A Film Canon

Far less idiosyncratic than Sherlock, Jr., The Navigator reduces Keaton's slapstick to a series of conventional formulae, deflecting his most distinctive trait - a capacity to passively integrate himself into a constantly shifting world, if only by mimicking objects in that world - into objects themselves, which function as ciphers for his unfulfilled comic potential. In this sense, it separates the realist and surrealist elements of Keaton's personality, construing him both as a fully-fledged character and as so many discrete objects, rather than the point of transition between the two. Granted, these objects are memorable - especially the elaborate breakfast-machine and titular ship, which, cast adrift, is endowed with a passivity that forces it to creatively change its identity, most obviously by becoming a castle during a siege by "natives". But these mechanical, object-centred gags lack the illusion of spontaneity - and, therefore, the sense of ingenuity - that characterises Keaton's stronger films, as well as splitting his comic personality to such an extent that it feels as if he could be replaced without transforming the character of the film.