The High Sign (1921)

Very well executed

Thanks for the memories!

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The High Sign" was Buster Keaton's first two-reeler after he went solo after leaving his partnership with Roscoe Arbuckle in 1920, but it was not the first film he released. Here he plays a drifter who gets hired by a member of the gang "The Blinking Blizzards" to run a shooting gallery. In a turn of events that can happen only in a Keaton film, Buster winds up being hired to both kill the father of the girl he loves and also to protect him. The film ends with a funny chase sequence through a house that has a series of trick doors, false walls, and traps that could only be designed by the mind of Keaton. Keaton disliked "The High Sign" and delayed its release. Instead, his premiere release was "One Week". Both films show a genius in bloom.

The entrance of Buster Keaton's unnamed character in 'The High Sign (1921)' is, in some ways, reminiscent of Chaplin's Little Tramp persona. The wandering vagrant, named only Our Hero, is booted off a moving train, and lands in an unknown town, the audience denied any back-story or unnecessary exposition. Wandering into a nearby theme park, Buster deftly snatches a newspaper from a moving carousel (done so casually that he doesn't look like he's even trying), and attempts to read the mammoth broadsheet. In search of a job, he happens upon an opening for a talented sharp-shooter, and, despite inadvertently gunning down a duck with his practice shots, Buster feels that he's qualified enough for the position. Chaplin's Tramp was never averse to breaking the rules if he wasn't hurting anybody who didn't deserve it, and Keaton's Hero is no different. By rigging an ingenious dog-powered bell-ringer to falsify the carnival stall, Buster fools his massive employer into believing that he is an ace with the rifle.But, of course, if the plan had gone smoothly, then there wouldn't have been a story to tell. It seems that the employer is also a member of the Blinking Buzzards mob, a bold bad bunch of blood-thirsty bandits with a curious affinity for the letter "b." Buster is enlisted to assassinate one of the gang's enemies, and, by a curious turn of events, is also employed as that very same man's bodyguard (our hero, ever the hopeless romantic, accepts the latter job only to impress the target's pretty daughter, played by Bartine Burkett). When he steadfastly refuses to carry out the hit, Buster's reckless bid to escape the Buzzards' fists leads him on a farcical anarchic chase through concealed doorways and hidden compartments, a madcap comedic set-piece that never takes the time to slow down. Despite this memorable virtuoso finale, Keaton apparently felt unsure of the quality of his first independent two-reeler, and 'The High Sign' was shelved until the following year, when a broken ankle slowed the performer's output.

What amazes me in every Buster Keaton short is how good the physical action is. In 'The High Sign' he has the perfect setting to show us his tricks. In a house where there must be a secret escape in every room he has to escape from a couple of guys who do not like him very much because he betrayed them. He had to kill a certain person but faked the whole thing.The story in a Buster Keaton short is not that important. Once he starts doing those great things on screen I don't want it to end. The camera is able to see four rooms at the same time and Keaton moves from room to room, through walls and ceilings. It is all great.

Although "The High Sign" is a short film and not very well known, in many ways it is one of Keaton's best. It is non-stop entertainment, especially because the plot is very nearly irrelevant and the gags are so constant. What makes this so special in the development of movie comedy are the shooting gallery scene and the trapdoor house. These are examples of quintessential American slapstick, and they have been copied hundreds of time since 1921. There is also one small special effect in the midst of all the comedy that really caught my eye: Someone spikes Keaton's drink with either alcohol/poison (we are not told) and Keaton sips it. He can tell it is spiked, and looks into the cup, and we see in the drink the image of the rear of a horse kicking it's hind legs. This obvious allusion to the 'drink with a kick' is not only funny, but it is the essence of cinema: show not tell. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for a short, innovative, hilarious comedy.