Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

peefyn 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.

lugonian Not to be confused with the similar sounding title as Charlie Chaplin's ONE A.M. (Mutual, 1916) , ONE WEEK (Metro, 1920), written and directed by Buster Keaton and Edward Cline, stars the legendary "stone face" of Buster Keaton in one of his true gems of silent comedy (20 minutes) produced during the early 1920s. Next to COPS (1922), ONE WEEK is one of the prime examples of Keaton's comic genius. After two years supporting Fatty Arbuckle in his series of comedy shorts (1917-1919), Keaton gets to star in what's classified as his first solo effort. The plot, supposedly taking place in a span of one week involving two nameless newlyweds, consists of individual sketches opening and closing through the tearing off of a calendar day sheet followed by the introduction to the next day's activity. Opening title: "The wedding bells have such a sweet sound but such a sour echo." Calendar fade in: "To-Day is Monday the 9th" (no month, no year given): It's Buster's wedding day, with he and his bride (Sybil Seely) exiting from the church surrounded by rice-throwing guests with the exception of one, Handy Hank, a rejected suitor. Before the day's end, the couple arrive on Apple Street where their home, Lot 99, turns out not to be a house with parts assembled in a huge box the from Portable House Company with Buster having to assemble himself. "TUESDAY the 10th" As Sybil prepares breakfast, Buster assembles his new home by the numbers. Not far away is the Hank, who, without Buster's awareness, changes the numbers on the boxes. There's a now classic moment recaptured much later in Buster's feature-length comedy, STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (1928) involving a house fall. Watch for it; "WEDNESDAY the 10th," With the home nearly completed, appearing as if it had gone through a typhoon, a delivery man (Joe Roberts) arrives with a piano, followed by one of the helpers (possibly Al St. John, though there's no clarification to rectify this character nor the rejected Handy Hank) dangling from his head caught on the rooftop; "THURSDAY the 11th," Buster continues assembling his house while Sybil washes up on the bath-tub. Classic moment: A mysterious hand covering the camera lens as she tries to retrieve the soap dropped on the floor; "FRIDAY the 13th," Housewarming party with friends and relatives resulting to a heavy rain storm and house going around in circles in merry-go-round fashion; "SATURDAY the 14th," Buster discovers his home has been built on the wrong lot and must have it moved to its rightful place. "SUNDAY the 15th," Buster and Sybil attempt moving their home to the right location, resulting to a series of unforeseen circumstances in the classic Buster Keaton tradition.Contrary to its title, the story doesn't take place entirely for one week/seven days, which really doesn't matter. One question comes to mind - shouldn't the opening wedding scene been more appropriate on church day Sunday rather than a work-day Monday, and having his Monday the start of his work week assembling his home? Overlooking these minor flaws, ONE WEEK is a near-perfect Keaton comedy of frustration by which, Buster, unlike other comedians as Edgar Kennedy or Oliver Hardy, showing no moments of having a nervous breakdown. He simply takes it in stride and moves on to more frustrating episodes. That's our Buster.Like the masterful work in COPS, ONE WEEK was a familiar item of silent comedy shown frequently on public television in the 1970s, notably WNET, Channel 13, in New York City, with prints from the piano scoring Killian collection. In fact, ONE WEEK preceded the 60 minute feature presentation of Keaton's COLLEGE (1927) as part of the 13-week series of THE SILENT YEARS (1975) hosted by Lillian Gish.Aside from various prints on video cassette and DVD formats with organ or jazzy underscoring, ONE WEEK has appeared on cable television, most recently on Turner Classic Movies with orchestral score not quite suitable for this style of comedy. Regardless of its age, ONE WEEK holds up remarkable well, especially for Keaton devotees. First time viewers certainly will remember this within an hour, a day, or even one week after watching it. ONE WEEK sure has that certain something with lasting appeal, that certain something being the one and only Buster. (***)

st-shot One of Buster Keaton's best shorts One Week is filled with enough signature pratfalls and comic predicaments to fill a full length feature. Newlyweds Buster and wife (Sybil Seely) are given a house as a wedding gift by a relative. The only problem is they have to assemble it. This is further complicated by the fact that a spurned suitor jumbles the blueprints. Undeterred bride and groom role up their sleeves and begin to construct their comic disaster.Keaton as usual takes an incredible pounding in producing one memorable sight gag after another with stoic resolve. Even as the house takes on a more Dada than craftsman look Buster's resolve and energy never wavers as he wrestles with a piano, lays carpet, puts a chimney on the roof and battles both the elements and a locomotive to save the homestead. As his wife Sybil Seely makes a durable partner sharing some of the bruises with the indefatigable Buster in this well paced short of one superlative slapstick scene after another.

JackBenjamin Building a marriage and a life is a lot like building a home. No one knows quite what to do and directions are unreliable. You can end up with a Norman Rockwell house, picket fence and all, or you can get the cubist deal, the Dionysian existence -- which do you think is more fun?This is Keaton at his absolute best. It's remarkable to think that it's the first release on which he had artistic control. He must have been supersaturated with creative energy and ideas at that point. The special effects and physical humor are staggering -- honestly, some of this stuff will drop your jaw.I wonder what the German Expressionists thought about it.