Film vs Film
Select two cult films to compare side by side.
Buster's Picnic Synopsis
Trouble starts at the very beginning with Buster's characteristically masculine inability to cut the bread for sandwiches and otherwise help. Mary Jane does the work. Once started, Buster's baby brother tosses the contents of the luncheon basket to the trailing Tige so that there is no food when the picnic grounds are reached. Tige makes amends by stealing the luncheon of a neighboring party. Also having eaten the cream covering off a cake he creates a panic because all the picnickers think he is frothing at the mouth and suffering from the rabies. To add to the comfort (?) of the recreation-seekers a hornet's nest is dislodged and the hornets rout the entire picnic-camp crowd. For a finale a table cloth becomes a parachute and carries the youthful trio over a cliff-side into the ocean. All rescued, it becomes an entry in a Samuel Pepys diary "and so home to bed."
Mary's Ankle Synopsis
While walking along the street one day, Arthur P. Hampton, an impoverished young doctor, and his chums, Stub Masters and Johnny Stokes, are persuaded to part with their last remaining funds by tag day solicitor Mary Jane Smith, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Doc's friends then hit upon a get-rich-quick scheme. Knowing that his Uncle George has promised a large sum of money upon his nephew's marriage, they persuade Doc to send out fake wedding invitations naming Mary Jane as the blushing bride. Uncle George, elated at the good news, writes to Mary Jane's aunt, Angelica Burns, an old sweetheart, to invite Mary Jane and Angelica to be his guests on an ocean voyage. Meanwhile, Mary Jane pays a visit to the doctor's office and, upon seeing the wedding invitations, becomes so flustered that she trips and sprains her ankle. Doc comes to her rescue and then begs her to pose as his wife. She agrees, but at ship-side, Stub and Johnnie confess all to Uncle George, who flies into a rage until Doc announces that he and Mary Jane have chosen a wedding at sea.
"Buster's Picnic" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "Mary's Ankle" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
Buster's PicnicBoth films share