Watch The Play House For Free

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent but underrated film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Buster Keaton shows off some of his signature blend of physical comedy, visual puns and amazing gags in this great short. Although instances of black-face date the film, I find it greatly relateable even over 100 years after the release. A great laugh for anyone who has played an instrument or been involved in a theatrical production. It gets a 9/10 because the only thing it is missing is an ending to rival Keaton's longer works.

I just watched The Play House which was the first film that was presented in the "Industrial Strength Keaton" DVD collection of various Buster Keaton films from the silents to the end of his life. The first half where he appears in various incarnations of himself was quite impressive especially when 9 of him appear together in the same frame. Some amusing, if not hilarious, gags occur there. The rest of the short has Buster being an actual stagehand/performer who goes through more hilarious mishaps that has to be seen to be believed. I especially loved the way he put out a man's fiery beard or got a woman out of a water tank. Not to mention how he impersonates a monkey. Or how he tells one twin sister from another. So on that note, I highly recommend The Play House.

THE PLAY HOUSE is Keaton showing his growth as a film comedian and director. It is in two sections actually, and they are blended together without much difficulty. We see Keaton as an employee going into a vaudeville house. We eventually learn it is the Keaton Vaudeville House, and everyone in the audience, on stage, in the orchestra, and backstage is Keaton in one set of clothing or another, and with different wigs or make-up arrangements. That includes an entire nine man minstrel show (which we even see two jokes about a cyclone being told). All the Keatons act well in their roles: as an elderly snobby couple (the man keeps falling asleep, and the lady complains of a lower class mother and son above them who are emptying soda pop on them). The six piece orchestra (with conductor) are all distinct from each other (the clarinet player treats his "licorice stick" like a licorice stick; the violinist puts resin on his bow like it's chalk on a billiard cue).Then it turns out Keaton is sleeping on a bed, and is awaken by his usual nemesis Joe Roberts. With derby on head and cigar in mouth, Roberts is ordering Keaton off his bed and out of the room. To mournful music Keaton gets up, and picks up his hat from beneath the bed. Some of Roberts staff have come in, and have started taking other furniture out. Keaton goes out the door, and then we see the walls being taken down. Keaton has been sleeping on a set for the theater that he actually works in.The rest of the film deals with Keaton's involvement as a gopher/backstage hand/ and occasional performer. He has to take over for a performing chimpanzee that is part of one of the acts (needless to say Buster does very nicely as the "trained chimp"). He also has a moment that needs a bit of explanation for the 2008 audience: Roberts is the head of an act of performing zouaves (French soldiers from North Africa who were known for prodigious acts of physical durance and speed). He is understaffed for the performance, and turns to Keaton, asking for more zouaves. "Zouaves" were also a name for a 1920s style of cigarettes, so Buster offers Joe his pack, before he's straightened out. Buster finds the "zouaves" at a nearby work site, where their foreman is dozing off, and they follow him to the theater and perform.A running thread in the film is that Keaton is romancing one of a pair of twin sisters, and keeps kissing the wrong one (and getting slapped as a result). It is only at the tale end of the film that Keaton finds a way of telling them apart.Keaton does not miss a single point about 1920s Vaudeville. The Zouave act is being applauded by two one armed old war veterans (the Northern Army in the Civil War had a Zouave corps for awhile). When they like what is going on they clap their two surviving hands together. But they disagree about the further antics of the performers, and one switches to another gentleman sitting next to him to clap his personal applause with.It is a marvelous short, showing Keaton stretching himself for his jump (also in 1921) to feature films.

This is an unusual and extremely creative short comedy that shows off both Keaton's technical and comic skills, and it's loaded with clever visual details. Keaton's main character in this one is a stage hand, but he plays 20 or more different roles, most of them in the fascinating and bizarre opening sequence. The craftsmanship is perfect - even when several images of Keaton appear in one shot - and when you realize what the sequence represents, it's very suggestive as well. The main part of the film moves a little more slowly, but has some good laughs in it. There is a nice recurring joke about Keaton's girl - she is one of a pair of twins, and Keaton can never keep them straight. While Keaton made other films that are more uproariously funny, "The Playhouse" is a gem of inventiveness, and is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys silent films.