One Week (1920)
Plays here · source: Internet Archive
Newlyweds attempt to assemble a build-it-yourself house from a numbered kit, only for a jealous rival to scramble the crate numbers, setting off a cascade of architectural disasters that Buster Keaton turns into a symphony of collapsing gags.
Buster Keaton’s first release as an independent filmmaker, One Week is a tightly engineered catalogue of collapsing-house gags — the spinning, storm-battered structure alone justifies its reputation as one of the great short comedies of the silent era, and it was among the earliest films named to the National Film Registry.
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