Silent movies - Our Hospitality

I don't know if you are familiar with Lucky Luke, the hero of a Belgian Western comic album series that is very popular in Europe. One of the albums is called "The Rivals of Painful Gulch". The O'Timmins (with big noses) and the O'Hara (with big ears) families have been in a decade long feud without even remembering why. Lucky Luke is made mayor in order to end this feud.
The story was inspired by the historical Hatfield-McCoy feud in 19th century West Virginia/Kentucky.
You want to know what that has to do with silent movies? I'm glad you asked.
May I present to you "Our Hospitality" from 1923?

The plot (spoilers ahead)!

After his father John and James Canfield have shot each other, baby Willie McKay is taken to New York by his mother where he grows up without being told about the feud between the families (have you noticed the similarity of the names to the real names?), raised by his aunt after his mother's death.

That's Keaton's and Talmadge's first son
Jimmy, by the way.

Then, however, he gets a letter telling him to claim his father's estate in the South and he starts dreaming big (in fact it's just a small rundown hut).
Before he leaves, though, his aunt tells him about the feud.

On the train - "Onward sped the iron monster toward the Blue Ridge Mountains" according to the intertitle (always followed by Willie's dog!) - he meets a young lady.
The train ride is quite eventful. They have to remove a tramp, a guy hurls stones at the engineer who throws back wood from his fuel cart which is quickly collected by the guy, they have a very bumpy ride as the tracks are literally laid over trees and rocks, they have to move the tracks because a stubborn donkey refuses to move (of course he walks off after the train has passed), they derail and the train runs on the bare ground, and at one point the engine even loses the wagons and is suddenly behind them - and that's not all (I'm glad my commute wasn't like that).

Once arrived, we - but not Willie - find out that the young lady on the train is Virginia Canfield as she's picked up by her father and two brothers Clayton and Lee.
Later Willie encounters Lee who, upon hearing that Willie is a McKay, immediately tries to kill him without success and runs home to inform his father and Clayton. While they choose their weapons, Willie happens to see Virginia in her yard and she invites him to supper.

By now, all male Canfields go after Willie who has some very lucky - and funny -  escapes.
When he calls for supper, the Canfields are shocked to see that he's Virginia's guest. Neverless, Father Canfield tells his sons that they will have to grant him their hospitality because their code of honor ... but only inside the house while he's fair game outside of it. Overhearing them plotting, Willie asks the butler whose house it is.
From here on, Willie and the Canfields have an eye on each other as they just wait for him to leave the house and get their chance.

The parson is saying grace, but only he and
Virginia have their eyes closed ...

Luckily, it rains hard when the parson wants to go home after supper. He's invited to stay and Willie extends that invitation to himself, determined never to leave the house again. When Virginia learns that he's a McKay, however, she can't imagine a future for them.
Willie hopes to escape in disguise and the chase begins (which gives Keaton ample opportunity for his daring stunts).

Thanks to the parson, there's a happy ending as he manages to marry Willie und Virginia in time before the Canfields arrive at home and how could Dad resist the look in his daughter's eyes?

Now this was a movie I really had fun with!
I'm shamelessly going to steal a bit from Jim Emerson's review (link below, unfortunately it's only part of an article whose link doesn't work anymore).

"Among the things you will learn from watching Buster Keaton’s “Our Hospitality”:

● A novel method for easily collecting firewood.

● How to move a donkey away from railroad tracks, or vice-versa.

● How to improvise a boat.

● How to make a lady from a horse’s behind.

● How to put on a top hat in a low-ceilinged carriage (and why a porkpie hat is so obviously preferable).

In other words, the act of seeing this movie will immeasurably improve your life."

Keaton who loved trains set the movie earlier than the historical feud, so he could use a replica of the 1829 British steam engines Stephenson's Rocket. The train ride is my favorite part of the movie, it's hilarious. I had a hard time keeping the number of pictures for it down.
That doesn't mean, however, that the chase wasn't funny and actually exciting as well.
As usual, Keaton did most of his own stunts. Two of them got dangerous for him, once when a wire broke and Keaton was swept away in the water - as you can see in the movie because the cameraman had instructions to keep filming - and once when he was dangling over the waterfall and swallowed so much water that he had to have his stomach pumped!

There are a lot of sight gags, but no slapstick as that wouldn't have worked for a feature film that depended on its narrative that's based on tragic events.
This was Keaton's second feature film, but the first one had still been episodic. It was also a family venture. The producer Joseph M. Schenck was the husband of Keaton's sister-in-law, we have already seen baby Keaton, Virginia is Natalie Talmadge - still married to Buster at the time and pregnant with their second child - and the engineer is Joe Keaton, Buster's father.

