Our Hospitality (1923)
Directed by: John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton
Starring: Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Roberts
Length: 74 min
Nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs
The first Buster Keaton movie on my journey, and it won't be my last.
Keaton's deadpan expression did not cease to make me laugh throughout the film. Everytime he blankly stared off into space as he was figuring something out, or when he would quickly look out of the corner of his eye, got to me. He pulls that off to perfection.
Our Hospitality is a movie about a rivalry between two families, to the point that they murder each other. Willie McKay (Buster Keaton) is taken by his mother, when he is one, away when her husband dies. He gorws up not knowing about the fued, but when he finds out about land in a far away town, he hops on a train and heads there.
When he arrives, the Canfield family finds him, and they spend the rest of the film trying to kill him, without their sister, Virginia (Natalie Talmadge), finding out since she had befriended Willie.
An absolutely hilarious movie. A bit of a hit to the Historical Rating, however, since it is not one of Keaton's more popular films.
Entertainment Rating: 8/10
Historical Rating: 7/10