Cast: Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely (newlyweds), Joe Roberts (piano man). Screenplay and direction: BUSTER KEATON, EDDIE CLINE. Photography: Elgin Lessley. Technical director: Fred Gabourie.A Joseph M. Schenck Production. Copyright 2 September 1920 by Metro Pictures Corp. 2 reels. 19 minutes. COMMENT: One of Buster Keaton's best shorts, this delightful 2-reeler riot of continuously inventive mishap and fun is included on Kino's Saphead DVD. Expensively produced, it features one of the craziest houses ever erected (albeit temporarily) on a Los Angeles lot. Keaton's daring and dexterity is nothing short of amazing. A great partner, the super-attractive Miss Seely is also worth seeing.(DVD rating: 10/10).

So how does one build the foundations of a marriage? Hmm...In all seriousness, this is a prototype on how to stage gags and execute them with the kind of seemingly effortlessness that made Buster Keaton so endearing (and of course there was so much effort, and the sleight of hand quality to how he would, say, fall out of a window or have a space in the window in case part of a house fell on him, was all part of his trickery).In One Week, Buster gets married, and, due to some skulduggery from the wife's ex - he changes around the numbers in the order for the "Build a House" kit that Buster's uncle gives him - the house is a mess. No, this is not some figurative thing, the house looks like it was designed by Picasso! But the couple try to make it work, and yet the house sometimes does some odd things, like spinning uncontrollably on its really whacked axis, spinning the house-guests that Buster and his wife have over right out the door.The 'portable house', the kind of thing that seems ubiquitous for that time period and yet nearly 100 years later almost sounds rather promising as if it could still exist, is a wonderful vehicle to spring gags, and of course putting together a house (with the metaphor of putting together a film not lost on me) opens the door for so many gags and, believe me, Keaton and his collaborators go for all of them. There are some I just couldn't believe that involve breakneck physical dynamics involving parts of the house bending and how holes need to be laid just in place, and then of course the unexpected that gets the biggest laughs: when Buster tries to drive the house to another location - nailing the car's back seat to the house siding for good measure - the car keeps driving off as he and the seat stays put! What I liked a lot here is that underneath the frustration of putting this house together and the hazards of it, there's real love and affection between this couple. They're newlyweds, and for all the downs that come their way, through all of the moments where it looks like Buster's about to be down for the count (or he does just seemingly wild things like climbing down a ladder and *switching sides* from front to back while in mid descent), they show each other love and affection. There's this honest, serious bedrock, and all of the comedy is based on all of the obstacles that come in their way and that we want to see them overcome (the actress, Sybil Seely, is quite good too).This is filmmaking virtuosity on display, and to say it holds up is an understatement; it's stunt-work is remarkable (see how Buster goes from one car to another in that brief chase right after the wedding, and how the cars go off in ways that shouldn't work physically but it's still awesome), and I found myself laughing not because of how balls to the wall it gets. Also, more to the point, the gags *work*, and its all from incidents that build one on top of the other, to where it finally gets to the Picasso house spinning around. Genius.

"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.

How is it possible that 19 minutes of film can hold so much clever, fast paced comedy? I was blown away by not only the overpowering visual effects that set off the whirlwind ending inside the house, but also by some of the little touches that can be found throughout the film. There's one scene in particular that stuck with me as one of those fantastic little touches, it's when the bride (Sybil Seely, what a great name) is in the bathtub taking a bath and she accidentally drops the soap. As she innocently reaches over to pick the soap up from the bathroom floor, the cameraman sticks his hand over the lens to insure her privacy from those watching the movie. In a movie where there's a lot of wall building, it is a scene like this one where Buster successfully knocks down the proverbial fourth wall of film-making.There's really no point in trying to describe the amazing sight gags, the breath taking gymnastics and pratfalls that are all staples of a Buster Keaton comedy, you should just watch it for yourself. And as far as early Buster Keaton films are concerned, this one is a MUST SEE.10/10. Clark Richards