A wholehearted recommendation from me!


Sources and further reading:

1. Jim Emerson: Our Hospitality: Buster Keaton and gravity. On: RogerEbert.com, Scanners, December 14, 2012
2. Jeffrey Vance: Our Hospitality. On: San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Essay. 2019
3. Hal C. F. Astell: Our Hospitality (1923). On: Apocalypse Later, November 19, 2023

Silent Movies - One Week

How good are you at putting together furniture? I have two small identical chests. One looks just fine, the other keeps coming a bit apart in one spot - until I knock it together again with a perfectly aimed slap. I have absolutely no idea what I did differently on the second one. This is just one example. Sometimes I'm fine, sometimes not so much.
Could I put together a whole house, though?
Let's see how good Buster Keaton is at it, shall we? Today I have the two-reeler "One Week" from 1920 for you.

As usual the plot (spoilers!). My intro probably gave you a bit of an idea already ...

For their wedding, Uncle Mike gives a happy couple a house and lot No. 99 Apple Street.

The driver is Handy Hank, the guy the
bride had turned down.

When they come to the lot, though, there's no house but a truck delivering boxes from the Portable House Co. The instructions tell them to put their home together according to the numbers on the boxes "to give this house a snappy appearance".

Buster starts right away, but jealous Hank secretly alters some numbers on the boxes.

So when Buster has finished, it's no surprise that the house looks like this.

And like this.

Aaand like this.

One of the times when Buster actually hurt
himself during a stunt - I don't recommend walking out
of a door that high up and falling on your back!

Friday 13th is the day of the house-warming. Everyone has a look into all the rooms when a storm comes up. First it is raining through the roof - anyone surprised? - then the house starts revolving practically turning into a fairground ride.
The next day it looks like this.

Then they are informed that they are on the wrong lot, the sign had got turned around, and it's not No. 99, but 66. Their lot is across the railroad track (yes, you know what's coming next).
They use barrels for wheels and start pulling the house away with the car, but it gets stuck on the tracks (does this make anyone else think of "Houseboat"?) and a train is nearing.
Just when they are relieved to see that the train has missed the house ...

... no comment.

Buster puts up a "For Sale" sign and leaves the directions, and they walk off hand in hand.

I know that's a weird association, but I had to think of Shirley Jackson in whose books houses often play an important role and can be an entity of their own.
This "Portable House" product certainly looks like one of those to me because there's no way a few altered numbers would have been able to change it like that ... 

The plot seems to have been inspired by a Ford Motor Company documentary. Ford had produced educational movies from 1914 to 1925 and one called "Home Made" from 1919 showed the construction of a prefabricated house.
I don't have to see it to know that it wasn't as hilarious as "One Week".
"One Week" wasn't the first short Keaton made alone (after working with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle before), but it was the first one to get released in September 1920.
What makes it so amazing is that no model was used. This was an actual house built on a turntable. In combination with the stunts and the gags that was extremely effective - and there were a lot some of which I didn't even notice when I watched the film the second (and surely not last) time.
These are just a few of the stunts. Both Keaton and Sybil Seely did them themselves - like the rotating house panel which lifted Sybil up then came down on Buster (a stunt he used in other films as well).

What made this short even better for me was the chemistry between Keaton and Sybil. I liked them in "The Scarecrow", but here they are together from the start and run into one problem after the other, and still they don't give up. A quick kiss and on they go. They make such a cute couple. It's a pity that Seely gave up filming very early after getting married and having a child. 

Beside the stunts, there's also a very charming scene with Sybil sitting in the tub and losing the soap.
I love the way they did this and even more the smug little smile Sybil is giving the viewer after the "censoring" hand is gone.

Tremendous fun and definitely also a good choice for a first silent movie! 😉

By the way, the movie shows a calendar leaf torn off from day to day.
If we go by the weekdays in the year 1920, the house would have been built either in February or in August. No, I don't know either why I felt compelled to look that up! I'm just weird that way! 😂


Sources:

1. Lea Stans: Thoughts on Keaton's "One Week". On: Silent-ology, March 23, 2014
2. Virginie Pronovost: My First Time with Buster Keaton: One Week. On: The Wonderful World of Cinema, February 22, 2017
3. Daniel Eagan: One Week. Excerpt on: National Film Preservation Board - Documents

Silent movies - The Scarecrow

How about some more Buster Keaton? Today's movie is one of his two-reelers - The Scarecrow from 1920.

