"One Week" is a real extravaganza. Proceeding from a wonderfully one- step-too-absurd-for-reality premise that Buster Keaton has been given a build-it-yourself house, it builds constantly and with perfect timing on increasingly mind-boggling an original stunts and visual gags on what must be one of the most elaborate and iconic comedy props in history -- the ramshackle, crooked house that Buster builds and the ends up spinning gloriously as it blows in the wind and ingeniously rolling along on barrels when he and his new bride find themselves on the wrong lot.
It really encapsulates brilliantly within two reels Keaton's incredible and unique comedic and visual imagination. Each gag tops the last perfectly, and visual concepts are played out on the large scale of the house set in constantly surprising ways. Although the action is almost completely mechanically driven, the pace never flags and the film builds as impressively as if there were an intricate plot. And, of course, the closing gag involving a train is among the greatest in history. It's difficult to describe something as finely-tuned as "One Week" except to say that is has to be seen and appreciated; with Laurel and Hardy's "Big Business" it forms a pair of impeccably-orchestrated house- destroying silent comedies for all time.
It really encapsulates brilliantly within two reels Keaton's incredible and unique comedic and visual imagination. Each gag tops the last perfectly, and visual concepts are played out on the large scale of the house set in constantly surprising ways. Although the action is almost completely mechanically driven, the pace never flags and the film builds as impressively as if there were an intricate plot. And, of course, the closing gag involving a train is among the greatest in history. It's difficult to describe something as finely-tuned as "One Week" except to say that is has to be seen and appreciated; with Laurel and Hardy's "Big Business" it forms a pair of impeccably-orchestrated house- destroying silent comedies for all time.