After an unmanned spaceship from earth crashlands on the planet of the
Devil (Buster Keaton), he decides to pay earth a visit to ... no idea what
he intends to do. Anyways, he somehow can't help but overhear a speech by
Minnie (Ruth Gillette) under the title "Eliminate the Middle
Man", and somehow she makes him promise to put his talents in her
employ - so via mass hypnosis he makes most of America sign petitions to
their congressmen to eliminate the middle man ... and the next day, all
wholesalers are out of business, making it necessary for vendors to deal
with the suppliers directly - and the whole economy crashes in no time,
which soon enough has its effects on the common man and woman. It's only
when Minnie - who has long had second thoughts about this speech of hers -
has another chance meeting with the Devil in a park that she persuades him
promise to set this wrong right again that things go back to normal ... Quite
obviously, this little short was financed as a PSA sort of thing by the National
Association of Wholesalers, as it puts a rather one-sided spin of
things and delivers its message very bluntly. Chances are though not too
many people nowadays watch it because of the message at all but because of
Buster Keaton, who way past his prime still does ok in the movie, though
he doesn't have any memorable set pieces, and his character is somewhat
disappointingly empty (especially since he's supposed to play the Devil).
It's still nice to see him mind you, and he is reasonably funny - just a
far cry from the comic genius he used to be.
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