Here's the plot (spoiler alert):

Two farmhands live together in a house on a farm. Both of them are in love with the farmer's daughter, but her father (played by Keaton's father Joe) isn't having it and sends her back to the house.

After she has baked a cream pie for him and put it on the window sill for cooling, her mother shows her an article about an dancer, so she shows that she can dance as well.
Buster is shocked to see his beloved in his housemate's arms.

A heart gets broken.

Meanwhile, the dog has eaten the cream pie and when Buster sees him with the cream around his mouth, he thinks the dog is rabid.

That is some good pie!

A wild chase ensues during which Buster loses his clothes, but he and the dog become friends.

Friends in the hay. Such a good boy.

He goes back to the farm where the girl is still dancing, but faints seeing him in his underwear.
Now Buster is being chased by her father. He quickly pretends to be the scarecrow after putting on its clothes. When the father and housemate find out, they both chase him. Then he runs into the girl and seeing him kneel as he ties his shoe, she thinks he's proposing to her and accepts.

Oh Buster, this is so sudden.

They escape from Dad and the other farmhand first by horse, then by motorcycle, and on the way happen to scoop up a reverend who marries them while being chased.

... man and wife!

This was absolutely hilarious.
The film begins with the two farmhands in their tiny house with just one room which has a lot to offer, though. The phonograph is also a stove, the tub is also a couch, the bookcase an icebox.

Put some gas in the "jukebox" to fry the bacon!

Other things like salt and sugar hang on strings from the ceiling and can easily be let down and pulled up again. Just this part would be worth watching the movie, it's like a beautiful choreography.

A game of "Catch the Bottle".

The chase is even funnier, though.
I had a really good loud laugh that I hadn't expected. Then again I hadn't known I would meet a new heartthrob. Douglas, I'm sorry, move over, there's a new kid in town and his name is Luke.
I was so impressed by this dog that I literally squealed with joy a few times. He was amazing!

Up the ladder, down the ladder. I'm in love!

So I looked Luke up and found that the English Bull Terrier (the breed was later acknowledged as American Staffordshire Terrier) was the dog of actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and his wife Minta Durfee who is said to have got him as a six week old puppy as a bonus for a particularly difficult stunt. Arbuckle taught Luke tricks and allegedly he earned $150 a week.
"The Scarecrow" for which Arbuckle lent him to his protégé Keaton was Luke's last film. Durfee got him when she and Arbuckle got a divorce, but her ex-husband got visitation rights ... well, and I like to imagine Luke had a happy life, maybe chasing a squirrel every, now and then, until his death in 1926. He was 13 years old.

You may think you already know the movie now with all the screenshots I shared, but there are so many gags in this fast-paced film that you haven't seen anything. Not in an overwhelming or hectic way, though. Everything is so well planned, yeah, it's really just a joy to watch.
And don't forget, there's Luke.
You know I don't insist on anyone watching silent movies just because I do, but in this case - watch it. Invest those 18 minutes.

Yes, he'll jump. With ease.

Sources:

1. Lea Stans: A Salute to Luke the Dog. On: Silent-ology, July 20, 2017
2. Luke the Dog on Wikipedia

Silent movies - Sherlock Jr.

When I introduced my silent movie project, I told you that I grew up with them - again, re-runs, I'm not that old.
What I seem to remember best from those times are the comedies. Laurel and Hardy (shorts), Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, and of course Buster Keaton.

For today I chose a Buster Keaton film that's not feature-length, but I couldn't remember having heard of it before and it sounded like fun.
It's "Sherlock Jr." from 1924 about a projectionist dreaming of becoming a detective and winning the love of his girl.

The movie starts by introducing the main characters - "The Boy" who studies "How To Be A Detective" from a book, his boss telling him to do his job instead, "The Girl", "The Girl's Father" who "had nothing to do so he got a hired man to help him" (love it!), and "The Local Sheik" (the name is a reference to another movie) who's also interested in the Girl.
The Boy wants to buy the Girl, who obviously comes from a wealthier family, a big box of chocolates, but he doesn't have enough money. So finally he gets her the small box, but changes the sticker from $1 to $4 and casually makes her see the price to impress her. Then he puts a ring with a tiny stone on her finger for which she needs the magnifying glass the Boy has on him. You can tell she really likes him because despite being disappointed, she's hiding that from him.
Meanwhile the Sheik has entered the house. Since he too doesn't have money, but wants to trump the Boy, he takes the Father's pocket watch from the waistcoat hanging on the wardrobe to pawn it and buy the big box of chocolates.
When he gives it to the Girl, the Father comes in to tell about his watch having been stolen. Our wannabe detective says he'll take the case and turns to his book. The Sheik sees that the first rule is to search everyone and slips the pawn ticket into the Boy's pocket.
When the Father searches the Boy, he finds the ticket for $4, so having changed the sticker backfires, the Father tells him he has to leave and the Girl gives back the ring. You can see, however, that they are both very distraught about it.

