Tom Nawn Movies
- 1915
From 1915 to 1917, goonish stage comedian Harry Watson Jr. starred in a series of cheap one-reel comedies under the umbrella title The Mishaps of Musty Suffer. He also played the same character -- a hopeless screw-up -- in the 5-reel George Kleine production Keep Moving. Musty Suffer is a royal prince who is transformed into a hobo so that he may experience "life in the raw." Together with his bindlestuff buddy Willie Work (George Bickel), Musty drifts from job to job, leaving a trail of comic destruction in his wake. At long last, Musty makes his way back to the royal palace, where he is reinstated on the throne. Appearing in guest roles were such Broadway and vaudeville luminaries as Cissie Fitzgerald, Tom Nawn and Dan Crimmins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Buster Keaton plays Johnny Gray, a Southern railroad engineer who loves his train engine, The General, almost as much as he loves Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). When the opening shots of the Civil War are fired at Fort Sumter, Johnny tries to enlist -- and he is deemed too useful as an engineer to be a soldier. All Johnny knows is that he's been rejected, and Annabelle, thinking him a coward, turns her back on him. When Northern spies steal the General (and, unwittingly, Annabelle), the story switches from drama and romance to adventure mixed with Keaton's trademark deadpan humor as he uses every means possible to catch up to the General, thwart the Yankees, and rescue his darling Annabelle -- for starters. As always, Keaton performs his own stunts, combining his prodigious dexterity, impeccable comic timing, and expressive body language to convey more emotion than the stars of any of the talkies that were soon to dominate cinema. ~ Emru Townsend, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, (more)
