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A viewer who has never seen a Buster Keaton comedy might get the wrong idea of what to expect from this film's introductory title card, which reads: "The Flower of Love Could Find No More Romantic Spot in Which to Blossom Than in This Poet's Dream Garden." We are then shown a grungy courtyard between two tenement buildings divided by a fence, and on opposite sides of the fence we find The Boy (Buster) and The Girl (Virginia Fox), sweetly in love but kept apart by feuding parents. But fear not, for the flowery wording of that introduction is meant in jest: Neighbors is no exercise in Griffith-style sentimentality about poor people. (For one thing, if D.W. Griffith had directed this he'd have called it "Romeo & Juliet of the Slums" or perhaps "Pyramis & Thisbe of Pig Alley.") This isn't a melodrama of life among the lowly, it's Buster in his youthful prime, and it's funny. There's action and comedy galore, and it's interesting to observe that the attitude expressed towards love and marriage is far from sentimental --which is a little surprising, considering that 24 year-old Buster was still a fun-loving bachelor when he made this movie.

In any event, once the situation is established we are treated to a series of fast-moving gag sequences emphasizing the hostile relationship between The Girl's father (played by Buster's frequent screen nemesis Big Joe Roberts) and The Boy's father (played by Buster's own dad Joe Keaton). It is clear that the two fathers hold each other in contempt, and vigorously oppose any closer relationship between their respective families. There's a great example of Keaton's special brand of physical comedy early on when Buster attempts to visit Virginia in her third floor room. When he's caught by her father he promptly flings himself out her window, across a clothesline that leads to his own window across the way, down a banister and back across the clothesline to Virginia's building, right smack into Big Joe. The sequence flashes by in seconds and may leave you blinking in amazement, but before you can catch your breath Buster has been forcibly hung upside down by his feet from the clothesline, hauled back across the courtyard like dirty laundry, and then (accidentally) beaten by his father, who has mistaken his own son for a rug. Moments later, Buster is dumped head-first through a rain barrel into sopping wet mud. And so it goes! Welcome to This Poet's Dream Garden.

Neighbors is a comedy better seen than described. At times it feels like a live-action Warner Brothers cartoon, but instead of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam we're watching actual people perform these stunts. The premise of feuding families is a simple and effective framework for Keaton's terrific set-pieces. (He would return to the family feud motif on a much grander scale in Our Hospitality a few years later.) The rougher slapstick material is briefly held in check as the brawling families are dragged into court, chastised by a judge, and ordered to permit their offspring to wed. But needless to say the ceremony is a disaster, and the action resumes with a wild finale in which Buster and Virginia escape from their families to elope. The best gag sequence is saved for last, as Buster takes part in a three-man balancing act racing through the streets, a bit that required the participation of the Flying Escalantes, a team of acrobats Buster knew from his vaudeville days. Latter day cartoon directors such as Chuck Jones and Tex Avery often gave credit to the influential silent era comedians they'd admired as kids, and the finale of this film must surely have been the sort of thing they were talking about.

While Neighbors may not rank in the very top tier of Keaton's output it's an exhilarating, highly amusing comedy that holds up well today. Besides, Buster's second-echelon efforts are better than most anyone else's masterworks!

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.

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.

Being one of Keaton's earliest and most recognised short film, Neighbours is full of passion, fast-paced, frantic and at times even romantically touching. It's innocent, light-hearted and airy, and just about sums up Buster's earliest work, going from slapstick nonsense to refreshing (for the time) character-driven gags that deliver just as well. Sure enough the feature is not without its drawbacks which do hinder the overall pacing and breezy feeling present in the short's best moments. Much like The Balloonatic, the greatest parts here lie in acts one and three, with the middle section giving way to fine moments of zany antics, but with plenty of superfluous additions to boot.

