Jacomedi A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

bsmith5552 "The Navigator" is essentially a two character film. Buster Keaton plays an heir to the "Treadway fortune", Rollo Treadway. It's a part similar to the one he played in his first feature, "The Saphead" (1920). Kathryn McGuire plays Betsy O'Brien the daughter of a rich shipbuilder.There are two unnamed countries at war. One of them purchase a large luxury liner, "The Navigator" from Betsy's father. The other side plots to capture the ship and set her adrift so that she will be dashed upon the rocks and sink.When Betsy rejects Rollo's marriage proposal, he decides to take the planned honeymoon cruise to Hawaii himself. Naturally Rollo boards the wrong ship, the deserted Navigator. Betsy meanwhile in trying to rescue her father, who has been captured by spies, winds up aboard the Navigator unbeknownst to Rollo. Being on such a large ship the two manage to avoid running into each other with comedic effect.The two being rich and spoiled are at first unable to live on their own. But as the voyage proceeds, Rollo manages to devise a series of pulleys and equipment that solves their feeding problems. Rollo has to don a deep sea diving outfit in order to repair a broken rudder on the ship. Just as they are about to accept their fate they spot land. The only problem is the island is inhabited by cannibals.Turning Buster Keaton loose on an empty ocean liner you know will result in an endless array of pratfalls and sight gags...and it does. The fighting off of the cannibal attack is a highlight. His rescue of Betsy from the cannibals and their return to the ship is hilarious. His diving sequence where he puts up a "Danger - Men at Work" sign, uses a lobster to cut a cord and his "swordfight" with a pair of swordfish are memorable. In one scene, Buster gets entangled with a cannon which he would utilize again in "The General" (1926). The pair's rescue when all is seemingly lost during the relentless cannibal attack is pure Keaton.Not to be missed, a true Keaton classic.

Martin Bradley Perfection and one of the greatest comedies ever made. Is "The Navigator" the best of Keaton, (he co-directed it with Donald Crisp)? Impossible to say since there are so many masterpieces. This is the one in which he is adrift on an ocean liner with the girl he hopes to marry. It's short, much too short; at under one hour it hardly qualifies as a feature but it has some of the best visual gags in all of cinema while Keaton's performance is, of course, nothing short of sublime. The climatic sequences involving a tribe of cannibals may hardly seem very PC these days but we must remember when the film was made. At least there are no Stepin Fetchit butlers in this one.

Morgan_Leslie93 Even though this wasn't my favorite of Buster Keaton films, it's still a really great one. Not only was the movie hilarious with the constant problems that was happening on the ship but I must give a huge pound of applause to the photographers and director Buster Keaton. The shots definitely helped the humor in the movie, especially in the scene where the two characters were running up and down the ship trying to find who else was on the ship but kept missing each other. The shots for that scene were fantastic because you could see each time how they just missed each other. Once again though Buster Keaton's over exaggerating movement and acting helped keep the film constantly comedy packed. As well as the chemistry with his costar Kathryn McGuire, the two of them keep the movie entertaining.

kevin_m_sullivan The Navigator is a prime explanation of Buster Keaton's popularity. A whole, the film is pretty good: the editing is adequately smooth, the story unfolds at a decent pace, and the score complements the film well. Keaton's performance as Rollo Treadway, a privileged young man whom the movie describes as a "sap," truly makes the movie. Treadway's apparent ignorance in social situations and of the natural order of things is well demonstrated and quite funny. What really made the movie enjoyable to me was the subtle bits of humor inserted by Keaton and his co-star Kathryn McGuire. For example, as Keaton walks along the outside of the ship, his hat is blown off. Almost before it even leaves his head, Keaton reaches into a miscellaneous doorway and his hand emerges with a shiny new top hat. The "couple's" meal is another great bit, as they are subjected to using over-sized plates, silverware, and food. Buster Keaton's excellent use of body language, pantomime, and facial expression put him in league with other of his revered peers, such as Charlie Chaplan and Harold LLoyd.