One Week (1920)

This is my one my favorite Buster Keaton shorts.  So funny, so creative, and so, so Buster.  I’ve used it as a “gateway short” to introduce people to Buster’s work, and it’s served me well.

Buster and his new bride receive a DIY home-in-a-box as a wedding gift, and the short chronicles their first week as a married couple while they struggle to assemble their house.  Thanks to some meddling from a jealous rival, they wind up working off of bad instructions, and as a result… well, you can see for yourself in the image above.  Despite the young couple’s best efforts, everything that can go wrong does, and the story culminates in probably the best climax out of any of Buster’s shorts.

Front and center, this short displays Buster’s engineering talent and the shrewd ways he used it to comedic advantage.  Everything about the patchwork house is absolute dilapidated perfection.  It looks fantastic on its own, and when you throw in the various added wrinkles of cleverness Buster throws in (the second-story front door, the porch railing that doubles as a ladder, the stretchy, sagging ceiling,) it’s an absolute delight.  The humor that Buster mines from this house, and the inventiveness he packs into it, is just incredible.

The story lends itself well to its vignette style, so it wanders comfortably, but the gags build continually, getting bigger and more outrageous until we get to the tremendous final scene.  Right from the beginning, there’s a fun sequence of circular gags that gets us off to a smart, snappy start, and it only gets better from there.  I like Buster’s little creative touches, like writing “WELCOME” upside-down on the mat before flipping it around – there’s no reason for him to write it upside-down, and it isn’t even really played like a joke, but it and moments like it help to infuse the short with so much personality.  And of course, the modest cameraman – who offers some quick ‘n’ easy censorship when Buster’s wife drops the soap over the side of the tub and has to retrieve it – is a classic Buster moment.  He wasn’t really known for breaking the fourth wall, but whenever he did, he did it like a pro.  (Also, for whatever reason, I just love it when Buster touches his face so you can see how dark his hands look compared to his white pancake makeup.  It makes me smile.)

I’m quite charmed by co-star Sybil Seely in this short.  She’s a good choice to play Buster’s wife – since this short doesn’t have the typical storyline of Buster falling for/trying to win over The Girl, there’s less for the female lead to do, and so it helps to have someone so personable and engaging in the role to make it spark a bit more.  She and Buster are sweet together (the moment where he gives her the tiniest peck on the lips and then sheepishly disappears around the corner is too adorable,) and they have great comedic timing as a pair.

I’ve sung the praises of this short’s ending elsewhere, so I won’t go into the details again.  Suffice to say that it is fabulous, and, considering how early it came in Buster’s career, it’s a pretty telling sign of the great things to come.

Warnings

A bit of slapstick violence and a heap of don’t-try-this-at-home.