The plot here follows a young man and woman madly in love as they attempt to bring themselves together against their begrudging families. What follows is a piece of hilarious and wild twenty minute entertainment full of laughs and great images. Keaton himself is truly captivating as always, and delivers some of his most inspired and tricky stunts here which do well to thrill and bring up a laugh or two out of the sheer spectacle of what is going on. Throw in a beautiful supporting actress, and a whole host of very vivid personalities backing Buster, plus troublesome trousers, quarrelling families and you have a film that is sure to stick with you, despite its obvious inconsistencies and less successful moments.

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A BUSTER KEATON Silent Short.

Buster's romance with the pretty girl across the back fence leads to great trouble with the NEIGHBORS.

Keaton's superb athletic abilities are highlighted in this very funny little film. The backs of the tenement houses were constructed to Buster's exact physical specifications, giving him hand & foot holds precisely where he would need them, allowing him to climb, slide, cling, tumble, etc., culminating in the hilarious three-man high stunts that climax the film. Big Joe Roberts plays the beefy papa of Buster's beloved.

Born into a family of Vaudevillian acrobats, Buster Keaton (1895-1966) mastered physical comedy at a very early age. An association with Fatty Arbuckle led to a series of highly imaginative short subjects and classic, silent feature-length films - all from 1920 to 1928. Writer, director, star & stuntman - Buster could do it all and his intuitive genius gave him almost miraculous knowledge as to the intricacies of film making and of what it took to please an audience. More akin to Fairbanks than Chaplin, Buster's films were full of splendid adventure, exciting derring-do and the most dangerous physical stunts imaginable. His theme of a little man against the world, who triumphs through bravery & ingenuity, dominates his films. Through every calamity & disaster, Buster remained the Great Stone Face, a stoic survivor in a universe gone mad.

In the late 1920's Buster was betrayed by his manager/brother-in-law and his contract was sold to MGM, which proceeded to nearly destroy his career. Teamed initially with Jimmy Durante and eventually allowed small roles in mediocre comedies, Buster was for 35 years consistently given work far beneath his talent. Finally, before lung cancer took him at age 70, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his classic films were being rediscovered. Now, well past his centenary, Buster Keaton is routinely recognized & appreciated as one of cinema's true authentic geniuses. And he knew how to make people laugh...

Buster is in love with his next door neighbor, but her father hates Buster and won't allow them to see each other. As a result, again and again, Buster does a lot of crazy stunts in order to see her--as well as eventually kidnap her so they can elope. The stunts are amazing and this is a very good movie. However, if it weren't for all his better brilliant films, I might have scored this a bit higher. But films such as STEAMBOAT BILL, JR., COPS, OUR HOSPITALITY and THE PLAY HOUSE (among others) are simply better than NEIGHBORS. So, I would recommend you try watching these other films and then come back to it. Still, it's enjoyable and fun.

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

Some nice stuntwork using a 3-story building as a prop - Buster scales up to the top-floor almost like an inchworm, glides between buildings using clotheslines, and stands atop a 3 person tower going into and out of the buildings, which was especially clever. He also shoots down the stairway railing headfirst in one scene, and it's in these moments that this short is at its best. I also liked the topical baseball reference, a sport Keaton adored, as he peeps into a ballpark with Babe Ruth at the plate - 1920 was the year Ruth homered 54 times, higher than the total of 14 of the 15 other major league teams. Check out the ball he picks up, which looks larger than a modern ball. As for the romance with the woman across the way (Virginia Fox) and the wedding in which his oversized pants won't stay up, it's a little less interesting. The film is also marred a bit by casual racism, with a black family frightened by Buster emerging from his hiding place in a sheet. Overall, certainly worth seeing for the stuntwork.

Buster Keaton rarely played low lifes. He played naive or boyish aristocrats who were loners, friendless and lost in modern society with social malaise sewn into the seams. Here, he plays a mischievous imp, a character Chaplin perfected as the tramp and all hell lets loose. Obviously, he is in love with his neighbor, but the family is feuding though they share the same backyard. A billet-a-doux gets everything moving as mistaken identity and information leads to some yelling and scolding before the real truth is figured. "Old Stone face" himself as he was known unleashes some very nifty and nimble acrobatic moves as he slides up and down the electric lines and clothes hanger lines like a jabberwocky. A three man stunt is ridiculous to watch and leaves you applauding and marveling at his genius.

