User reviews

An early Buster Keaton short which still has an enormous amount of charm all these years later, and which has plenty of laughs throughout its running time.

First there's a wedding, and the newlyweds almost don't make it to their wedding night; and then there is the portable house they have to start from scratch! Of course this means the house looks wrong, it falls down, lots of stunts and scenes are set up to make the audience gasp and chuckle, and so on.

'One Week' is a really fun film and one which is timeless. Keaton would make many more shorts and his great feature-length movies were yet to come, but this is charming snapshot of what was to come.

'One Week (1920)' was the first of Buster Keaton's independent two-reelers, though 'The High Sign (1921)' was filmed first and shelved until the following year. The story starts out where most romantic comedies end: with a picturesque wedding ceremony, during which adoring friends and relatives toss confetti and, oddly, second-hand footwear. The lucky groom (Keaton) and his bride (Sybil Seely) strike out for their new home, purchased by a well-meaning uncle. Of course, only in a Keaton short must the husband and wife be forced to construct their own house, utilising a do-it-yourself kit that goes awry when the bride's former lover switches the numbers around. The resultant dwelling would not have looked out of place in 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920),' though Keaton is evidently proud of his handiwork, and is thus prepared to overlook the most minor of blunders (such as having the front door on the second-floor). This short served as a trial-run of sorts for the feature 'Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928),' for here we see an early version of Keaton's famous "saved-by-the-window" falling wall stunt.

'One Week' is one of Keaton's finest shorts, with no shortage of imagination, and a continuous string of episodic gags. In one scene, our hero rather coarsely knocks out a traffic policeman, and it's probably no coincidence that the victim is a Charles Chaplin-lookalike. Many of the Keaton's films utilise aspects of engineering, such as 'The Electric House (1922),' in which the actor is commissioned to update a client's home with state-of-the-art technology. In 'One Week,' the product of Keaton's labours doesn't appear quite so impressive, though the house does misbehave is equally hilarious ways. In a vigorous windstorm, the entire building is transformed into a deliriously-spinning carousel, the inhabitants thrown across the room with almost brutal centrifugal force. Leading lady Sybil Seely impressively keeps up with Keaton's comedic antics, even contributing a few laughs of her own, rather than serving only as a beautiful romantic interest. Not that Seely didn't have the "beautiful" aspect covered, the film's show-stopping moment seeing the actress drop her bar of soap while bathing in the tub. A modest cameraman's hand spares us the details, however.

Man, this 19-minute Buster Keaton short is almost too exhausting to watch as one crazy scene after another is shown. This is a wild and always-entertaining short, considered one of Buster's best. It's total lunacy.

Newlywed Buster and his bride (the pretty Sybil Sealey) get a "portable house" as a wedding present. When they get to the site, they find out they have to build the house themselves.

A poor loser who lost the girl, "Handy Hank," sabotages the house-building process by fouling up the numbered directions. When finished, the house is a little strange, to say the least! One look and you are guaranteed to laugh out loud. Anyway, there's work to be done decorating and adding a few more little things like th chimney or trying to fit a piano through a front window.

A calendar is shown throughout the movie and we see the daily "progress." Obstacles are many but the couple persists and kisses their way through all the problems.

Most of the film turns out to be sight gags and slapstick, especially when they have their "housewarming" at the end of the week and a big windstorm literally turns the house into a "merry-go-round."

If that isn't enough, you should see the ending when the train.......

Buster gets married, and as a wedding present his uncle gives him and his new bride some land and a house to go with it, but only when they get to the lot do they realised that the house is not yet assembled!

The framing device of the week both gives Keaton the opportunity to devise seven comic episodes, and also gives the whole piece a wonderful unity. I rank this alongside The Boat (1921) as one of Keaton's best shorts, alongside The Electric House (1922) for the best use of gadgets (in case you didn't know, Keaton trained as an engineer, and so his films are filled with marvellously clever gadgets), and alongside The Scarecrow (1920) for general fun and enjoyment.

For me, this was THE perfect Keaton comedy.

What a wonderful short feature this is - it's very funny, filled with creative gags and exciting stunts, and also quite charming. The plot follows newlywed Buster and his wife in their first week together, as they attempt to build, furnish, and settle into their new 'do-it-yourself' home. There are lots of very wacky moments, with a great variety of inventive comic material. It's also quite endearing to watch the young couple having to contend with all the difficulties they face in setting out together. Keaton is really good at making his character sympathetic without getting bogged down in pity that would detract from the great humor.

