We, the audience, can clearly see the house will be Trouble at the beginning of the film, but all signs of it are lost on the characters.
“Don’t go in there!” we say, but the characters, blithely unaware that the house is Out to Get Them, think they’re going to have so much Fun, poor slobs.
Personally, we (yours truly) can’t watch these movies because we find them Too Stressful with levels of angst and fear. We’re exhausted by the end of it.
But we like a good haunted house spoof, which is why we adore the Buster Keaton short, The Haunted House (1921). Keaton stars as a bank teller who unknowingly works for a bank that launders counterfeit money. (A bank involved in fraudulent schemes? Say it ain’t so!)
Keaton’s friend and frequent co-star, Joe Roberts, plays the bank president – and counterfeit kingpin – a clever criminal who’s set up his headquarters in an old house. But, in order to throw police off the Scent (so to speak), his gang disguise themselves as ghosts, skeletons, etc., to make everyone think the house is Haunted.
Mwahaha! The police will be too scared to investigate!
Haunted house movies were Nothing New in Keaton’s day, which already made the genre ripe for satire. You’d probably guess this film is a two-reeler because of the run time (21 minutes), and its two-part structure: (1) Keaton as bank teller; and (2) Keaton as haunted house visitor.
The Haunted House is like an amusement park because you never know what’s around the corner. Even so, some critics say the film is too simple for modern audiences.
We disagree. This film has a wealth of visual treasures, like this one:
By 1921, Keaton had his own production unit, working with indie producer Joseph M. Schenck, and here he would create some of his greatest films, including Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Sherlock Jr.(1924), and The General (1926), before he signed with MGM in 1928.
The Haunted House is Keaton developing his Craft, especially when it comes to building a gag. Let’s look at the sliding staircase as an example:
The sliding staircase appears to be a regular set of stairs, but when you get to the fifth stair from the top, that tricky staircase turns into a slide.
This is amusing in itself, but Keaton doesn’t leave this as a one-time gag. His character uses ingenious methods to avoid the staircase, and we the audience can’t wait to see what he (and the police) will Do Next.
The gag is continued in a dream sequence, where Keaton climbs the Stairway to Heaven, with predictable – and unpredictable – results.
We encourage you to see The Haunted House. It’s not one of Buster Keaton’s most famous shorts, and that is a shame because it’s a charming film with lots of visual treats.
The Haunted House: starringBuster Keaton, Virginia Fox, Joe Roberts. Directed and written by Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton. Joseph M. Schenck Productions, 1921, B&W, 21 mins.
Yes, that’s what I was thinking, especially with that staircase–imagine the thought and engineering that went into building it, to make sure that it went completely flat, the mechanisms that would have been involved–incredible!
Wonderful review! “The Haunted House” was and still is a masterpiece. It is simple, yet thoroughly entertaining! Many of the gags in it went on to be used in many other haunted spoofs, even in “Scooby Doo!”
No way! I didn’t realize Scooby Doo borrowed some of these gags. It certainly underscores the enduring talent of Buster Keaton, hey? Thanks for stopping by!
HAHAHA the guy was a genius – and how he takes all those tumbles down the stairs and falls without even cracking his expression (or his skull) I will never know.
Isn’t a comedy horror film a sub-genre of horror? Nowadays yes, but I wonder how these parodies would have been received in their time. I like the part about the theatre company running away from their audience who want to lynch them for their bad performance of Faust, I think, and they end up in that house. The very idea of a group of actors being chased by an angry audience is already delirious, but Buster twists it even further by taking them to the haunted house.
Haha! That part about the audience chasing the theatre company due to their bad performance is fabulous. Everything ties together neatly in this film, doesn’t it? It shows a master at work.
I loved your write-up! I haven’t seen many Keaton silents — only one, I think — but I recently started watching a documentary on him and am really trying to step up my Keaton game. You have definitely enticed me with this one, and I’m so glad it’s available on YouTube! I am heading over there now to check it out. Good stuff!
