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The Navigator contains some of the most elaborate and well-known stunts by Keaton
The actual vessel used was the USAT Buford, a passenger liner that had also served as a World War I troopship and was infamous as the "Red Ark" for carrying 249 people deported during the Red Scare of 1919-20, including Emma Goldman. When it was scheduled to be scrapped, Keaton bought it to serve as a very large prop.
According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Keaton intended for Donald Crisp to direct the dramatic scenes, leaving him free to concentrate on the comedic ones. However, when Crisp wanted to work on the comedy, Keaton decided to do all the remaining directing himself.
When the film was released, Variety said, "Buster Keaton's comedy is spotty. That is to say it's both commonplace and novel, with the latter sufficient to make the picture a laugh getter..." Variety also noted the novelty of Keaton's deep-sea diving costume and settings and praised "an abundance of funny business" in some of the film's underwater scenes.
More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz wrote that the film "proved to be Keaton's biggest commercial success. Its theme of civilized man versus the machine (seen as making life difficult for modern man because we have become so dependent on it and it's not always reliable), was never used more effectively in cinema."[
Directed by
Buster Keaton
Donald Crisp
Produced by
Buster Keaton
Written by
Clyde Bruckman
Jean C. Havez
Joseph A. Mitchell
Buster Keaton
Starring
Buster Keaton as Rollo Treadway
Frederick Vroom as John O'Brien
Kathryn McGuire as Betsy O'Brien
Clarence Burton as Spy
H.N. Clugston as Spy
Donald Crisp as Face on picture at porthole
Noble Johnson as Cannibal chief
The actual vessel used was the USAT Buford, a passenger liner that had also served as a World War I troopship and was infamous as the "Red Ark" for carrying 249 people deported during the Red Scare of 1919-20, including Emma Goldman. When it was scheduled to be scrapped, Keaton bought it to serve as a very large prop.
According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Keaton intended for Donald Crisp to direct the dramatic scenes, leaving him free to concentrate on the comedic ones. However, when Crisp wanted to work on the comedy, Keaton decided to do all the remaining directing himself.
When the film was released, Variety said, "Buster Keaton's comedy is spotty. That is to say it's both commonplace and novel, with the latter sufficient to make the picture a laugh getter..." Variety also noted the novelty of Keaton's deep-sea diving costume and settings and praised "an abundance of funny business" in some of the film's underwater scenes.
More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz wrote that the film "proved to be Keaton's biggest commercial success. Its theme of civilized man versus the machine (seen as making life difficult for modern man because we have become so dependent on it and it's not always reliable), was never used more effectively in cinema."[
Directed by
Buster Keaton
Donald Crisp
Produced by
Buster Keaton
Written by
Clyde Bruckman
Jean C. Havez
Joseph A. Mitchell
Buster Keaton
Starring
Buster Keaton as Rollo Treadway
Frederick Vroom as John O'Brien
Kathryn McGuire as Betsy O'Brien
Clarence Burton as Spy
H.N. Clugston as Spy
Donald Crisp as Face on picture at porthole
Noble Johnson as Cannibal chief