"One Week" deserves its reputation as one of Keaton's finest achievements. It's a must-see for anyone who has even a passing interest in silent comedies.

The first Keaton 2 reeler to be released (he had already made 'the High Sign' but, considered it to weak to be his debut solo effort). 'One Week' is a gem of a movie. Newly weds, Buster and Sybil are given a house and plot of land by an Aunt and Uncle, however, Handy Hank, who lost out to Buster for Sybil's hand in marriage, sabotages the pre fab house by changing the numbers on the boxes, the result is the oddest looking house, however to the newly weds it's home. Various mishaps occur, especially when they have relations over for a house warming. The film climaxes with one of the best double crosses in movies, I hate to spoil films by telling people the ending, just watch it for yourself and enjoy. Just to clear something up, Keaton did not break both arms doing a stunt in this movie, as written by an earlier reviewer, although he did get injured doing a stunt causing swelling to his back and arms. However he did suffer a broken ankle filming 'The Electric House' and broke his neck, which went undiagnosed for 13 years, this was always blamed on a stunt in 'Sherlock jr' Keaton is the king of the silent comedies, his movies from his golden period of film making stand the test of time, the humour is fresh and innovated, his stunts, which everyone knows he did himself are breathtaking and he shows an aptitude for the art of film making that places him among the greatest ever. His decline after losing his independence is tragic, both for him and movie fans as we are left to wonder what he could have achieved if he's been allowed by MGM to make the movies he was capable of, our only consolation is the treasures he did leave behind.

One Week and The Scarecrow are the only two silent films that I can watch over and over and over and laugh like a maniac each time I see them. I have seen hundreds of silent films and seen hundreds of performances, but there is no performer, past or present, who was as versatile, good-looking, and out and out funny as Buster Keaton. He is the king to which all comedians should aspire and he leaves Chaplin thousands of miles behind in terms of comedy. Personally, I can't watch Chaplin without being all too aware that I'm supposed to be in a music hall. Keaton, however, isn't hindered by his vaudeville roots and can make a laugh-out-loud domestic comedy using vaudeville tricks without making it seem like a recreation of a vaudeville routine.

Buster Keaton had been making films for three years, minus some time he was in the army, but this was his second film independent of his old friend and partner Roscoe Arbuckle. And it has a touch of something unseen in film up to that point - engineering as comedy. In 1920 comedy is just emerging from the pie throwing and pants kicking phase, and Buster is already on a completely different level from his colleagues.

Buster, still a bachelor himself, is shown emerging from a church with his new bride (Sybil Seely). They don't have credited names, for this is not a personal journey for the main characters. The trouble starts immediately with Handy Hank, resentful that the bride turned him down and then chose Buster. Oddly enough this guy is driving them to their destination from the church, and that turns out to be a lot with a portable house deposited on it, both being a wedding gift from Buster's uncle. There they find the house in boxes which they need to assemble themselves in the order of the numbers on the boxes. Handy Hank sees his chance for revenge by changing the numbers on the boxes so that the house will be assembled out of order.

The result is hilarious. The roof is on sideways, the porch is lopsided, there is a door to nowhere on the second floor that leads to the outside, and the rectangular windows have somehow installed to be a trapezoid, which is something that would be impossible just from incorrect installation. The kitchen sink has been installed on the outside of the house, but no problem, Buster has installed it such that it swivels like a revolving door and can thus double as a door and a sink that can be, in bad weather, moved inside. What about the foundation? Well, that becomes a problem later.

I'd highly recommend this as an introduction to Keaton even before you go back and watch his shorts done with Arbuckle and before his later independent efforts. It is much more carefully constructed than poor Buster's house. P. S. - Such portable homes were commonly sold by catalogue in the United States during the first half of the 20th century.

Keaton was now out on his own, no longer working with Fatty Arbuckel. 'One Week'was his first independent film. Joseph Schneck produced the film, having done work on the Fatty and Keaton shorts. The team of Buster Keaton and Eddi Cline directed and did script work as would follow in most of Keaton's other shorts. 'One Week' is definitive of Buster Keaton's style. It is purely gag over narrative. Keaton's performance is more important than the story, and that was pretty much how all his later movies worked. Keaton also enjoyed capturing the world around him as it happened. His stunts in this movie did not rely on editing. The house really did turn, the train sequence was real. This was a good beginning to what followed.

