The Play House (1921) - Movie Review

Buster Keaton is probably my absolute favorite comedic actor of all time. And his movie short, The Play House, is one of his funniest. In it he plays many different roles, from an orchestra conductor to the members of the orchestra. He also plays as the different member of the audience, showing his versatility. Fortunately or unfortunately, he is awakened from his dream returning him to his real life role as a stage hand.

Although his playing the many different roles in his dream are pretty funny, it is his real life role as a stage hand that makes this movie hilarious. He is to dress an orangutan in a suit, but the orangutan escapes. Buster has no choice but to dress as if he is the orangutan and dresses in the suit. This makes for a great comedic sequence.

While Buster is playing his role as a stage hand he is also trying to get one of the new actresses at the play house to fall for him. Unfortunately for Buster he keeps mixing her up with her twin. At the end of the short he finally gets his girl as we see him dragging her to the Justice of the Peace.

This movie is only about 20 minutes long, that is why it is called a short. However, in that 20 minutes a lot of story is told. There is comedy, action, drama, and romance.

It is not just this movie that makes Buster Keaton one of my favorite comedic actor of all time. It is nearly all of his movies. It is his ability to deliver a hilarious scene without breaking his "stone face". Buster was adept at not breaking into smiles or laughter on screen in order to make the scene that much more funny.

Using the Internet Movie Database scale of 1 to 10 stars, I give this a 10. It may be a silent 20 minute movie but it packs a punch.