Main Cast: William H. Crane, Buster Keaton, Carol Holloway, Edward Connelly, Irving Cummings, Jack Livingston, Edward Jobson
Release Year: 1920
Country: US
Run Time: 7rl minutes
Plot
The Saphead was based on the tried-and-true Winchell Smith stage comedy The New Henrietta, previously filmed in 1915 as The Lamb. Buster Keaton, at the time a popular 2-reel comedy attraction, makes his feature-film debut in the role of the addlepated son of Wall Street lion William H. Crane. In an effort to make something worthwhile of his unprepossessing offspring, Crane gives Keaton $100,000 to buy a seat on the stock market. Keaton gets mixed up in a seemingly worthless stock, but proves at the end that he's got more business sense than all the other brokers combined. Surprisingly, The Saphead is almost bereft of slapstick, until Keaton forces the issue in a riotous stock-exchange climax. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Jeffrey Williams - Hutchins; Beulah Booker - Agnes Gates; Henry Clauss - Valet; Katherine Albert - Hattie; Edward Alexander - Watson Flint; Alfred Hollingsworth - Hathaway; Helen Holte - Henrietta Reynolds; Odette Tylor - Mrs. Comelia Opdyke
Credit
Herbert Blaché - Director, Harold Wenstrom - Cinematographer, John L. Golden - Producer, Winchell Smith - Producer, Marcus Loew - Producer, June Mathis - Screenwriter
The Saphead is a 1920comedy film featuring Buster Keaton.[1] It was the actor's first starring role in a full-length feature and the film that launched his career.
The plot was a merging of two stories, Bronson Howard's play "The Henrietta" and the novel "The New Henrietta" by Victor Mapes and Winchell Smith, which was meant to be an adaption of Howard's play.
Nicholas Van Alstyne is the richest man in New York, but he is very disappointed in the behavior of his son, Bertie, who stays out all night gambling and partying, and who seems to show no talent or interest in work. In fact, Bertie is feigning this behavior because he believes it will help to impress the girl of his dreams, his adopted sister Agnes. Unfortunately, it helps him to do nothing more than get disowned by his father. Bertie's sister, Rose, is married to an unsuccessful lawyer named Mark, who is admired by Van Alstyne but in fact is a troublemaker. He has a mistress named Henrietta and an illegitimate child with her. When Henrietta dies after a long illness, a letter is sent to him informing him about the present circumstances. Mark manages to claim the letter is actually Bertie's, breaking Agnes' heart and ensuring Van Alstyne never wants to speak to his son again. Soon after, when Van Alstyne goes away on business he leaves Mark in charge of running the family's finances, but Mark plots to claim the family fortunes himself by selling off all their shares of stock. Bertie inadvertently saves the day by buying back all of the stock without realizing what he is doing. When Van Alstyne sees what has happened he forgives Bertie and allows him to marry Agnes. Mark, meanwhile, conveniently dies of a heart attack when he realizes that his scheme has failed. The film ends a year later, with the birth of Bertie and Agnes' twin children.
