Top Five Independent Shorts: Buster Keaton

One of the things I love about Buster Keaton is how well he worked in making both feature-length and short films.  Before he started filming features, he made a slew of two-reel shorts that are crammed with creativity, energy, acrobatics, and some of the funniest work he ever did.  While the features spend time telling the story and give you room to breathe between gags, the laughs in many of Buster’s shorts are almost literally nonstop.  Depending on how motivated I am, I may start reviewing them more fully later, but for now, here are the absolute must-sees.

  

One Week (1920)

 

Buster and his new bride receive a build-it-yourself house kit as a wedding gift, and when her ex-beau sabotages the building process, the house they wind up with is one-of-a-kind.  The whole building is crooked, the front door is on the second story, and it’s prone to spinning like a merry-go-round when the wind picks up.  Absolutely hilarious, not to mention an engineering marvel.

 

Neighbors (1920)

 

Buster is in love with the girl across the fence, but the pair is kept apart by their squabbling parents.  The sheer number of gags Buster mines from a fence and a clothesline is incredible, and his persistent efforts to be with his girl are both enterprising and remarkably agile.  The standing-on-shoulders sequence alone is astounding.  And even simpler gags, like a pair of broken suspenders, are golden in Buster’s capable hands.

 

The Playhouse (1921)

 

This short is best known for the technical masterpiece of its opening sequence, in which Buster plays everyone onscreen:  playhouse performers, orchestra musicians, and audience members, at one point duplicating himself nine times in a single shot.  It’s so amazing that people forget the rest, which is a shame, because it’s excellent.  Highlights include some fantastic twin gags and Buster’s dead-on impression of a monkey.  Honestly, if you squint, you can’t tell the difference.

 

The Boat (1921)

 

Why did this make the list?  Damfino!  I love that this is a silent film whose biggest laugh is a pun told via telegraph – it’s so Buster.  Beyond that, the story of Buster and his family’s catastrophe-fraught maiden voyage on a homemade boat is fantastic.  Everything about the storm sequence is made of win, and you can never go wrong watching Buster try to lower a lifeboat.

 

Cops (1922)

 

Chase scenes are Buster’s catnip, and this short is one giant excuse to have Buster flee from an entire police force.  Thanks to a series of mishaps, he collects more and more uniformed pursuers and unleashes all manner of nimble tricks to avoid them.  There are street cars and fire escapes involved, and a sequence with a ladder that will leave you gaping in amazement at Buster’s dexterity – talk about iconic.