While this is not as funny as some of Keaton's Educational shorts (gets a bit awkward in the middle), it does have some great moments. Mainly though, I see the entire first 16 minutes (of a 17-minute running time) as the build-up to a big punch-line at the end. But you must know a little about the Dionne quintets born in 1934 to get the joke!
6 Reviews
Enthrallingly Bizarre
frankebe26 March 2010
This has got to be one of the weirdest movies made by a traditional filmmaker. The first third is quite funny. The middle third, where Buster is confused by the two girls, is too embarrassing for me to enjoy. BUT THEN, the last third is amazing. Keaton must have written this. I cannot imagine anyone else coming up with anything so surreal, so entertainingly bizarre. You really have got to see it to believe it. And yes, it certainly does whet the imagination to wonder what Keaton might have done with the final shot if Educational had given him the money to do whatever he wanted. It would have to have been something well beyond what I would cook up, since nothing I can think of would work as well as the way they shot it. We REALLY need these Keaton movies restored.
They actually used real twins for this one....
planktonrules9 July 2011
During the mid-1930s, Buster Keaton left MGM and went to Educational Pictures where he starred in 17 decent but not particularly distinguished short films. Most were a bit better than the stuff he'd done at MGM but the films lack to crazy originality of Keaton's silent work. For fans, they are worth watching but for those not familiar with his films I suggest you first try his silents--they are Keaton at his best.
"Ditto" begins with Buster as an iceman. He meets and falls in love with one of his customers--unaware that her identical twin sister lives next door. In a very unusual move, the studio actually hired twins for this (Gloria and Barbara Brewster)--as most of the time, twins were usually played by one actor doing both roles. While this is all rather funny, I was surprised how quickly all this was resolved--the gag sure could have been carried a bit further. It's funny but you can't help but think it could have been a bit better--especially since the final portion of the film just seemed to come from left field--like they had no idea how to end the movie. All in all, a very weird movie.
"Ditto" begins with Buster as an iceman. He meets and falls in love with one of his customers--unaware that her identical twin sister lives next door. In a very unusual move, the studio actually hired twins for this (Gloria and Barbara Brewster)--as most of the time, twins were usually played by one actor doing both roles. While this is all rather funny, I was surprised how quickly all this was resolved--the gag sure could have been carried a bit further. It's funny but you can't help but think it could have been a bit better--especially since the final portion of the film just seemed to come from left field--like they had no idea how to end the movie. All in all, a very weird movie.
Buster sees double
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre7 December 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Buster sees double
One of Buster Keaton's greatest films, 'The Playhouse' (1921), featured an entire theatre filled with multiple Buster Keatons (via trick photography). The same film had a subplot in which Buster meets identical twin girls, one of whom is attracted to him and one of whom rejects him.
In 1937, at pretty much the lowest point of his career, while working for Al Christie at Educational Studios, Buster revived the 'twins' idea for 'Ditto' ... an extremely poor film which would have been much funnier if only Buster had been able to use the expensive trick photography which made 'The Playhouse' so hilarious.
'Ditto' may have inspired a routine in the Abbott & Costello movie "Keep 'em Flying", in which Bud and Lou meet twin waitresses ... one of whom likes Bud and hates Lou while the other one likes Lou and hates Bud. Abbott & Costello got a lot more laughs out of this premise than Keaton did.
'Ditto' starts out promisingly, with Buster cast as an iceman. In the 1930s, before refrigerators were commonplace, icemen were the source of many raunchy jokes. The neighbourhood iceman was a big brawny guy who made deliveries to housewives in their kitchens while the housewives' husbands were away at work. There was a general assumption that the iceman got plenty of action (nudge, wink). The sight of scrawny un-handsome Buster Keaton slinging a block of ice over his shoulder was worth an automatic laugh in 1937.
Buster the iceman makes a delivery to an attractive housewife (Gloria Brewster) and they immediately hit it off. Unbeknownst to Buster, the woman who lives next-door over is Gloria's identical twin sister Barbara. When Barbara meets Buster, she hates him on sight. Buster only sees one twin at a time, so he thinks they're the same woman ... and he can't understand why "she" sometimes welcomes his advances and then becomes hostile a few moments later. Finally, Buster can't take the strain any longer. He runs off into the woods and becomes a hermit.
SPOILER COMING. The end of the movie is a letdown. After years in the wilderness, Buster meets a young farmgirl who is attracted to him. She invites him home to meet her six sisters. The seven girls are identical septuplets! This would have been an extremely funny gag if only Buster could have shot the payoff in multiple exposure, as he did in 'The Playhouse' ... showing one girl seven times in the same camera set-up. Unfortunately, the extremely low budget for 'Ditto' requires the payoff gag to show the septuplets from the rear! We see seven women standing with their backs to the camera, wearing identical costumes and similar hairstyles, and we have to pause for a moment and **figure out** that they would all look the same if only we could see them from the front. This isn't funny, and Buster's double take (or septuple take) doesn't help matters.
Interestingly, only one year before 'Ditto', the up-and-coming young film comedian Bob Hope made a very funny film called 'Shop Talk' that ends in a multiple-exposure shot in which Bob Hope confronts three identical versions of a double-talking actor, shot in treble exposure. This final gag is very funny. 'Ditto' could have been very funny too, if only Buster could have resorted to trick photography.
One of Buster Keaton's greatest films, 'The Playhouse' (1921), featured an entire theatre filled with multiple Buster Keatons (via trick photography). The same film had a subplot in which Buster meets identical twin girls, one of whom is attracted to him and one of whom rejects him.
In 1937, at pretty much the lowest point of his career, while working for Al Christie at Educational Studios, Buster revived the 'twins' idea for 'Ditto' ... an extremely poor film which would have been much funnier if only Buster had been able to use the expensive trick photography which made 'The Playhouse' so hilarious.
