Our Hospitality

very good buster keaton film. perhaps not as funny as "sherlock jr." ( his masterpiece, in my humble opinion) but extremely entertaining none the less. the long train sequence is funny and full of some creative ideas. the scene where buster tries to intervene with the fighing married couple is hilarious. the stunt work, especially at the end of the film during the waterfall scene is amazing and frightening to watch. i absolutely could not believe my eyes during that scene. how in the sam hill did he do it? it's amazing that buster wasn't killed during some of his movies. i would highly recommend this film to anyone who likes great comedy. it is easily funnier than any picture being made today.

It's 1830 and things are looking great for young dandy Willie McKay. He has just learned he's inherited his father's estate down south and on the train ride there he's met a pretty girl who's invited him to have dinner with her family. Unfortunately, his inheritance isn't as grand as he imagined and his would-be girlfriend's family has been involved in a nasty feud with his for generations. They'd love nothing more than to rub him out, as he is the last surviving member of the McKays. Fortunately, whilst he is a guest at their home they must abide by the rules of southern hospitality and keep their guns away from him until he leaves... so Willie makes sure to find a way to become "a permanent guest". This is one of the most visually stunning silent comedies. The landscapes are captured beautifully. It's also interesting to note how differently this film handles historical details in comparison to the anachronistic Three Ages (1923). Everything is much more authentic, from Buster's silly-looking bicycle to the whimsical reproduction of the Stevenson's Rocket. It all foreshadows Keaton's attention to detail in his Civil War era masterpiece, The General (1926). Buster is wonderful as always with his underplayed style of comedy and subtle acting that still manages to feel modern. Big Joe Roberts makes his final appearance as the patriarch of the Canfield family. He's more than the typical heavy: while he does want Buster killed, his love for his daughter and weariness of the feud wins out. Natalie Talmadge is beautiful as the leading lady, though it is plain to see why she was never a big star like her sisters. She leaves little impression and seems nervous, though she does have great chemistry with Buster (as to be expected, since she was his wife at the time and their marriage was in its final moments of happiness before everything hit the fan). Our Hospitality (1923) is one of the best Keaton silents. In my personal ranking of his features, it's number four, after The General, Sherlock Jr (1924), and Steamboat Bill Jr (1928). It's charming, funny, and lovely to look at: what could be a better combination?

Our Hospitality (1923) *** (out of 4) Buster Keaton feature has him playing a Southern boy who goes home to reclaim his father's house but he meets a girl on the train down and quickly falls in love. What he doesn't know is that this girl is on the opposite side of a family feud and her father and brother swears to kill him--if they can get him out of their house. I know many people consider this Keaton's best feature but I wouldn't go that far and in some ways I think the film is overrated. To me the film is highly uneven and feels like three shorts turned into a feature. The first part with the long gag of the funky train works to a point but after a while the jokes grow tiresome. The middle part with Keaton refusing to leave the house so he can avoid being shot contains the majority of the laughs. The final segment dealing with Keaton and his girl falling in a river and attempting to avoid going down a waterfall is pure genius. The stunt of Keaton swinging out over the waterfall to save the girl is just a remarkable thing to watch.

I thought this film set up a masterful comic situation. The train jokes in this film were much funnier than the ones in The General. Also, there are a lot of great close ups to Keaton's hilarious deadpan expression. He probably has the funniest face of any actor who ever lived.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival, 4th Annual Winter Program Saturday February 14, 12:00pm, The Castro, San Francisco "He’ll never forget our hospitality." As two families pursue their ancestral feud in 1810 Appalachia, John McKay is killed by Joseph Canfield (Joe Roberts) and his wife sends their infant son to live with her sister in New York. Twenty years later, Willie McKay (Buster Keaton) inherits his family estate and returns to "…take possession of this property." Unaware of their family history, he meets Virginia Canfield (Natalie Talmadge) on the train and shares an attraction. When her family discovers he is a McKay, they determine to kill him, while Virginia and Willie seek marriage with equal effort. Inspired by one of the bloodiest legends in American folklore, Our Hospitality (1923) succeeds as a humorous vehicle for Keaton. Amazing replicas of George Stephenson’s steam locomotive Rocket and a gentleman’s bicycle produced for the film are used to great effect. Keaton’s famous porkpie hat makes a well-timed, hilarious appearance and his dog nearly steals the show.