As a wedding gift two newlyweds receive a pre-fabricated house which can be built in a week. Unfortunately a rejected suitor secretly renumbers the packing crates.

The first major film for Buster Keaton as the husband, with indications of what was to come, with support from Sybil Seely as his wife. Contains the famous bathroom scene.

Followinng an approximately 3 year 'apprenticeship' working as a supporting player for Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Buster Keaton got his own deal with Joseph M.Schenck Productions. Arbuckle having moved on to Feature Films, Mr. Schenck needed someone to fill the void (Nature and Hollywood both abhor a vacuum!). Buster was elevated to the Starring role in the 2 reel comedy shorts.

His time as Second Banana was surely well spent. His own starring vehicles proved to be up to those of any other and could only serve as a little glimpse into what future Keaton projects would be like.

His first film(to be released, though not necessarily the earliest to be produced) was ONE WEEK (1920). In it is perhaps the Genisis of the Keaton Film, all of his own, to come. His collaborative effort with Director Edward F. Cline worked very well, as the film moves through the calendar week in brief, episodic installments. The scenes build slowly, deliberately until a peak is reached. Like a finely made jeweled watch, there is no part of the film is out of place.

For this production, a basic formula is followed. The Protagonist, Keaton, is pitted against the insurmountable and unchanging natural laws of physics and our world. And before long, we come to understand that Mr. Keaton's little man hero may well be the first known exponent of Murphy's Law. Remember it? "If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong." Just being lucky enough to be able to view Buster's battles with the Laws of Physics and the complications that are certainly and progressively to be thrown into his path.

Mr. Keaton's trials and tribulations on his path to success always seem to involve both the Art and the Science. And they always seem to work counter productively to our Hero.

Sort of like his Life Experiences.

In this 20 minutes Buster Keaton short, you actually wonder how did he get away with some of those stunts which look life threatening. At one point a side of the house falls on him but the open space for the window goes through him as Keaton just stands on the spot.

Newlywed Buster and his bride are given 'portable house' as a wedding present which they build over the course of a week. Love rival Handy Hank who lost out to the bride sabotages the directions which results in the house being built wonky.

The film is full of physical comedy and sight gags. There are little touches as the newly married Buster picks up a pair of old shoes that are thrown at him and takes them with him. When his wife is having a bath and she goes to pick up the soap, the cameraman sticks his hand out to preserve her modesty.

This film established Keaton as the master of the comedy shorts.

A house. Not assembled. A young couple. And a week. One of the most seductive films of Buster Keaton. For imagination, for the feel to see an animation, for lovely-dramatic story - the storm has a lead role- for the end and for the trait of genius. Something sad - magic defines this short film. One of the lovely ones for its humor and for the beautiful way for explore the force of details.

"One Week" is a real extravaganza. Proceeding from a wonderfully one- step-too-absurd-for-reality premise that Buster Keaton has been given a build-it-yourself house, it builds constantly and with perfect timing on increasingly mind-boggling an original stunts and visual gags on what must be one of the most elaborate and iconic comedy props in history -- the ramshackle, crooked house that Buster builds and the ends up spinning gloriously as it blows in the wind and ingeniously rolling along on barrels when he and his new bride find themselves on the wrong lot.

It really encapsulates brilliantly within two reels Keaton's incredible and unique comedic and visual imagination. Each gag tops the last perfectly, and visual concepts are played out on the large scale of the house set in constantly surprising ways. Although the action is almost completely mechanically driven, the pace never flags and the film builds as impressively as if there were an intricate plot. And, of course, the closing gag involving a train is among the greatest in history. It's difficult to describe something as finely-tuned as "One Week" except to say that is has to be seen and appreciated; with Laurel and Hardy's "Big Business" it forms a pair of impeccably-orchestrated house- destroying silent comedies for all time.

This film was remade with sound and with different actors in the early 1930s and was entitled A PUT UP JOB--though the results weren't quite as wonderful as this thoroughly enjoyable Keaton short. Oddly, the remake is NOT listed on IMDb, but I just recently saw it on a DVD called "The Paramount Comedy Shorts 1929 - 1933 - Cavalcade of Comedy (1929) ".

The Keaton film is jam-packed with great stunts, cute scenes and the most amazing set you'll ever see! Buster and his girl get married. They are given a plot of land and a house kit as a wedding present. However, the man who wanted to marry Buster's sweetie is mad and wants revenge. So, he changes the numbers on the directions and Buster puts up the house anyway--even though it looks like an absolute joke, he doesn't seem to notice.