'Ditto' may have inspired a routine in the Abbott & Costello movie "Keep 'em Flying", in which Bud and Lou meet twin waitresses ... one of whom likes Bud and hates Lou while the other one likes Lou and hates Bud. Abbott & Costello got a lot more laughs out of this premise than Keaton did.
'Ditto' starts out promisingly, with Buster cast as an iceman. In the 1930s, before refrigerators were commonplace, icemen were the source of many raunchy jokes. The neighbourhood iceman was a big brawny guy who made deliveries to housewives in their kitchens while the housewives' husbands were away at work. There was a general assumption that the iceman got plenty of action (nudge, wink). The sight of scrawny un-handsome Buster Keaton slinging a block of ice over his shoulder was worth an automatic laugh in 1937.
Buster the iceman makes a delivery to an attractive housewife (Gloria Brewster) and they immediately hit it off. Unbeknownst to Buster, the woman who lives next-door over is Gloria's identical twin sister Barbara. When Barbara meets Buster, she hates him on sight. Buster only sees one twin at a time, so he thinks they're the same woman ... and he can't understand why "she" sometimes welcomes his advances and then becomes hostile a few moments later. Finally, Buster can't take the strain any longer. He runs off into the woods and becomes a hermit.
SPOILER COMING. The end of the movie is a letdown. After years in the wilderness, Buster meets a young farmgirl who is attracted to him. She invites him home to meet her six sisters. The seven girls are identical septuplets! This would have been an extremely funny gag if only Buster could have shot the payoff in multiple exposure, as he did in 'The Playhouse' ... showing one girl seven times in the same camera set-up. Unfortunately, the extremely low budget for 'Ditto' requires the payoff gag to show the septuplets from the rear! We see seven women standing with their backs to the camera, wearing identical costumes and similar hairstyles, and we have to pause for a moment and **figure out** that they would all look the same if only we could see them from the front. This isn't funny, and Buster's double take (or septuple take) doesn't help matters.
Interestingly, only one year before 'Ditto', the up-and-coming young film comedian Bob Hope made a very funny film called 'Shop Talk' that ends in a multiple-exposure shot in which Bob Hope confronts three identical versions of a double-talking actor, shot in treble exposure. This final gag is very funny. 'Ditto' could have been very funny too, if only Buster could have resorted to trick photography.
When the iceman cometh, watch out. There goes the neighborhood!
mark.waltz28 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A Buster Keaton short from Educational that just goes nowhere in its brief running time and gets more and more bizarre. He's the iceman, of course, and he has a crush on one of his customers. He even delivers an ice statue to her. But nothing really happens, even though I had thought that he really was going to either destroy her house accidentally, the neighborhood or both. All of a sudden, he's in a trailer park, looking like a bum, and fending off adolescent kids. So what is this, seemingly two uncomplicated shorts put together? It's a sloppy job at putting out a two feeler, and one that upon its incompletion, obviously should have just been shelved.
Not Keaton's Worst but a Strange One
Michael_Elliott1 May 2011
Ditto (1937)
** (out of 4)
Leonard Maltin called this the worst Buster Keaton-Educational short but I wouldn't go that far. The film starts off pretty good as Keaton is playing an ice seller who goes into a woman's home and quickly falls in love with her. He returns later to ask her for a date but ends up in the next house not knowing that it's the woman's twin sister and soon havoc follows. This isn't the worst Keaton short I've seen but it may very well be the most bizarre as nothing ever adds up. The first portion of the film has Keaton going back and forth between the sisters not knowing that they're twins and we get some funny gags here especially when he finally figures out what's going on. The bizarre thing is that the entire gag of him not knowing is pretty much wasted because the first sister invites him back to the house but why on Earth would she do this since she is married? Both sisters being married is what gets Keaton in trouble and while the first sister does owe him money I found it a little strange that the marriage thing didn't come up. The last minutes of the film features Buster running away to become a hermit and we flash forward fifteen-years when he has another dangerous encounter. THis final joke has somewhat become legendary among Keaton fans for being a complete letdown and I will certainly agree with that. It's been said that the lack of money caused the effect to play out the way it does but if they didn't have the money for the shot they wanted then they might as well cut the entire idea and tried something different. Keaton isn't at his best here but his manageable and at least makes you believe he's dumb enough to fall into the trap of what's going on.
** (out of 4)
Leonard Maltin called this the worst Buster Keaton-Educational short but I wouldn't go that far. The film starts off pretty good as Keaton is playing an ice seller who goes into a woman's home and quickly falls in love with her. He returns later to ask her for a date but ends up in the next house not knowing that it's the woman's twin sister and soon havoc follows. This isn't the worst Keaton short I've seen but it may very well be the most bizarre as nothing ever adds up. The first portion of the film has Keaton going back and forth between the sisters not knowing that they're twins and we get some funny gags here especially when he finally figures out what's going on. The bizarre thing is that the entire gag of him not knowing is pretty much wasted because the first sister invites him back to the house but why on Earth would she do this since she is married? Both sisters being married is what gets Keaton in trouble and while the first sister does owe him money I found it a little strange that the marriage thing didn't come up. The last minutes of the film features Buster running away to become a hermit and we flash forward fifteen-years when he has another dangerous encounter. THis final joke has somewhat become legendary among Keaton fans for being a complete letdown and I will certainly agree with that. It's been said that the lack of money caused the effect to play out the way it does but if they didn't have the money for the shot they wanted then they might as well cut the entire idea and tried something different. Keaton isn't at his best here but his manageable and at least makes you believe he's dumb enough to fall into the trap of what's going on.
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