Silent genius Buster Keaton takes his usual lumps from his dad among others in Neighbors, a Romeo and Juliet scenario set in the visually tight confines of next door neighbors back "yards".

Once again Keaton throws care to the wind as he performs a series of what had to be injury inducing stunts. Keaton's feats are remarkable but there is little time for subtlety as well as a small stage to perform that stunts growth. But with Keaton then and as he proved 45 years later on Candid Camera all the space he needed was a lunch counter. Not even Burt Lancaster was as acrobatic as Buster in his prime and no one was as daring.

In addition to Keaton's acrobatics a supporting cast (featuring a sweet performance by Virgina Fox) all comically contribute in moments of blown out of proportion misunderstandings.

An imposible love story becomes pretext for gags and fascinating adventures. And start point for a great reflection of the genius of one of magnificent actors. A film who could be a Chaplin one. But the difference consists, first, in the force of nuances. And in the impecable art of Buster Keaton to transform ordinary situations in roots of impressive gems.

A pair of young, star-crossed lovers make time for each other despite the intrusions of parents, neighbors and passing lawmen. It's basically just Buster Keaton having ridiculous amounts of daring, carefree fun in a pair of old city tenements with a shared backyard; causing trouble and taking lumps in an uphill struggle to steal kisses from the girl next door.

The entire first reel is a head-spinning riot, armed with constant bouts of misdirection and mistaken identity that stack and re-frame each other as the material risks pile up. Buster's climbing electrical poles, dangling from clotheslines and plummeting through floorboards, all with a showman's touch and the small, but iconic, dash of genuine danger that's become his trademark. The plot actually reaches a manner of resolution, too, which is unusual for these short-burst setups. Normally, we'd see the hero finally land the girl, collect a peck on the cheek and roll credits. This time, the actual wedding ceremony provides new opportunities for mayhem and mischief, as neither family can stand the other and the bride's father gets cold feet. Hilarious, inspired physical comedy from the prime years of a silent film legend.

Neighbors (1920) : Brief Review -

A love story beyond the wall and a comedy beyond imaginable stunts. Buster Keaton did exactly what was he known for. But you know every time he had to do something unseen and unheard and how he managed to it every time is still an unanswered mystery. Though, I like it this way, let it remain unrevealed and let me be surprised always. Neighbors starring Buster Keaton and Virginia Fox is story of love and fight. A young couple who live next to each other in tenement apartments do everything they can to be together despite of their feuding families. The storyline is by far more than enough for a short film and later it was used in many feature films, expectedly. Keaton breaks the barrier of imagination and people's expectations yet again. He brings the amazing stuff again and this time with new techniques. Here he performed some unreal stunts with the help of supporting cast such as climbing the rope to enter the house, a triple floor of human bodies and many more. That cat and mouse sequence with the cop was very intelligent and organically hilarious. His unique ideas of performing stunts which looks unreal is simply unbelievable. One just can't help it. He always manages to wow us and it's no exaggeration but he was a legend much before he got the tag and nobody was close or comparable to him then. Neighbours came in the same year of another Timeless masterpiece 'One Week' which clearly proves that Keaton wasn't just any other great artist, but he was a Legend beyond any degree. Neighbors is a Must See for everyone who wants to know how Keaton formed his legacy. It just didn't come with one film and in one day, he had worked a lot for it and consistently, without letting that raised bar go down. Overall, another Classic by Legend Buster Keaton. Kudos to the entire team.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Once Buster Keaton left Roscoe Arbuckle in the summer of 1920 and was given his own film studio, his creative juices went into high gear. During a span of three months he produced three films as well as having a supporting role in his first feature film. December 1920's "Neighbors" culminated an ambitious streak of ingenious pictures that continue to entertain and delight viewers today.

"Neighbors" has been cited as a modern Romeo and Juliet where Keaton, living with his parents in a tenement, plans to marry the girl in the apartment building in back of his. Trouble brews as the couple's parents are at odds with each other and don't want to see their kids' relationship foster.