You really have to see the house--especially when a storm hits--it's a very funny and incredible scene. Later, it turns out they built the house on the wrong lot--leading to yet another even more spectacular scene. Rarely in a short do you see so much money spent on sets and setting up wonderful jokes. A sweet and hilarious film.

So how does one build the foundations of a marriage? Hmm...

In all seriousness, this is a prototype on how to stage gags and execute them with the kind of seemingly effortlessness that made Buster Keaton so endearing (and of course there was so much effort, and the sleight of hand quality to how he would, say, fall out of a window or have a space in the window in case part of a house fell on him, was all part of his trickery).

In One Week, Buster gets married, and, due to some skulduggery from the wife's ex - he changes around the numbers in the order for the "Build a House" kit that Buster's uncle gives him - the house is a mess. No, this is not some figurative thing, the house looks like it was designed by Picasso! But the couple try to make it work, and yet the house sometimes does some odd things, like spinning uncontrollably on its really whacked axis, spinning the house-guests that Buster and his wife have over right out the door.

The 'portable house', the kind of thing that seems ubiquitous for that time period and yet nearly 100 years later almost sounds rather promising as if it could still exist, is a wonderful vehicle to spring gags, and of course putting together a house (with the metaphor of putting together a film not lost on me) opens the door for so many gags and, believe me, Keaton and his collaborators go for all of them. There are some I just couldn't believe that involve breakneck physical dynamics involving parts of the house bending and how holes need to be laid just in place, and then of course the unexpected that gets the biggest laughs: when Buster tries to drive the house to another location - nailing the car's back seat to the house siding for good measure - the car keeps driving off as he and the seat stays put!

What I liked a lot here is that underneath the frustration of putting this house together and the hazards of it, there's real love and affection between this couple. They're newlyweds, and for all the downs that come their way, through all of the moments where it looks like Buster's about to be down for the count (or he does just seemingly wild things like climbing down a ladder and *switching sides* from front to back while in mid descent), they show each other love and affection. There's this honest, serious bedrock, and all of the comedy is based on all of the obstacles that come in their way and that we want to see them overcome (the actress, Sybil Seely, is quite good too).

This is filmmaking virtuosity on display, and to say it holds up is an understatement; it's stunt-work is remarkable (see how Buster goes from one car to another in that brief chase right after the wedding, and how the cars go off in ways that shouldn't work physically but it's still awesome), and I found myself laughing not because of how balls to the wall it gets. Also, more to the point, the gags *work*, and its all from incidents that build one on top of the other, to where it finally gets to the Picasso house spinning around. Genius.

As a viewer with limited experience with Buster Keaton, this was a great place to start. I've seen clips and references to his movies lots of times, but hardly seen any of the movies themselves. This one has it all: good physical gags, warm characters, acrobatics and Keaton's straight face. He shares the scene with Sybil Seely, who also does a great job. Especially the "flipping wall" stunt with both of them is marvelous. In addition to the performances from the actors, the set itself is quite impressive. An almost avant garde-ish house, built on a turntable, is almost as much a character in the story as the two leads.

While the story has a villain, he is only a bit player, setting things into motion. Keaton and Seely are the stars, and I love how the story doesn't resort to playing them up against each other. They are a team all the way through the movie, working together and forgiving each other, only fighting the house.

I figured that the movie was a satire on "construction set"-houses, but it turns out to be a straight up parody of a video about these houses. This explains the format of the flick itself, with the hand pulling of sheets from the calendar, etc.

Also: I find it fascinating that we do not know who played the villain in this flick. I refuse to believe that the answer is lost, and I look forward to the day it is found.

I have an affinity for films of the silent era, an age of experimentation and artistry that still rings true to this day. Buster Keaton was one of the finest performers of his day and there's no better film that accentuates his talents such as One Week. Simply put this short is a prime example of the the craft of early silent cinema.

`One Week' is important as an early attempt by Buster Keaton to formulate a signature filmmaking style, but as entertainment it didn't impress me much. The bits with the storm and the train surely required some unprecedented editing ingenuity, but neither sequence is nearly as clever or funny as Chaplin's work from the same period, let alone Keaton's later films. It's nice to see how Keaton started, though (and to see how much nudity filmmakers dared to show back then).

Rating: 6