A rich guy proposes a girl, his neighbor, but she declines. However, he still decides to go on a honeymoon, all by himself, on a luxury ship. Spies send the ship of their rival country at war adrift in the sea at night, with the guy asleep inside. Unbeknownst to him, the girl was also on the ship. The two thus try to survive out in the sea, all alone on a ship, cooking and waiting to meet another ship. They get stranded on an island where cannibals attack them, but the couple is saved on the sea when a submarine emerges and picks them up.
One of Buster Keaton's lesser films, "The Navigator" isn't a classic due to several empty walks, but it has several well thought out jokes and creative stunts to still offer an enjoyable experience. The idea of a 'Robinson Crusoe'-couple stuck on a ship sailing in the middle of the sea is a hit-and-miss affair, since at times it works (the funny sequence where the girl, who thinks she might be alone on the ship, is calling out for someone, while the guy tries to reach her, but since they are running around and around the ship's cabin they keep avoiding each other due to equal distance), but at other times feels overstretched and not always interesting. The highlight is the genius sequence where the couple thinks the ship is haunted: during night, the girl throws away a painting of a scary looking man, but the painting gets stuck and swings outside the window of the guy, who sees a face appearing and disappearing in the dark, so he runs away in panic, with a sheet over his head, thereby scaring the girl who came out to the hallway, who thinks it is a ghost. Afterwards, it takes a whole 20 minutes until the film repeats anything that comes close to being so much fun, the couple fighting off cannibals storming their ship, and the guy having a "sword duel" with a swordfish underwater. A fun film, to a certain extent, while Keaton is again dedicated to his performance.
Grade:++
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