Neighbors (1920)

Directors:

Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton

Writers:

Edward F. Cline (written by)
Buster Keaton (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 December 1920 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

The Romeo and Juliet story played out in a tenement neighborhood with Buster and Virginia's families...

Plot Keywords:

Marriage

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	The Boy
Virginia Fox	...	The Girl
Joe Roberts	...	Her Father
Joe Keaton	...	His Father
Edward F. Cline	...	The Cop
James Duffy	...	The Judge
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Flying Escalantes	...	Themselves

Also Known As:

Backyard (USA) (alternative title)
Mailbox (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

18 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Spain:T

Company:

Joseph M. Schenck Productions

Quotes:

His Father: He's my son and I'll break his neck any way I please!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987) (TV)

Romeo & Juliet in slap-shoes

A viewer who has never seen a Buster Keaton comedy might get the wrong idea of what to expect from this film's introductory title card, which reads: "The Flower of Love Could Find No More Romantic Spot in Which to Blossom Than in This Poet's Dream Garden." We are then shown a grungy courtyard between two tenement buildings divided by a fence, and on opposite sides of the fence we find The Boy (Buster) and The Girl (Virginia Fox), sweetly in love but kept apart by feuding parents. Fear not, however, for the flowery wording of that introduction is meant in jest: NEIGHBORS is no essay in Griffith-style sentimentality about poor people. (For one thing, if D.W. Griffith had directed this he'd have called it "Romeo & Juliet of the Slums" or perhaps "Pyramis & Thisbe of Pig Alley.") This isn't a melodrama of life among the lowly, it's Buster in his youthful prime, and it's funny. There's action and comedy galore, and incidentally the attitude expressed towards love and marriage is far from sentimental --which is a little surprising, considering that 24 year-old Buster was still a fun-loving bachelor when he made this movie.

In any event, once the situation is established we are treated to a series of fast-moving gag sequences emphasizing the hostile relationship between The Girl's father (played by Buster's frequent screen nemesis Big Joe Roberts) and The Boy's father (played by Buster's own dad Joe Keaton). It is clear that the two fathers hold each other in contempt, and vigorously oppose any closer relationship between their respective families. There's a great example of Keaton's special brand of physical comedy early on when Buster attempts to visit Virginia in her third floor room, is caught by her father, and then flings himself out her window, across a clothesline that leads to his own window, down a banister and back across the clothesline to Virginia's building-- and right smack into Big Joe. The sequence flashes by in seconds and may leave you blinking in amazement, but before you can catch your breath Buster has been forcibly hung upside down by his feet from the clothesline, hauled back across the courtyard like dirty laundry, and then (accidentally) beaten by his father, who has mistaken his own son for a rug. Moments later, Buster is dumped head-first through a rain barrel into sopping wet mud. And so it goes! Welcome to This Poet's Dream Garden.

NEIGHBORS is a comedy better seen than described. At times it feels like a live-action Warner Brothers cartoon, but instead of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam we're watching actual people perform these stunts. The premise of feuding families is a simple and effective framework for Keaton's terrific set-pieces (and he would return to the family feud motif on a much grander scale in OUR HOSPITALITY a few years later). The rougher slapstick material is briefly held in check as the brawling families are dragged into court, chastised by a judge, and ordered to permit their offspring to wed. But needless to say the ceremony is a disaster, and the action resumes with a wild finale in which Buster and Virginia escape from their families to elope. The best gag sequence is saved for last, as Buster takes part in a three-man balancing act racing through the streets, a bit that required the participation of the Flying Escalantes, a team of acrobats Buster knew from his vaudeville days. Latter day cartoon directors such as Chuck Jones and Tex Avery often gave credit to the influential silent era comedians they'd admired as kids, and the finale of this film must surely have been the sort of thing they were talking about.

While NEIGHBORS may not rank at the very top of Buster Keaton's output it's an exhilarating, highly amusing comedy that holds up well today. Besides, Buster's second-echelon efforts are better than most anyone else's masterworks!