Mooching Through Georgia (1939)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Jules White

Writer:

Clyde Bruckman (original screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

11 August 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Tagline:

Worth marching miles to see Buster on this laughing spree!

Plot:

Man relates how he outwitted the Yankee army during the Civil War.

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	Homer Cobb
Monte Collins	...	Cyrus Cobb, Homer's Brother
Bud Jamison	...	Titus Cobb aka Pa
Harley Wood	...	Lula Belle (as Jill Martin)
Lynton Brent	...	Union Colonel
Jack Hill	...	Soldier
Stanley Mack	...	Union Major
Ned Glass	...	Union Veteran Joe McIntyre
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nick Copeland	...	Union Soldier (uncredited)
Joe Murphy	...	Tall Union Soldier (uncredited)
Cy Schindell	...	Union Soldier (uncredited)

Directed by
Jules White

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Clyde Bruckman		original screenplay
Buster Keaton		uncredited

Produced by
Jules White	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
John Stumar

Film Editing by
Art Seid		(as Arthur Seid)

Music Department
William Grant Still	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1939) (USA) (theatrical)

Runtime:

19 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Featured in Uncivil War Birds (1946)

Loyalty

This is one of Keaton's better Columbia shorts.

Buster and his brother, played by Monty Collins, enlist to fight in the Civil War. But Buster has enlisted in the Confederate Army and Monty has joined the Union Army. However, before they can start their own civil war, in march Union and Confederate troops, and the two spend most of the movie rescuing each other. They know where their loyalties lie.

I am tempted to think that a lot of the material arises from the fact that the writer of this short, Clyde Bruckman, was one of Keaton's gagmen, and was credited as co-director of THE GENERAl, and Monty Collins is the son of the man (also named Monty Collins) who played Buster's father in a couple of his movies in the 1920s. However, any discussion of subtext is rendered ridiculous by the fact that the producer and director of this movie is Jules White, to whom a poke in the eye was subtle. So we must take pleasure, instead, in the fact that this is a sharply written movie, tailored for Buster, and that he executes his falls, as always, wonderfully. For those of you who are interested in the subtleties of the pratfall, there is one scene in which Buster and Monty jump out of a window. Buster does a forward roll and lands flat on his back, while Collins lands on his feet. No one working at the time could take a fall like Buster and it's a pleasure to see him do it .... and to watch Collins not even try to compete.

Continuity issues make this considerably less than a perfect Keaton short, but recall what James Agee said of A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA: second rate Marx Brothers is better than anything else. Well, second rate Keaton is better than anything else also, and this is by no means second rate.