Keaton's love interest is played by Virginia Fox, appearing in her first of several Buster films. Her movie career became quite short when she gave up acting for husband film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, eventual founder of 20th Century Pictures, in a 1924 wedding ceremony.

Certainly one of Keaton's best shorts. Wonderful gags cohesively coordinated with an attractive background theme !

In "Neighbors," Buster Keaton recreates some of the vaudeville routines he performed with his father with his actual father, Joe Keaton. The balancing act he does with The Flying Escalantes at the end of the film, who were vaudeville friends, is filled with amazing almost impossible acrobatic gags. Still, several reviewers remain unimpressed, writing other films of his are better. Maybe The Three Stooges are more on your level.

"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.

A simple love letter from Virginia Fox's Girl to Buster (and his response back) through a whole in a fence leads to misunderstandings, chasing with cops (duh), a moment of uh-oh mistaken blackface (uhh) that turns into Buster with a hilarious painted Two-Face, a daring rescue attempt involving Buster going back and forth from his place to his neighbor's standing on two other guys, and an ungainly would-be wedding almost spoiled by the father of the bride buying a 5 cent ring. Along the way, Buster has to get dug out of a hole (he wound up in there head first, does it matter how), and dangles by feels from a clothesline.

You know it's a brilliant feat of comic filmmaking over a century later when a slipping on a banana peel bit gets big laughs and a bit involving loose un-suspendered pants at Buster and the Girl's flawed wedding leads to a master's class in timing and building on a moment to another moment. It doesnt have the death-defying stunts of Buster's most iconic shorts, but it is amazing anyway, especially when he uses a tie to go across a thin clothesline. You know who the Dads are here, and my goodness is one of them a brutish bastard (oh, just rescuing the lady from rampant abuse, s you do), because of their oversized mustaches.

I love when the old man pulls the bedsheets aside and kittens are underneath.

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.

No, nothing to do with the Aussie soap opera. This "Neighbors"- I keep the original American spelling- is a silent comedy short from 1920. The plot is a comic take on the "Romeo and Juliet" story. Buster Keaton and Virginia Fox play young lovers who live in flats in adjoining buildings but whose families are constantly quarrelling with one another. Both families are, of course, hostile to the young people's relationship, and the film is the story of how Buster and Virginia overcome the obstacles to their love. (I use the names of the actors because we never find out the names of their characters. The cast-list simply refers to "The Boy" and "The Girl").

Modern rom-coms also often deal with how young couples deal with the obstacles to their love, but today such "obstacles" are generally metaphorical- not only parental disapproval but also things like differences in social class or a fear of commitment. This being a silent comedy, however, the obstacles in "Neighbors" can be literal, physical barriers such as a wooden fence separating the two properties and the fact that Virginia's bedroom is on the third floor. Buster has to use his acrobatic skills to overcome these barriers with circus-style stunts involving a trapeze and much balancing on top of ladders.

Films like this were a part of my childhood in the sixties and seventies because they were often shown on British television. I suspect that this was done to provide a nostalgic treat for my grandparents' generation, who would have remembered them from their youth, but they also proved popular with my own generation. My parents were both born in the thirties and, having grown up after the sound revolution, regarded silents as very old-fashioned, so I often ended up watching them with Grandma and Grandpa. I was certainly not alone among my schoolfriends in my enthusiasm for these old films; they were not expressly made as children's films, but there was obviously something about their physical style of humour which appealed to the young.

To the modern adult, this style of humour can seem as unsophisticated as it did to my parents; one of the gags, for example, involves Buster's trousers falling down during the wedding ceremony after his belt breaks. We have to remember, however, that the cinema of the 1910s and early 1920s was, of necessity, experimental. Silent acting, whether in comedy or serious drama, was something new, and film-makers could not rely upon the traditional skills of the theatre, where actors could speak. Pioneers like Keaton, who acted as co-writer and co-director of this film, had to be continually experimenting to find out what worked and what didn't. And in "Neighbors" he does sometimes succeed in making us laugh.