The Boy suspects the Sheik and shadows him without any success, so he heads back to the movie theater.
The Girl, however, goes to the pawn shop to ask for a description of the man bringing in the watch. Just then the Sheik happens to pass by and the pawnbroker recognizes him to be the one which the Girl then tells her father.

Meanwhile, the Boy has started the movie and falls asleep.
His dream self gets up and sees that the characters in the movie have changed to those in his life, so he enters the screen.

After getting thrown out again at first and then going through a number of different scenes, he - "the crime-crushing criminologist" named Sherlock Jr. - is called because a pearl necklace is stolen by the movie Sheik and his associate. He looks very dapper in his elegant outfit completely with top-hat and spats and has a very close look at the beautiful socialite in the house.

The thieves try everything to save themselves and kill the detective, but he escapes all their attempts very nonchalantly ...

He follows the Sheik, accompanied by his assistant, and finally manages to retrieve the necklace and jump on the assistant's motorcycle who unfortunately falls off without Sherlock Jr. noticing.
Next up is an incredible chase with the car full of gangsters going after the detective on the driverless motorcycle who rides from one danger into the next.
One of the gangsters has the young lady in his power, but Sherlock Jr. manages to save her and they escape in the gangsters' car.
At that point the Boy wakes up again and finds it was all just a dream, but then the Girl turns up to tell him they found out about him being innocent. So he takes clues from the final scene of the movie, holds her hands, kisses them, puts the ring back on her finger, and kisses her. Only the final image of the couple on the screen and their two babies confuses him visibly.

After first screenings didn't go well enough for him, Keaton made several cuts to "Sherlock Jr.", but the film still received mixed reviews for not being regarded funny.
Therefore Keaton himself did not see this movie as one of his good ones, but over time people began to praise it as a masterpiece.
There is theater magic, movie magic, incredible stunts, and a lot of practice in this. You can find a making of video here which explains quite a bit and it's utterly fascinating.
Two of my favorite scenes are
- the part where the gangsters try to kill Sherlock Jr., for example with a bomb in a billiard ball - he had practiced those trick shots
- the gangsters chasing Sherlock Jr. on the motorcycle, it's absolutely incredible - despite a bit of trickery being used, he actually practiced riding the motorcyle like this, how crazy is that?

I honestly can't remember ever having watched a complete Buster Keaton film, it must all have been snippets in the compilation shows of my childhood.
Of course I was aware that he mostly did his own stunts and that many were death-defying, but I don't think I ever really got the chance to grasp that fully until now.
There's this stunt for example during which the water pressure made Keaton lose his grip and hit his head on a steel rail. Despite heavy headaches, he kept on filming and only years later it was found out during a doctor's appointment that he had actually broken his neck!
And I can't get up from my bed without moaning 🤪

Of course I knew him only stone-faced, but I never knew to appreciate the effect that could have on scenes that would usually ask for big emotion.
I didn't only gasp at the stunts, though, but also loved how he showed the relationship between two people who seem to come from different worlds, but are still so sweet with each other. I guess I'm a sucker for heartwarming at the moment.

There may not be much of a plot - Keaton said he wanted it to feel like a dream, and you can tell it's made by someone who loved the medium film - but remember that this isn't feature-length. If I have learned something from these 44 minutes it's that I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Selected sources:
1. Kieran Judge: 'Sherlock Jr.' at 100 - Review. On: The Film Magazine, April 21, 2024
2. Jeffrey Vance: "Sherlock Jr." (1924). On: Library of Congress - Programs - National Film Preservation Board, October 2024
3. David A. Punch: Sherlock Jr: Keaton's Cinematic Genius. On: The Twin Geeks, September 2, 2019
4. Chris Scott Edwards: Sherlock, Jr. (1924). On: Silent Volume, July 5, 2009
5. David Johansson: Sherlock Jr. On: San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Winter Event 2009.