''Pest from the West'' is the first short subject starring American comedian

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

made for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. Keaton made a total of ten films for the studio between 1939 and 1941.

Synopsis

Keaton is a millionaire vacationing in Mexico traveler who falls in love with a ''señorita'' (

Lorna Gray Virginia Pound (July 26, 1917 – April 30, 2017), known professionally as Lorna Gray and (after 1945) Adrian Booth, was an American film actress known for her comic roles, and later as a villainess. She is best known for her roles in Columb ...

) and sets out to win her.

Production

This was the first film made by

starring Keaton and was a condensed remake of his English-made feature film '' The Invader'' (1935). Keaton's

silent-era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

writer

Clyde Bruckman Clyde Adolf Bruckman (June 30, 1894January 4, 1955) was an American writer and director of comedy films during the late Silent film, silent era as well as the early sound era of cinema. Bruckman collaborated with such comedians as Buster Keaton, ...

collaborated on the screenplay and it was directed by comedy veteran

Del Lord Delmer "Del" Lord (October 7, 1894March 23, 1970) was a Canadians, Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films. Career Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Interested in the the ...

. The supporting cast features Columbia regulars

, Gino Corrado, Richard Fiske, Bud Jamison, Eddie Laughton, and

Ned Glass Nusyn "Ned" Glass (April 1, 1906 – June 15, 1984) was a Polish-born American character actor who appeared in more than eighty films and on television more than one hundred times, frequently playing nervous, cowardly, or deceitful characters. ...

with the voices of short-subject stars

Charley Chase Charles Joseph Parrott (October 20, 1893 – June 20, 1940), known professionally as Charley Chase, was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director. He worked for many pioneering comedy studios but is chiefly associated with pro ...

and

Curly Howard Jerome Lester Horwitz (; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder ...

heard on the soundtrack. Much of ''Pest from the West'' was filmed on location at Balboa, California, United States (Keaton repeatedly falls off his boat, into Balboa Bay). The Mexican-village settings were adapted from sets used in Columbia's 1937 feature film ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called ''Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamaser ...

''.

Reception

''Pest from the West'' was a huge hit in theaters, and earned rave reports from exhibitors. Keaton starred in nine more Columbia shorts, the last of which was ''

She's Oil Mine ''She's Oil Mine'' is the last short subject American comedian Buster Keaton made for Columbia Pictures. Keaton made a total of 10 films for the studio between 1939 and 1941. Plot Keaton and Monte Collins appear as Waters and Piper, plumbers. D ...

''. Like ''Pest from the West'', this borrowed content from an older Keaton feature, ''

The Passionate Plumber ''The Passionate Plumber'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Edward Sedgwick, and starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Irene Purcell. The screenplay by Laurence E. Johnson and Ralph Spence is based on the 1926 play ''Da ...

''. ''

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' called the short "one of the funniest shorts of the season. In fact, of any season. It just goes to prove that this Buster Keaton feller is a natural B.O. gold mine that is not being mined."

References

External links

* *
Pest from the West
at the

International Buster Keaton Society The International Buster Keaton Society Inc.— a.k.a. "The Damfinos"—is the official educational organization dedicated to comedy film producer-director-writer-actor-stuntman Buster Keaton. Mission According to the Damfinos, their mission is "t ...

1939 films 1939 comedy films Columbia Pictures short films American black-and-white films Films directed by Del Lord Films with screenplays by Buster Keaton American comedy short films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub