Summary
In this irreverent silent-era burlesque, the hallowed annals of history are dismantled through a slapstick lens as Christopher Columbus navigates the labyrinthine politics of the Spanish court. Beyond the mere quest for funding, the narrative pivots on the domestic friction between Queen Isabella and a pathologically envious King Ferdinand. The voyage itself descends into a kinetic farce; Columbus is pursued across the rigging by a mutinous crew whose grievances are as absurd as their choreography. The film reaches a zenith of visual wit when a perceived horizon line—the long-awaited land—is revealed to be nothing more than the glistening pate of a bald man obstructing the telescope's view. Upon arrival in the New World, the expected grandeur is subverted by the stark reality of the 1920s American zeitgeist: an indigenous constable enforces a three-mile limit, confiscating the explorer's libations and forcing Columbus to engage in a series of clandestine maneuvers to smuggle his spirits ashore, effectively reframing the discovery of a continent as a desperate bootlegging operation.
Synopsis
The difficulty Columbus has in persuading Isabella to help him, having to combat the jealousy of Ferdinand, the revolt of his crew who chase him all over the ship, the false discovery of land that turned out to be a bald-headed man in front of the telescope, the arrival in America just to be stopped and rid of hooch by an Indian cop at the three-mile limit and the manner in which Christopher sneaked his bottle ashore provide the basis for this comedy.
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