Michael_Elliott Electric House, The (1922) ** (out of 4) One of the least entertaining Buster Keaton shorts has him turning his Dean's house into a house of the future will all sorts of wild, electrical gadgets. The best joke in the film is near the start of the film when the electric stairwell goes out of control and sends Buster and the Dean out the window and into the pool. The rest of the film looks good but none of the jokes really work.Available in Kino's The Art of Buster Keaton set, which is one of the greatest collections of films out there.

ackstasis In addition to the remarkable stunt-work that makes his films unique, Buster Keaton often employed the odd mechanical gadget, and there's certainly much amusement to be found in his technical creativity. 'The Electric House' is a 20-minute short film that dedicates itself entirely to Keaton's gadgets, as a young botany graduate is mistakenly hired as an electrical engineer to wire up a new home. After perusing a book entitled "Electricity Made Easy," Keaton develops a selection of clever and useful household contraptions, including an escalator, a railway system that delivers food to the dinner table, a quick-emptying and re-filling outdoor pool and a self-operating billiards table. Some of the mechanical devices don't quite work as planned, but generally Keaton has done a fair job, and he has certainly invented a few mechanisms that I wouldn't mind having in my own home (assuming, of course, that they operated as they were supposed to).However, the begrudging electrical engineering graduate who missed out on the job arrives at the new electric house to wreak havoc and achieve his revenge. From the moment he starts moving about wires, the contraptions inside the home begin to go crazy, and poor Keaton is completely at their mercy, unable to understand why his inventions have gone haywire. Of course, there are a few gags that don't quite work {such as Keaton thinking he's seen a ghost}, and the editing is a little choppy at times, but it's all in such good fun that you won't feel disappointed. A lot of amusement is derived from something as simple as an escalator {which was then a relatively new invention, only 25 years or so years old}, with Keaton, in one particularly funny sequence, trying to haul a bulky suitcase up the "stairs" and bafflingly wondering why he's making such little progress.As the hapless hero, Keaton takes his fair share of beatings from the mechanical devices {in fact, production had to be delayed because he broke his ankle after it got caught in the escalator}, but the other members of the household don't escape unscathed. Joe Roberts plays the disgruntled homeowner whose house is equipped with mischievous gadgetry, and he gets acquainted with the property's swimming pool on at least two entertaining occasions. Though Keaton has certainly done funnier comedic shorts, 'The Electric House (1922)' is an amusing way to pass 20 minutes, and the star's undeniable enthusiasm for slapstick comedy makes his work always worth a watch.

Raj Doctor Amsterdam has this tradition of theatres that invite prominent musicians of the city to play orchestra during an old classic silent movie. I got an invitation from my office friend – Lucy Wilson to watch one of such shows. As never in my life I have seen such a thing, I immediately accepted the invitation. It was a show of three short silent movies (20-25 minutes) of the great Buster Keaton – The Electric House, The Frozen North and One Week.Buster Keaton started his career as playing Laurel's part in "Laurel and Hardy" series, but soon captured the silent era imagination with great classic silent movies - obviously with reminiscence of Charlie Chaplin style.The first movie The Electric House – was about a person who by mistake is given a job of an electrician in a house. Buster Keaton innovates and imagines all possible electrical appliances possible in 1920s – more or less we see a lot of them today. Hats off to this genius for his visionary power! The second movie The Frozen North – is about a person who dreams himself as a bad guy of Wild West with a gun on a frozen snow clad landscape. It is a wonderful comic take on what a man can think of doing if given some heroic movie image.The third movie One Week – is about a newly married couple who get a portable house as a gift and their attempt to assemble it together. The laugh starts when they mix the number of boxes and end up in creating a house that has everything fitted in the most inappropriate way. It was amusing.I loved all the three movies. This was also my first viewing of Buster Keaton movies and I enjoyed it a lot. Added experience was this live orchestra on organ / piano being played that was in synch with the movie scenes.Highly recommended movies! (Stars 7.5 out of 10)

rbverhoef The Buster Keaton short 'The Electric House' is fun to watch, does not bore, but misses the most important element to make a Buster Keaton short brilliant. The thing I mean is his physical magic, displayed in almost all of his short film, almost completely missing here.As a fake electric engineer Keaton installs electricity in the house of rich man while he is on vacation. Once the man is back Keaton shows him a lot of electrical surprises. There is an electric snooker table, a train that delivers food, a pool able the empty itself and a lot of other stuff. Of course things do not go as they should, especially when the real electrical engineer arrives.The problem here is the electricity, almost making a statement: electricity makes men useless. The fun in 'The Electric House' comes from the machines, how they work and at times how they fail to work. This leaves little room for Keaton to show what he does best. It is fun alright, but not much more.