One Week (1920)

"One Week" is a 1920 film by Buster Keaton, so not too long anymore until it has its 100th anniversary. This film shows us that building a house was quite a challenge already in the days of silent black-and-white films, especially if you get constantly sabotaged by somebody. Buster and his wife, played by Sybil Seely, are newly-weds and trying to build a house here. Virginia Fox is not in this film, which is unusual for Keaton movies, but he has worked with Seely also on other occasions. Antagonist regular Joe Roberts, however, is in this one too and Edward F. Cline, Keaton's longtime partner behind the camera, also helped out on this one. This is possibly Keaton's most famous short film, maybe also because it is one of very few that managed to make it into the National Film Registry. Still I was not too impressed. I wish they could have kept this at 15 minutes max and only included scenes with the duo, the antagonist and the house and not the partying in-between etc. Not recommended.

"One Week" is a real extravaganza. Proceeding from a wonderfully one- step-too-absurd-for-reality premise that Buster Keaton has been given a build-it-yourself house, it builds constantly and with perfect timing on increasingly mind-boggling an original stunts and visual gags on what must be one of the most elaborate and iconic comedy props in history -- the ramshackle, crooked house that Buster builds and the ends up spinning gloriously as it blows in the wind and ingeniously rolling along on barrels when he and his new bride find themselves on the wrong lot. It really encapsulates brilliantly within two reels Keaton's incredible and unique comedic and visual imagination. Each gag tops the last perfectly, and visual concepts are played out on the large scale of the house set in constantly surprising ways. Although the action is almost completely mechanically driven, the pace never flags and the film builds as impressively as if there were an intricate plot. And, of course, the closing gag involving a train is among the greatest in history. It's difficult to describe something as finely-tuned as "One Week" except to say that is has to be seen and appreciated; with Laurel and Hardy's "Big Business" it forms a pair of impeccably-orchestrated house- destroying silent comedies for all time.

How is it possible that 19 minutes of film can hold so much clever, fast paced comedy? I was blown away by not only the overpowering visual effects that set off the whirlwind ending inside the house, but also by some of the little touches that can be found throughout the film. There's one scene in particular that stuck with me as one of those fantastic little touches, it's when the bride (Sybil Seely, what a great name) is in the bathtub taking a bath and she accidentally drops the soap. As she innocently reaches over to pick the soap up from the bathroom floor, the cameraman sticks his hand over the lens to insure her privacy from those watching the movie. In a movie where there's a lot of wall building, it is a scene like this one where Buster successfully knocks down the proverbial fourth wall of film-making.There's really no point in trying to describe the amazing sight gags, the breath taking gymnastics and pratfalls that are all staples of a Buster Keaton comedy, you should just watch it for yourself. And as far as early Buster Keaton films are concerned, this one is a MUST SEE.10/10. Clark Richards

Keaton was now out on his own, no longer working with Fatty Arbuckel. 'One Week'was his first independent film. Joseph Schneck produced the film, having done work on the Fatty and Keaton shorts. The team of Buster Keaton and Eddi Cline directed and did script work as would follow in most of Keaton's other shorts. 'One Week' is definitive of Buster Keaton's style. It is purely gag over narrative. Keaton's performance is more important than the story, and that was pretty much how all his later movies worked. Keaton also enjoyed capturing the world around him as it happened. His stunts in this movie did not rely on editing. The house really did turn, the train sequence was real. This was a good beginning to what followed.