The last two or three Keaton shorts I've seen have been in the company of my 7 year old daughter, and I don't know whether it's the absence of her big grinning face for this one or the quality of the film itself that has left me a bit underwhelmed. And let's say from the off here that the concept of being 'underwhelmed' is a relative one- this is still Keaton and by no means is this just Keaton going through the motions. I think ultimately the problem with 'The Haunted House' is that it is basically two scenarios crammed into one film, and alas one of the scenarios is far more successful than the other. It's called 'The Haunted House' and not 'Glue in the Bank' for a reason.
Buster then is a bank cashier- one of his fellow cashiers is planning a heist and Buster gets framed for it. He ends up in a house that may or not be haunted alongside the gang of bankjob criminals and an opera troupe on the run. Okayyyy... Now the bank stuff is fine, it really is. There's some good inventive business with Buster opening up the bank and the payoff to the glue sequence- the 'hands up' bit- is sheer genius. But by golly the glue scene itself is a tirseome one. The idea is that Buster- bank cashier remember- gets glue all over his hands as he's handing out banknotes. (D'oh! How did dat happen?!) Frustration and hilarity ensue. Except that there's a whole lot more frustration than hilarity- it's a neat enough idea I guess, but it just doesn't play too well.
Fortunately once the haunted house shenanigans begin we move to a whole different level entirely. Buster and Eddie really do cram in every spooky gag they can think of here- and most of them work too. The level of constant invention is so impressive- the sequence by the staircase with the 'ghost' and the opera singer swapping places is a particular favourite.
So can we not just snip out the first reel or so completely? It's not as if it provides much of a set-up for the haunted house escapades anyway...
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