Buster Keaton was one of cinema's greats. He made many wonderful shorts and some truly great features. SHERLOCK JR and THE GENERAL are his most famous films, but for my money OUR HOSPITALITY is his masterpiece, a beautifully made, warm-hearted comedy, with some superb sight-gags and set-pieces. Discover one of the finest films in history - then go back and watch all his others.

Spoilers herein. What can one say? Once again we have a film that in form goes against what it preaches: the moral of the story is that tribal groups should stop their mindless dehumanization of the "other." But it is done in a way that dehumanizes the South, still very much (at that time) lost in post-Civil War depression. Oh well, just ignore that common enough irony. We do have a hilarious train ride, quite probably the model for much that followed. And we have the amazing waterfall stunt. There is a dummy involved in the catch, but otherwise these were the real stars involved. That knowledge amazes me. For me, exciting film is about risk and sometimes physical risk will suffice, as with Herzog. But this is amazing stuff. Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 4: Worth watching.

With a good dose of everything that one expects from Keaton - slapstick, stunts, chases, rich visual detail, and much more - "Our Hospitality" is enjoyable to watch, and it has some especially good sequences. The plot idea, with Keaton as an innocent outsider becoming entangled in an old-fashioned family feud, works pretty well, although it relies on comic details to overcome some rather routine characters. A short prologue explains the feud in which Buster will soon be involved, and then we see New Yorker Willie McKay (Keaton) called south to claim a family inheritance, which will plunge him into the middle of the feud. One of the movie's highlights is the train ride south, a wonderful sequence that almost upstages the rest of the film. It's a long, leisurely series of comic snippets that works beautifully both as a period piece and as terrifically inventive comedy. There aren't any spectacular gags, but an impressive collection of amusing incidents and carefully done detail, and it's well worth watching over again to catch it all. The main part of the film features Buster romancing the pretty young woman he met on the train, while trying to avoid her brothers and father, who are trying to kill him. It's pretty good, but except for a few clever shots most of it is not up to the standard of the first part of the movie. It picks up near the end with a very good chase sequence that has some memorable moments and that brings everything to a climax. Overall, this is a fine film, enjoyable and well worth watching.

Keaton throughout his career did most all of his stunts and even suffered serious injury during the shooting of "The General". During a stunt with a watering tower, Keaton fell hard to the track and broke his neck, but did not know it until 13 years later. Also, during one of the final scenes in "Our Hospitality" when Keaton's character is floating down the river, his safety line broke and he almost drowned, but he was a stickler for not cutting until he said so, because he did not want to miss anything with the camera. Also, during the shooting, the love interest of Keatons character was his wife who was pregnant with their second child, and if you watch closely they attempt to hide her stomach on many occasions. Also, the child at the first that plays the baby Willie, is actually Buster Keaton Jr.

Although not Keaton's greatest film, this one has sure got some really great moments. The build-up is rather slow while the main plot is being established: 1830s Kentucky. Keaton gets invited by a pretty girl to attend her family dinner. What he doesn't realize until too late is that the family in question is his inherited mortal enemies in a blood feud that has been going on for centuries. The girl's father and brothers all want to kill him but is prevented from doing so until he has left their house (hence the title). Our Hospitality has got some amazing action sequences but the tempo is very uneven. The early part of the film treats us to some beautiful replicas of old vehicles including trains and bicycles and also some of Keaton's usual train-rail comedy. The middle part, where Keaton guests his blood feud enemies is full of running in and out through doors. Up until now everything has been pretty slow. The last third of the movie though, is truly mind boggling! Keaton and a chasing gunman falls down cliffs, flows down rivers and waterfalls, jumps in and out of moving trains and so on while tied to each other with a rope around their waists. It must have been through watching this James Bond learned his action trade. Our Hospitality however, has also got a lot of comedy in its moments of unbelievable action. Good fun.