The 'High Sign'
1921 · 21m · USA
Directed by Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline
A drifter cons his way into working at an amusement park shooting gallery, only to find himself hired by both a murderous gang called the Blinking Buzzards and the man they want to kill, leading to a wild chase through a house filled with secret passages and trap doors.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
1921 Keaton in a two-story cross-section house being chased by a gang called the Blinking Buzzards — this invented the gag everyone still steals. Hard to argue with the original.
Keaton's cross-section set is foundational vocabulary that every subsequent slapstick architect has borrowed from. Programming it now is less revival than acknowledgment of debt.
Keaton's first solo release, where he engineers a four-room cross-section set for the chase climax — a physical-comedy architecture gag every subsequent silent comedian copied. Internet Archive has it preserved at decent scale; the 1.6GB file size suggests a reasonable transfer.
Reviews
As a solo debut it's nothing short of astounding — the spectacle of a great talent emerging fully-formed and all at once into unique existence. The style, humour, devices, and sheer intelligence are instantly, blazingly original.
The climactic chase scene is filmed in an incredible four-room, two-story cross-section, with the whole minute-long shot simply remarkable given its age and budgetary constraints.