Best movie of this year hands down!

Am I Missing Something?

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

In this 20 minutes Buster Keaton short, you actually wonder how did he get away with some of those stunts which look life threatening. At one point a side of the house falls on him but the open space for the window goes through him as Keaton just stands on the spot.Newlywed Buster and his bride are given 'portable house' as a wedding present which they build over the course of a week. Love rival Handy Hank who lost out to the bride sabotages the directions which results in the house being built wonky.The film is full of physical comedy and sight gags. There are little touches as the newly married Buster picks up a pair of old shoes that are thrown at him and takes them with him. When his wife is having a bath and she goes to pick up the soap, the cameraman sticks his hand out to preserve her modesty.This film established Keaton as the master of the comedy shorts.

As a viewer with limited experience with Buster Keaton, this was a great place to start. I've seen clips and references to his movies lots of times, but hardly seen any of the movies themselves. This one has it all: good physical gags, warm characters, acrobatics and Keaton's straight face. He shares the scene with Sybil Seely, who also does a great job. Especially the "flipping wall" stunt with both of them is marvelous. In addition to the performances from the actors, the set itself is quite impressive. An almost avant garde-ish house, built on a turntable, is almost as much a character in the story as the two leads.While the story has a villain, he is only a bit player, setting things into motion. Keaton and Seely are the stars, and I love how the story doesn't resort to playing them up against each other. They are a team all the way through the movie, working together and forgiving each other, only fighting the house.I figured that the movie was a satire on "construction set"-houses, but it turns out to be a straight up parody of a video about these houses. This explains the format of the flick itself, with the hand pulling of sheets from the calendar, etc.Also: I find it fascinating that we do not know who played the villain in this flick. I refuse to believe that the answer is lost, and I look forward to the day it is found.

"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.

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