Buttons

In the twilight of the silent era, Jackie Coogan sheds his 'The Kid' persona for something marginally more mature but no less precarious in Buttons. Coogan plays a resourceful street urchin who maneuvers his way into a position as a pageboy on a high-society ocean liner. Alongside his rough-and-tumble companion Slugger, the duo navigates the gilded hallways of the ship, only to stumble upon a scandalous infidelity involving the Captain's wife. Their attempt at moral rectitude is met with a swift, authoritarian punishment as the Captain throws them into the brig. However, the domestic drama is soon eclipsed by a maritime catastrophe. When the vessel strikes trouble and begins to sink, the two boys must find a way to escape their iron cage and survive the freezing depths, transforming a lighthearted romp into a harrowing survivalist nightmare.