The Scarecrow | |
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![]() Buster Keaton and Luke | |
Directed by | Edward F. Cline Buster Keaton |
Written by | Edward F. Cline Buster Keaton |
Produced by | Joseph M. Schenck |
Starring | Buster Keaton Sybil Seely Joe Keaton Joe Roberts |
Cinematography | Elgin Lessley |
Edited by | Buster Keaton |
Distributed by | Metro Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 21 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Scarecrow is a 1920 American two-reel silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton, and written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. [2]
Buster plays a farmhand who competes with his housemate (Roberts) to win the love of the farmer's daughter (Sybil Seely). Running from a dog that he believes is rabid, he races around brick walls, jumps through windows, and falls into a hay thresher that rips off most of his clothes. After Sybil’s father sees him in this compromising position, he is forced to flee and borrow a scarecrow's clothes in a nearby field as a disguise. After he escapes, he runs into Sybil and trips into a kneeling position while tying his shoes which Sybil interprets as a proposal. They speed off on a motorcycle, with Joe and the farmer (played by Buster's father, Joe) in hot pursuit. Scooping up a minister during the chase, they are married on the speeding motorcycle and splash into a stream, where they are pronounced man and wife.
In 2013, the Dallas Chamber Symphony commissioned composer Brian Satterwhite to write and original musical score for The Scarecrow. [3] It premiered during a concert screening at Moody Performance Hall on November 19, 2013 with Richard McKay conducting. [4]