondent when he discovers the reason behind their nuptials and embarks on a sea voyage. However, tough smugglers on the ship soon make him wish he'd never left the shore.

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s r

The ridiculousness of Buster Keaton is amazing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

The best comedy movie ever made!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

This film is certainly not Buster Keaton's best work, though that's a very high bar. The plot meanders and lacks the charm and spontaneity we love from him. It too often relies on simple pratfalls, and there is not enough time devoted to his playful antics or wild stunts. The middle of the picture in particular is slow, and co-star Dorothy Sebastian acting drunk shows just how hard it is to do physical comedy that is sophisticated and funny, or to create something out of nothing, as Keaton so often does. With all of that said, 'Spite Marriage' has a 34-year-old Buster Keaton still in his prime, and some pretty clever scenes. He gets enlisted into a stage play in the first part, and after botching up his make-up while another actor puts his on professionally, proceeds to foul up the production in various funny ways. As he tries to elude those chasing him afterwards, he does a rapid change into a top hat and tails that is both entertaining and shows off his muscular body. Later in the film, he does some impressive stuntwork on a yacht, at one point getting thrown off, and then as the yacht goes by quickly, catches a small boat trailing behind and hauls himself into it. Throughout the movie, he's lovable and a joy to watch. This was Keaton's last silent picture, and as the 1930's would not be kind to him, it marks a transition for him. If you can avoid comparing it to his masterpieces (which I know is tough!), you'll probably find it's well worth watching.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

[img]http://www.art-posters.net/posters/newart/cm974.jpg[/img] Although [i]Spite Marriage[/i], Buster Keaton's last silent film, is not as good as some of his other stuff, it is still a very enjoyable film. This is certainly a film to watch if your into comedies, silent films, and/or Buster Keaton. Each time I see one of his movies, I wonder how he hasn't become as popular as Chaplin. Elmer (Buster Keaton) is a dry cleaner. He is madly in love with the stage star Trilby Drew. For each of her 35 performances, he "borrows" someone else's tuxedo and races to the theater. When Trilby's co-star boyfriend gets engaged to someone else, she marries Elmer to get even, assuming that Elmer is a millionaire. But she's clearly still in love with her co-star, and her manager makes her leave Elmer, trying to pay him off so the papers don't hear about her marriage to a nobody. Elmer gets tied up in a car chase, and falls in the hands of a few criminals. One night he is thrown overboard, and is rescued by a private yacht. When Elemer sees Trilby there, he trys to win her heart. A lot of the comedic elements were very good, but then there were some repetitious ones that really didn't seem funny at all. Although the film is only 80 minutes long, they could of certainly cut it down. A few of the scenes seemed to drag far behind the rest of the movie. The films original music score is not as good as I would have hoped. It added in sound effects that were definitely not needed, and just didn't fit in with the silent film experience. Despite some of those errors, [i]Spite Marriage [/i]is very enjoyable, and can turn out be laugh out loud funny at times. I loved it when Elmer is given a part in the play. Everything turns for the worse, and of course Elmer messes everything up. Keaton pulls off another great performance, no one else could of done it. This is another film that re-inforces the statement that he is the greatest comedian of the 1920's. Rating: 82/100

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

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Audience Member

Keaton is hilarious as always in this movie. If you're a fan of his, you'll love it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Audience Member

there are some nice moments in this, keaton's last silent picture, but they're all reminiscent of better, earlier films (sherlock jr., the navigator). mgm's reign of terror is all too evident even in keaton's second picture with the studio. it's still worth seeing because 1) it's silent, 2) there's still recognizable keaton-ness but it's a far cry from something like steamboat bill jr. which was only one year beforehand.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Edward Sedgwick

Director

Buster Keaton

Director

Buster Keaton

Elmer

Dorothy Sebastian

Trilby Drew

Edward Earle

Lionel Benmore

Leila Hyams

Ethyl Norcrosse

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John Collis

Time Out

Part of the plot harks back to The Navigator, but three of the sequences put the film up in Division One, crowning a decade of unparalleled creativity which was then stifled by studio inflexibility.

Jun 24, 2006

Full Review

Mordaunt Hall

New York Times

Words can hardly tell of the relief it was to look at Mr. Keaton's imaginative but silly silent antics in his latest farce, Spite Marriage.

Mar 25, 2006

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Clancy Sigel

The Spectator

There's still enough inspired joy in this old film to make most current comedies look feebly unoriginal.

Jun 16, 2015

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David Parkinson

Radio Times

The chaos Buster causes as a stage stand-in and the sequence when he tries to put a drunken woman to bed just about save the day.

Rated: 3/5

Jun 16, 2015

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TV Guide

An enjoyable, but relatively minor, entry in Keaton's oeuvre that was his last silent movie.

Rated: 3/5

Jun 16, 2015

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Scott Nash

Three Movie Buffs

The Great Stone Face may have made better films, but even this lesser effort still contains some comic gems.

Rated: 3/4

Jun 16, 2015

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Synopsis

Whenever Elmer (Buster Keaton) sees actress Trilby Drew (Dorothy Sebastian), his heart beats wildly, but she only has eyes for her lover, Lionel Benmore (Edward Earle). When Lionel breaks up with Trilby, however, she decides to make him mad by marrying Elmer instead. Although Elmer is thrilled at first, he grows despondent when he discovers the reason behind their nuptials and embarks on a sea voyage. However, tough smugglers on the ship soon make him wish he'd never left the shore.

Director: Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton
Screenwriter: Lew Lipton, Ernest Pagano, Richard Schayer
Distributor: Continental Home Vídeo [br], Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Joseph M. Schenck Productions
Genre: Comedy
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 6, 1929, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 12, 2016
Runtime: 1h 14m

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