The Play House (Keaton 1921)

Now here again Keaton is playing against convention and against expectation, but the gulf between this and 'The Frozen North' is immense. I would happily have sat down and started this again the minute it ended if only I had someone to watch it with. The 7 year old isn't seeing the appeal of Keaton. She preferred drawing comic strips on the living room floor and looking up every few minutes to ask me questions about what was happening. 'Is that the same man again?' Fair play to her, but she missed a treat. I'll sneak this back into her pre-bed programme a month or two down the line.
So- was the opening five minutes of utter magnificence (Buster playing all the parts- the actors in a play, the audience, the backstage staff, the orchestra members) a swipe at Chaplin's cravings towards omnipotence (or at least the frequent repettion of his name on film credits)? Probably not, but when the programme notes flashed up on the screen, Keaton's name repeated on every line, that was my initial impression.
It's beautifully done this opening section- extraordinarily clever but also very well observed, and a good showreel for Keaton as a character player. Just as much as Chaplin (and I guess the vast majority of the superior silent comedians) Keaton was very much associated with one character, and he seems to be revelling in this opportunity to show off. The temptation with 'The Play House' I think is to knock what comes after this initial extended dream sequence, and I think that's unfair. The film as a whole is perhaps a little disjointed, but I think if you view it as a miracle rather than a two reel comedy you're not likely to be disappointed. Those are the terms you need to be appreciating this on. Okay, overstating it a tad perhaps, but really this is a remarkable film.
After his dream of theatrical domination Keaton wakes up on the stage a mere theatre hand, a mere prop mover, in love with one of a pair of twin sisters (though he's never sure which one) and harrassed by the theatre owner. This could have been a feature you know- there are certainly enough brilliant ideas in 'The Play House' to fill out the careers of a dozen lesser comedians.

Neighbors (Keaton 1920)

The washing lines again! What about that. I'm going to start seeing variations on the washing line gags everywhere I look now.
This is brilliantly made and executed, and some of Buster's stuntwork is superb, but... there's something missing. Two feuding families, the boy and girl in love... Ah, it's Shakespeare! Buster and Virginia Fox (a pretty doll-faced creature here, very demure) carry out their romance over the width of the yard between their two apartment buildings, families- especially her father, big mean old Joe Roberts (who seems absolutely colossal here, and quite terrifying)- interfering at every opportunity. I love the location actually- it feels like they're performing on a big open air stage between the houses, and there's so much scope for running gags and visual tricks with the fence slicing the yard in two. There's a hell of a lot to admire here- and the acrobatic human totem pole carrying Buster and Virginia across the yard, from one high window to the other- is one of the most brilliant Buster things I've seen, but perversely it all feels a little over-choreographed and over-planned. Sometimes hesitancy and chance are our friends.
The 'I bought a Ford' gag- what's that about? Way over my head. Is it something obvious that I'm missing, or a topcal reference the effect of which has been diluted by time?