Our Hospitality and The 'High Sign'

Monday August 29, 7:00pm The Paramount Theater

"It would be the death of anyone to go outside tonight!"

Buster goes home and his neighbors are hell bent to bust a cap in his ass. Raised in the city, Willie McKay (Keaton) is unaware of an ancestral feud with the Canfield clan. Keaton’s choice of names was a satirical reference to the infamous feud between the Appalachian Hatfield and McCoy families. Willie falls for Virginia Canfield (Natalie Talmadge) on what has to be the most charming train ride ever filmed, then squints in disbelief when he sees his dog has trotted along the entire way. He gets wind of the plot at the Canfield home where Virginia has invited him for supper. When he overhears her brothers, "Father won’t let us kill him in the house, but wait ‘till he gets outside!" he tries every trick in the book to remain inside including losing his hat and performing stunts with the dog. Willie finally makes his escape disguised in a bonnet and hoopskirt. A mad chase ensues over cliffs and wild rapids. Our Hospitality was a family affair. Among the cast were Keaton’s father ‘Big Joe’ as the train conductor, his wife (Talmadge) and their infant son as young Willie. The visual gags in this film are among Keaton's best.
In The ‘High Sign’ Buster is chased through a house by gangsters and nearly devoured by an out of control newspaper.

A few afterthoughts: The train is unbelievable. It is possibly the longest and most complex comedy routine from the silent era. After the train the picture essentially dies. The rest of the movie is a treat, funny and accomplished, but it can't match up to the first half.
Keaton was dissatisfied with The 'High Sign', so much so he shelved it for a year. It does have the cut-away house full of goons chasing Buster through trap doors and the brief bit with the newspaper, which might be his most perfect scene in any film. It is absolutely as good as any of Chaplin's vignettes. By the time he has the whole thing unfolded, it's the size of a sail! Well worth sitting through the other twenty minutes for.