a few minutes of underwater footage in the finished film. The delays caused the film to go over budget, which Keaton and Schenck fought over. Critical reception The film premiered on Columbus day 1924 at the Capitol theater in New York, at that time the largest movie theater in the world. At the Capitol The Navigator was a huge hit and ran for a rare second week at the theater. Overall The Navigator was Keaton's biggest hit, grossing $680,406 on a $385,000 budget. Keaton said that it was his best film. When the film was released, Variety said, "Buster Keaton's comedy is spotty. That is to say it's both commonplace and novel, with the latter sufficient to make the picture a laugh getter..." Variety also noted the novelty of Keaton's deep-sea diving costume and settings and praised "an abundance of funny business" in some of the film's underwater scenes. More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz wrote that the film "proved to be Keaton's biggest commercial success. Its theme of civilized man versus the machine (seen as making life difficult for modern man because we have become so dependent on it and it's not always reliable), was never used more effectively in cinema." Accolades The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #81 See also Buster Keaton filmography References External links The Navigator at the International Buster Keaton Society The Navigator at silentera.com 1924 films 1924 comedy films American black-and-white films Silent American comedy films American silent feature films Films directed by Donald Crisp Films directed by Buster Keaton Films set on ships Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Seafaring films United States National Film Registry films 1920s American films Silent adventure films