I always love watching this short, but especially around Halloween! Thank you for writing about it for the blogathon, much appreciated! Great gifs, too. 🙂
Always a favorite! I love the joyful randomness of the opera performers (?) who show up in costume and mingle with the skeleton men. And that staircase/slide to heaven/hell is truly one of Keaton’s finest narrative gags, IMO.
Silver Screenings 
OMG! That is awesome! I have to watch more of those!
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I think you’d really get a kick out of this one, Debbi.
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It sounds adorable. I love spoofs and satires.
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Buster really plays it up here. This short film is almost like two mini-films in one.
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Is that the first treadmill? 🙂 Maggie
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Ha! Maybe!
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OOOH! This looks fun. And no reason not to find time to watch it, at that length!
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True! It’s a zippy 21 minutes, with lots of gif-able, meme-able moments.
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Not seen any of his silent films, but this looks good fun. Great review too…
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Thanks, Gill. This one has a lot of terrific gags.
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I much prefer those types of visual stunts to the cgi stuff they have these days–what a fun movie!
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Agreed. It seems to you would have to be really clever to design these gags, and make sure the sets were engineered/built Just So. Truly amazing.
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Yes, that’s what I was thinking, especially with that staircase–imagine the thought and engineering that went into building it, to make sure that it went completely flat, the mechanisms that would have been involved–incredible!
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Plus, it looks like a lot of fun…
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It looks great, and I love that it was made 100 years ago and still funny!
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Good point! 100 years later and we can still identify with it.
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Wonderful review! “The Haunted House” was and still is a masterpiece. It is simple, yet thoroughly entertaining! Many of the gags in it went on to be used in many other haunted spoofs, even in “Scooby Doo!”
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No way! I didn’t realize Scooby Doo borrowed some of these gags. It certainly underscores the enduring talent of Buster Keaton, hey? Thanks for stopping by!
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HAHAHA the guy was a genius – and how he takes all those tumbles down the stairs and falls without even cracking his expression (or his skull) I will never know.
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Haha! You said it! He was one of a kind, wasn’t he?
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Isn’t a comedy horror film a sub-genre of horror? Nowadays yes, but I wonder how these parodies would have been received in their time. I like the part about the theatre company running away from their audience who want to lynch them for their bad performance of Faust, I think, and they end up in that house. The very idea of a group of actors being chased by an angry audience is already delirious, but Buster twists it even further by taking them to the haunted house.
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Haha! That part about the audience chasing the theatre company due to their bad performance is fabulous. Everything ties together neatly in this film, doesn’t it? It shows a master at work.
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This looks like a treat, Ruth! Love your review. Thanks for spotlighting this one!
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This one is lots o’ fun. If you love (A) Buster Keaton and/or (B) haunted house flicks, you’ve got to see it.
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I loved your write-up! I haven’t seen many Keaton silents — only one, I think — but I recently started watching a documentary on him and am really trying to step up my Keaton game. You have definitely enticed me with this one, and I’m so glad it’s available on YouTube! I am heading over there now to check it out. Good stuff!
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Buster Keaton and a fake haunted house are an unbeatable combination.
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I always love watching this short, but especially around Halloween! Thank you for writing about it for the blogathon, much appreciated! Great gifs, too. 🙂
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Buster Keaton himself is a wealh of gif-able material, isn’t he?
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Always a favorite! I love the joyful randomness of the opera performers (?) who show up in costume and mingle with the skeleton men. And that staircase/slide to heaven/hell is truly one of Keaton’s finest narrative gags, IMO.
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Haha! Those opera performers are worthy of their own film, methinks. Thanks for dropping by!
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Ah, this looks awesome! And unusual–I wonder if Buster ever made faces like this in his other movies. 🙂
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I think he made faces in his earlier films. It’s sure interesting to watch his facial expressions, isn’t it? Seems so unlike him, in a way.
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It does, lol. I wonder what made him decide to change his style.
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My apologies to Harold Lloyd and Chaplin, but Buster Keaton is the best comedian of the silent era. 😉
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Ha! I’m with you.
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