Parlor, Bedroom and Bath

After a marvellous start with The Cameraman, Keaton's features for MGM went steadily downhill. Convinced that slapstick was not only finished but infra dig for a major star, Thalberg saddled him here with a Broadway farce from 1917, ploddingly handled in the 'photographed stage play' manner. Buster plays a gormless bill-poster who stumbles into a household of rich young things, and in a plot to further romance, is persuaded to pretend to be a mysterious Lothario. Hopelessly backward with girls, he is sent to an experienced female tutor (Greenwood), but a mix-up finds him closeted instead with the young wife (Peers) of a violently jealous man. Bogged down in acres of plot and witless dialogue that prevents him from developing a single gag (slapstick or otherwise), Keaton simply goes through the motions. Pitiful to watch.