Neighbors

"Neighbors" is a very entertaining Buster Keaton short comedy featuring some hilarious slapstick and some good stunts. It takes place in a tenement complex, with Buster and Virginia Fox playing young lovers who live in buildings separated by a wooden fence. Their families don't like each other, and do what they can to undermine the romance, but without success. It's very funny right from the beginning, with Buster and Virginia slipping love notes through a knothole in the fence, and having them intercepted by one parent after another. There are lots of slapstick antics, and one of the funniest wedding scenes you will see. There are also some good stunts and brief chase scenes - in other words, a little bit of everything that Keaton was known for. It would probably be best appreciated by those who are already fans, but if you enjoy Keaton, don't miss this one.

This is one of the few short films that was understated on the back on the DVD. Usually they make it sound better than it often winds up. Despite little buildup, this was tremendous fun for 18 minutes.

The very beginning is very innocent as Harold and Virginia Fox exchange love notes through a peephole in a fence that divides their family's tenement properties. Quickly, the parents of each come out, intercept the messages, disapprove, meddle further and then get involved in one wild and crazy scene after another. Featured are some terrific stunts and just general madness and mayhem with one funny sight gag after another. This is so frenetic that it has to be seen, not read about. Just be ready for a wild ride of feuding neighbors and cops.

It does calm down for a minute or two when a judge makes the parents sign a "peace treaty." Harold then announces he and Virginia are going to get married.....and they try to do that but, a combination of pants that won't stay up (don't ask) and Virginia's father, Big Joe Roberts, break that up. Now we go back to slapstick and clever scenes as Buster's friends help get his girl back. It's another crazy finish, albeit a short one.

It's very inventive stuff and one of Harold's best. It is an extra on the "Seven Chances" DVD. Note: Playing Buster's dad in here was his real-life father, Joe Keaton.

Really do appreciate all kinds of comedy, though admittedly more so than others (i.e. preferring the witty, sophisticated kind of comedy over the crude type). For me, Buster Keaton was and still is one of the greatest of all comedy geniuses. He was a very daring and athletic performer with brilliant comic timing and one of the very few people alive or dead to make deadpan (hence "The Great Stone Face" nickname), a very acquired taste style usually and how well it has been done has widly varied, look good.

Keaton may have done even better than 'Neighbors', both short and feature films. Not all the pacing is quite there, but the light-hearted charm, daringly athletic stunts and funny gags certainly are and in large quantities for all three. Cannot say anything bad about Keaton either and have little to fault 'Neighbors' even overall, almost everything is done right if just lacking the extra something of his best work that were paced a little more evenly and were even more imaginative.

'Neighbors' is let down solely by some lagging pacing in the middle, where the storytelling does slow down and doesn't feel as eventful. The slightness of the story is betrayed here.

The first and especially third acts however are paced beautifully and despite it sounding routine on paper it is in execution anything but. The early portions are zany and incredibly charming, without feeling too much like set up. The chemistry between Keaton and Virginia Fox is light-hearted and sweet without being sugary. The third act has some truly inventive moments of slapstick and gags, not to mention the to-be-expected bold Keaton stunts.

While the washing line escape from the apartment is a masterful set piece where Keaton's athletic ability is something to behold, it also features one of the most inspired endings of any of Keaton's films. It looks good, if not imaginative perhaps, and all the sight gags work, being never less than very amusing and they are not predictable. The slapstick doesn't become too goofy and doesn't get clumsy or repetitive, and the stunts are wonderfully athletic and bold. 'Neighbors' is beautifully directed too.

Virginia Fox is lovely, her character meatier than in other collaborations with Keaton, and one can see what Keaton sees in her, but Keaton is the star. One envies his physicality and how he is able to do all those difficult stunts and make them look easy, and he also has witty comic timing and is still an unparallelled master at making deadpan interesting and expressive.

Overall, not one of Keaton's best but still great. 9/10

Neighbors (1920)

*** (out of 4)

Buster Keaton does the Romeo and Juliet storyline as he falls in love with his neighbor but it'll be hard to get married since the families hate one another. There are plenty of good gags here including the human fly swatter gag and the stuff dealing with Keaton trying to avoid the police. Keaton also delivers one of his best stunts and three people on one another's shoulders try and walk from house to house with Keaton being three stories up.

Available on Kino's The Art of Buster Keaton Collection, which is one of the greatest box sets out there.

This Buster Keaton short has some outstanding and breathtaking stunts. You have to see it to believe it.

Buster is in love with his neighbour. They send notes through a hole in the fence. Their respective fathers disapprove of the romance.

Buster is determined to marry his girl even though he goes through a series of mishaps involving both families and the police.

The plot itself is frothy and silly. Buster constantly gets detained by a policeman and then escapes. At one point he is blacked up when escorted by a policeman and then runs away for the policeman to arrest a black man who walks past.

Given that this short was made in 1920. This is still the early days of cinema. Some of the physical acrobatic stuff Buster does is impressive, including three men standing on top of each other which happens at the end. A few times I had to rewind it and watch it again.